screenshot of student project

Glenn Wharton – Project-based Learning in Museum Studies

Posted on by ds4583@nyu.edu in Discipline, Humanities, Method, PBL + collaboration

Summary

Professor Glenn Wharton (Museum Studies) leverages project-based learning in his Museums and Community course. As a final research assignment, students work individually or in small groups to design fictional community programs for museums and cultural heritage institutions. Students create websites containing information about their programming. In addition to demonstrating content knowledge, students gain experience in website design and development.

Learning objectives

  • Increase student engagement through use of real-world scenarios
  • Leverage students’ existing knowledge
  • Develop students’ basic web design and production skills

Student experience

  • Students conduct research individually or in small groups to design a community-based, participatory program for a museum or cultural heritage institution
  • Students design and produce a website to display program information, including the aims of the program, activities, funding, etc.
  • Students peer review one another’s websites

Project workflow

In order to introduce students to web publishing technology that may be unfamiliar to them, Professor Wharton and an educational technologist collaborated on an in-class session on the basics of web design and building a website. The ed tech office also provided instructional materials and resources, as well as one-on-one consultations for students with follow-up questions. Whenever technology is used in a course innovation, we work with faculty to develop a support model that puts course content and knowledge building first.

Technology resources

Outcomes

  • Students gain media literacy, website design and creation skills.
  • Students are better prepared for field where collaboration is an essential component.
  • Students are deeply engaged by real-world scenarios.
  • Students are agents of their own learning.

In the following video, Professor Wharton describes the benefits and challenges of incorporating project-based learning in a traditional humanities seminar. In particular, he notes the transformative potential of technology to move his teaching from a “top-down model” into a true “co-production of knowledge.”

screenshot of google drive

Ben Stewart – Hacking Google Forms for Formative Assessment

Posted on by ds4583@nyu.edu in Analytics + assessment, Discipline, Method, Writing instruction

Summary

Professor Ben Stewart (Expository Writing Program) uses Google Forms as a formative assessment tool in his Writing the Essay course. Students respond to prompts during class that have them revise and edit their writing (and thinking). The instructor has created a script that allows individual student responses to be shared as individual documents with both the students and teacher, simplifying the feedback loop between both instructor and student as well as between students.

Learning objectives

  • Develop informal, in-class writing into substantial texts
  • Engage in peer review

Student experience

  • Complete writing assignments prior to class, as well as in-class
  • Participate in discussion around writing assignment and readings
  • Complete Google form “worksheet” in-class, which includes additional writing prompts and reflection
  • Review peer worksheets and offer feedback

Project workflow

  • Participate in FAS Innovation in Language Teaching workshop, May 2016
  • Develop custom Google Form/script function that compiles student responses into individual student Google Docs (as opposed to standard compilation of all responses into Google Sheet) and shares them with instructor and students
  • Follow up consultations with FAS educational technologist and central partners to simplify workflow

In the video below, Professor Stewart demoes his custom Google form script with a live audience during our Innovation in Language Teaching Conference.

Technology resources

  • Google Docs
  • Google Forms
  • Google Sheets

Outcomes

  • Enables a much quicker turnaround time between student production and teacher feedback

“[This process] is really clean organizationally: the teacher has everything all in one place and doesn’t need to worry about whether the students’ have or haven’t shared x, and there’s no hunting through emails for attachments or links to documents.” – Ben Stewart

screenshot of Venture out project website

East Asian Studies Faculty – Linked Project-based Learning

Posted on by ds4583@nyu.edu in Discipline, Language instruction, Method, PBL + collaboration

Summary

Professors Xiaohong Hou (Chinese), Eunju Na (Korean), and Kayo Nonaka (Japanese) linked students across East Asian Studies through project-based learning. Students participated in authentic, local experiences and blogged in the target language. The instructors wanted students to practice speaking and writing outside of the classroom, as well as a create an online space for peer to peer learning.

Learning objectives

  • Engage with target language outside classroom
  • Practice writing and speaking skills
  • Encourage collaborative knowledge building across languages and skill levels

Student experience

  • Visit a local restaurant, shop, cultural heritage site, or other relevant cultural location.
  • Engage with target language in new setting – through menu, museum exhibit, conversation with native speakers.
  • Using target language, write about experience and share media in a blog post on linked class site.
  • Comment and offer feedback on fellow students’ posts.

Project workflow

  • In-person consultation meeting the instructor and educational technologist to discuss learning objectives and technical specifics
  • Training session with instructors + education technologist to cover basics of web publishing platform
  • Creation of blog with instructor(s) as the owner/administrator and students added as authors
  • Uploading of content to blog by students and grading / assessment by professor
  • Face to face presentation of materials across courses and languages

In this video, Professors Hou, Na, and Nonaka share the process for developing this project, as well as student projects and feedback.

Technology resources

Outcomes


“I learned how to talk more about a topic I was interested in using the source language.”

“I experienced the language as it is used – in real conversations.”

“I got to practice in a real setting.”

“By using Korean outside the classroom, I had to adapt to thinking quickly in order to say what I wanted to say in Korean. I heard the language in a more natural environment.”

microphone and laptop stock photo

Stefanie Goyette – Podcasting for Presentation

Posted on by ds4583@nyu.edu in Discipline, Humanities, Method, PBL + collaboration

Summary

Professor Stefanie Goyette (formerly of Global Liberal Studies) assigned a podcasting project in lieu of a final paper in her Cultural Foundations II course. She knew many of her students listened to podcasts, and wanted to provide a creative means for students to synthesize and demonstrate knowledge.

Learning objectives

  • Work on a team to perform and present research.
  • Properly frame a text for a non-specialist (general) audience.

Professor Goyette developed learning objectives and technical specifics with the FAS Office of Ed Tech. She created her Tumblr blog and offered an in-class session (20 minutes) to expose students to the basics of creating and editing audio.   Leveraging the medium of podcasting challenged students to distill scholarly arguments and gain transferable technical skills that apply to a wide range of experiences.

Student experience

  • Make and edit a basic podcast (20-25 minutes of high-quality audio in which each member of the group gets to speak about the same amount).
  • Demonstrate familiarity with text, original analysis, and research on topic.
  • Devise an interesting format or debate topic to liven up the podcast and provide a thematic core.
  • Divide up project tasks effectively with team.
  • The Tumblr post must include: the podcast audio; any necessary documents or images; Works Cited; outline of who was responsible for each part of project.

Technology resources

  • Audio recording and editing software (GarageBand and Audacity)
  • Freely available music and audio assets (see a list on our website)
  • Microphones and recording spaces (NYU LaGuardia Coop)
  • Web publishing (Tumblr)

Outcomes

“The students loved it and it was mostly very productive in terms of learning.” – Stephanie Goyette