Posts About Services Contact Stick AroundBy Tony

Creating Products to Show and ShareLearningDecember 04, 2014

Nowadays students have a variety of ways to show what theyknow and to express themselves. Let’s take a look at sampleprojects and some of the hottest apps for showing,explaining, and retelling. These tools can turn students intoteachers and are great for sharing their answers to a project’sdriving question.

This post is the third in a series of posts about project basedlearning. You may want to read the first two posts, CraftingQuestions That Drive Projects and Investigating AuthenticQuestions.

Audience is Key

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As youngster I always lovedmaking things. Whether it was apretend building made out of acardboard box, a public serviceannouncement recorded on myFisher-Price tape recorder, or ashort film made with a very largeVHS camcorder. As an adult, I continue to enjoy creatingthings. Maybe you have seen my iPad app and some ofmy videos, infographics, and resources.

These days my creations are almost always digital. I love theability to easily make revisions to my digital productions (I’mthankful everyday that most apps have an Undo option).Furthermore, I can share what I have made with the worldthrough my website and social media. Because I know mycreations will be seen by others, I take the time to make themas polished and perfected as possible.

Having a genuine audience is a key component in projectbased learning. A project’s driving question is its missionstatement. That statement or question may already have abuilt-in audience. For example, “Convince the principal weshould have a party in December,” clearly states who theaudience is. So does “How can we teach second gradersabout helpful insects?” Other driving questions may requirestudents to choose an audience. Knowing who a project’sspectators are helps students make key decisions about theirend products.

When I was a young student the most important audience myschool projects had was the teacher. Sometimes she wouldbe the only audience. Sometimes projects would be put ondisplay in the classroom or hallway so students and parentscould see them. But, my teacher was ultimately the one Iwanted to please because I wanted a good grade.

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Rushton Hurley makes the observation, “If students aresharing their work with the world, they want it to be good. Ityou’re just sharing it with you, they just want it to be goodenough.” With websites and social media, students certainlyhave the ability to reach a potentially global audience.Knowing they can reach people worldwide with their projects,learners will want to make those productions W.O.W. (Worthyof the World).

Students need to know that the work they do matters.Sharing their brilliance online is one way to do that. Infact, Angela Maiers’ You Matter Manifesto lets students knowthat their contribution is valuable and necessary. It reads:

You are enough.You have influence.You are a genius.You have a contribution to make.You have a gift others need.Your actions define your impact.You are the change.

Samples Really Help

My students produced a lot ofmedia, including podcasts. Beforemy students scripted andrecorded a podcast, they wouldlisten to several sample episodes and critique them. Wewould make a list of what was really good about the episodeand what could be improved. I reminded students of theitems on these lists periodically as they worked on their ownepisodes. Yes, you can tell students what makes a greatproduction. However, having them be the ones to delineatethe qualities of a great production is much better. Mystudents really wanted to create something that was betterthan any of the samples they listened to. They really wanted

Get Stick Around for iPad and turnwhat you know into a game!

to avoid the mistakes they heard others make.

Because students might have some harsh criticism of sampleprojects, I made sure those samples were not by students atour school. I didn’t want negative feedback to get back to thesamples’ authors. Luckily, we can find student-created mediaonline. I like to pick some really good ones and some not-so-good ones, so students can describe what they should andshould not do/include/say in their own productions.

Padlet can help capture students’ observations aboutexample media. Here’s a Padlet wall, What Makes a QualityPodcast?, where teachers in my workshop posted theirthoughts after watching and listening to a variety ofpodcasts. Padlet works on just about any device with a webbrowser. The teacher can create a wall and share the link orQR code with students. Students simple double-click thebackground to add a post. The teacher can organize the postsand refer students back to the wall as a reminder of whatstudents wrote about the sample productions.

Padlet Tip: In a wall’s Settings, click Privacy and turn onModeration so that nothing is posted without your approval.

Some questions that help guide a discussion about sampleproductions:

What did you notice?What did you really like?What could have been better?What is missing?What could have been left out?

That last question above is a good one for students to askthemselves about their own projects. Oftentimes studentsthink that everything they have written, recorded, or filmedneeds to be included. That’s just not so. Trimming a

production to what is essential may be difficult, but theaudience will appreciate it. A concise message is usually morepowerful than a longer one. French author Antione de Saint-Exupery has a great quote: “A designer knows he hasachieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, butwhen there is nothing left to take away.”

What’s better than samples from the web? Samples made bythe teacher! Doing a project yourself is one of the best waysto know if the project is doable. You might discover hurdlesthat students will encounter when they do their projects. Bestof all, doing the project conveys the importance of the work. Ilike what Will Richardson said in this article: "Schools andclassrooms should support a deep culture of 'doing work thatmatters,' where the adults in the building serve as models forthe type of creating and learning we might expect from kids.”

Seventh grade teacher Pernille Ripp has a great take on doingyour own projects. She says, “Before you ask students to dosomething, ask yourself if you would do it willingly. If theanswer is no, then don’t expect you students to do it either.” Iwould add, “If the answer is yes, then do it!” Don’t worry. Yourmodel project doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, studentsenjoy critiquing their teacher’s work. They like finding flawsand telling you about them. Challenge your student toproduce something better than you did.

See These Samples

I’ve collected some endproductions generated fromproject based learning. Many ofthese examples are superb.Others could be better, but teachers and students can stilllearn from them.

A good production should do two things. It should show

evidence that the creators learned something. It should alsosomehow make a dent in the universe. That dent could bemade by doing things like educators others, documenting alearning experience, solving a problem, calling people toaction, or inspiring others.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SAMPLES

How can we sharewhat we know aboutbutterflies?

Documentary withkindergartners whotalk about sharingtheir learning aboutbutterflies

How can we raiseawareness for theproblems facing giantpandas?

iBook by 4th graders

Should we killspiders?

Video bykindergartners

What should weteach others aboutthe metric system?

Digital book by a 4thgraders

How do people buyand sell goods?

Video by 1st gradersabout how they soldtrail mix

What would it be liketo be friends with a

historical figure?

Comics by thirdgraders

MIDDLE SCHOOL SAMPLES

How can we conservewater?

Video by 7th gradersis Hawaii

The Safari Park boardhas asked you to helpestablish an animalfriendly park.

Blog post with photosof 6th graders’ products.

Prove that corporal

punishment shouldnot be used.

Video by an 8thgrader

How can I convinceothers to dress forsuccess?

TED style talk by an8th grader

Design an innovativeapp.

Middle schoolers inNewHampshire developed ChowChecker, an Androidapp

How can we improvethe quality of thewater in ourcommunity?

Documentary by 6thgraders in California

HIGH SCHOOL SAMPLES

What if Upton Sinclairnever wrote TheJungle?

Video by a historystudent

Books to Films

Students write, act,direct, produce, andscreen adaptations ofshort stories

Westside Wired

School news website

completely producedby students

High Tech High

Links to dozens ofprojects and booksauthored by students

What amount of meatshould be served inthe dining hall toachieve the lowestcost?

Video by calculusstudents at MadeiraSchool

What should 5thgraders know aboutthe Constitution?

Shyann published anonline book to teach

kids about the U.S.Constitution

I have so say that finding products made through projectbased learning is difficult. I know that not all projects areposted online. I realize that many projects have a discreteaudience and don’t need to be publicly available.Unfortunately, some terrific projects that were public havedisappeared. It’s shame that a project’s life on the webexpires when the school year does. If you have a great projectto share, please let me know. I’d love to make my list ofsample end products better!

I found several projects through Twitter. If you search for thehashtags #pbl and #pblchat, chances are you'll see photosfrom classrooms that are currently involved in project basedlearning. It's inspiring to get a glance at what's going on inother classrooms!

6th grade students run the concession stand after learning about money and profit #pbl #hotdogstand 7:49 PM - 4 Feb 2014

Linsly School @linslyschool

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2 FAVORITES

Check out our Constitution Visuals created by some of our awesome students!! #PBL #CCNTH #historyisfun 11:21 AM - 10 Oct 2014

Brandon Sligh @SlighBrandon

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1 RETWEET 1 FAVORITE

Andrea O and Ari F: "How often do students go to the library? How long do they stay?" #PBL & #statistics 11:45 AM - 16 Oct 2014

Crittenden Middle @crittendenmvwsd

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1 FAVORITE

#pbl thanksgiving dinner 11:36 AM - 25 Nov 2014

Kathy Walcott @kathy_walcott

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Cool Tools

These tools are cool because theymake slick products and are fairlysimple to use. You probably don’twant to have to teach studentshow to use an app or website. It'sbest when students can figure out how to use it themselves. Ifstudents get stuck, they can refer to the website’s help sectionor Google their issue. This means that the teacher doesn’thave to be an expert in the apps students use. Beingsomewhat familiar with what’s available is helpful, but youdon’t have to be a know-it-all in order for students to use adigital production tool. Most of the tools below are free andrun on a variety of devices. It's by no means an all-inclusivelist. I know I've left out loads of great tools, but I want to letyou know about some possibilities.

SLIDESHOWS& VISUALS

30handsImport imagesand record anarration for eachphoto. It's onlyavailable for iOS.

CanvaUse Cana'stemplates todesign beautifulvisuals. It'savailablefor Web and iPad.

Google SlidesGoogle Slides ispart of GoogleDrive and can beused to makeslideshows thatcan be sharedonline. It'savailable for Web,Android, and iOS.

Haiku Deck

AUDIO & VIDEO

ExplainEverythingUse an interactivewhiteboard toannotate,animate, narrate,and exportinstructionalvideos.It's available for Android, iOS,and Windows 8.

GarageBandRecord and editaudio. You canadd effects andmusic. It's onlyavailablefor iOS and Mac.

iMovieEdit togethervideos, photos,and narrations orcreate a movietrailer. It'savailablefor Mac and iOS.

BOOKS & COMICS

Book CreatorUse drawing andtext tools to makedigital books. It'savailable forAndroid and iPad.

Comic CreatorCreate simplecomics by addingspeech bubbles,pre-drawnimages, and yourown pictures. It'savailablefor Android and Kindle.A similar app isavailable for iOS.

InkleWriterTell an interactivestory by writingbranching/chooseyour adventurestories. It's onlyavailable for Web.

Pixton

Create and sharesimpleslideshows. HaikuDeck includeshandy copyrightfriendly imagesearch andcitation features. It's availablefor Web and iPad.

Pic CollageCombine text andimages to makestylish posters. It'savailable forAndroid, Kindle,and iOS.

PowtoonCreate animatedvideos andpresentations. It'sonly availablefor Web.

PreziCreate and sharepresentations thatzoom around alarge canvas. It'savailable forWeb and iPad.

ThingLinkMake an imageinteractive by

Record MP3Simply click therecord button tostart audiorecording. Whendone, copy thelink to share themp3. It's onlyavailable for Web.

Shadow PuppetEduCombine photosand videos withimages from theweb and record anarration. It's onlyavailable for iOS.

SoundationOnline audiorecording andediting with over700 free loopsand sounds. It'sonly available forWeb.

VideoScribeCreate your ownwhiteboard-styleanimations. It'savailable for Web,Android, Kindle,and iPad.

WeVideo

Add your ownimages or usePixton’s charactergenerator andclipart to makeand share comicstrips. It's onlyavailable for Web.

SmoreCreate beautifulonline flyers byselecting atemplate andinserting yourinformation andimages. It's onlyavailable for Web.

Strip DesignerCreate an entirecomic book usingyour ownpictures and saveas a PDF. Includeslots of specialeffects. It's onlyavailable for iOS.

ZooBurstMake your ownonline pop upbooks. It's onlyavailable for Web.

adding clickabletargets that canopen notes, links,or videos. It'savailable for Web,Android, and iOS.

Edit togethermovies, photostories, andslideshows. It'savailable for Web,Android, Kindle,and iOS.

I maintain an infographic called Show WhatYou Know Using Web and Mobile Apps. It hasdozens of tools students could use to maketheir final productions. The apps areorganized into the products they create, likecollages, comics, slideshows, animations, andscreencasts.

The Show What You Know infographic’smobile apps are for iPads. Some of thosesame apps are available from the Google PlayStore for Android. You may want to check outa list I’ve made of iPad Apps that are also onAndroid.

It’s great that there are so many fantastic apps and websitesfor creating digital productions. It’s important for students tohave a choice in how they show their learning. As the teacher,you get to decide if the world is their oyster or if they choosefrom a menu of options. Either way, having choice is aneffective way to motivate students. Harvard Business Reviewwrote about a study that concludes that “when we chose forourselves, we are far more committed to the outcome–by afactor of five to one.”

Another reason to give choices is that tools disappear.

Companies may be sold, close down, or change businessmodels. This has certainly happened to popular apps andsites like Posterous, Vizify, Ask3, Xtranormal, and Fotopedia.Having a selection of tools means that when one goesmissing, you can choose to use a different one.

Proud teacher watching my students create amazing #pbl projects today @alvin_jh!! 6:44 PM - 26 Sep 2013

Kaysie Hastings @hastings_kaysie

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2 RETWEETS 2 FAVORITES

Students working to finish up their newscasts! #AMCMScatPride #pbl 11:39 AM - 5 Nov 2014

Stephen Alexander @alexanderedtech

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Real World Experience in math- Ss creating graphs with partners! @Woodridge68 @Meadowview68 @TeachLearn68 9:55 AM - 20 Nov 2014

Melody Dybas @MsDybas

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6th grade students making stop motion movies for #pbl #wherewouldyoubuildyourdreamhouse 1:21 AM - 24 Nov 2014

Barbara Wright @babs686ca

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Make It Sticky

Have you read Made to Stick by Chipand Dan Heath? I have, and I think thethe Heath brothers’ research on whatmakes a sticky idea can help improvestudent productions. A sticky idea is onethat an audience can understand, remember, and retell.Those sound like traits we want to see in our students'

products!

The authors have identified six traits for stickiness. The moretraits used in a production, the stickier that communicationwill be. Chip and Dan Heath’s SUCCES model does notsuccessfully spell the word success, but it can help studentsmake their project more successful. I explain the SUCCESmodel in this infographic.

Productions can also be made stickier by having compellingillustrations. I've produced a video for teachers and studentsabout using free images. The video demonstrates threewebsites for finding images that you can legally use in yourmedia without having to ask permission. A transcript withweb links is available.

EDUCATORS STUDENTS

So Refined

There’s always a way to make aproduction even better. With peer,teacher, and maybe even expertinput, students can revise theirproject to make their ideas conciseand more meaningful to theiraudience. Because of time restraints, we often do not build intime for students to iterate on their projects. They turn it infor a grade and the class is on to their next unit of study.However, scheduling time for revision can make productionsreally shine. Getting the details just right and upping the levelof craftsmanship makes for a product that students are veryproud to show off and a product that is appreciated by itsaudience.

Because time is a huge constraint, be proactive by settingstudents up for success. When my students produced videos,I required them to meet with me before filming began. We’dreview their scripts and storyboards to be sure that thecontent was just right. Also, I could give them tips forproducing their videos. If I gave them these tips after filming,they would have to redo a lot of video, which would be amassive time eater. For other projects, it might make sensefor students to run their drafts by their peers. Additionally,students may be able to Skype/Hangout/FaceTime with anexpert and get their feedback before proceeding with theirproductions. Charity Allen and John Larmer have writtenabout using Gallery Walks to improve student work. Theyquote Ron Berger who says we want feedback to be “kind,specific, and helpful.”

Since there is always a wayto make a production better,students could spend weeksand weeks revising. There’scertainly not time for that. Soat some point the projectdoes need to be finished. Itmay not be absolutelypolished, and that’s a-ok.Kevin Honeycutt and Irecently had a conversation about the time it takes forperfection. “Perfect is the enemy of done,” he declaredsuccinctly.

Assessing It

A project’s rubric or checklist is notonly a method for determining agrade for a project, but it can be aguide to help refine the project.

I once knew a teacher who had apile of student projects sitting on her desk. After I saw thatthe pile had not moved in a couple weeks, I asked her aboutit. She said her students were bugging her about their gradesfor the project. I asked what was the hold up in grading. Shesaid she was slow at developing the rubric, which was keepingher from assessing the projects. Yikes! That means herstudents were blindly doing their projects, not knowing howthey were going to be evaluated. They were without clearguidelines on how to refine a project to meet its goals andstandards.

You don’t have to start from scratch to develop yourassessment, but you really should have your assessmentready at the start of the project. You can create rubrics and

A14: After sharing projects with the class, students KNOW how they did compared to peers. Often will want to refine it themselves #BYOTchat

Ashley Cross @Ashly2499

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checklists with help from:

RubiStarFor All RubricsProject Based Learning ChecklistsBuck Institute for Education RubricsPBL Rubrics from the West Virginia Department ofEducationGuide to Writing Scoring RubricsGoogle search for rubrics and checklist for similarprojects

Incorporating student input into a project’s criteria is a greatway to get them involved. And, they might have some reallygood ideas to add after they have critiqued sampleproductions.

I hear so often “the process is more important than theproduct." However, the product is the manifestation of theprocess. And in the real world, the product matters more thanthe process. Take my iPad app, Stick Around. People who pay$2.99 for the product really don’t care about the developmentprocess we went through and the 1.5 years it took to authorit. They care about the product they have installed on theiriPads, not about everything we did to get it into the App Store.End products do matter. So I think that a project’s assessmentshould certainly evaluate the end product. Students are alsolearning and practicing valuable skills (the "process"), so thosecan also be assessed, too.

And remember, frequent feedback is best. I alreadymentioned why early feedback can save time and make forbetter projects. If you are assessing collaboration skills, thenyou can’t wait for the conclusion of the project to assessthose. You might have daily self-assessments, make periodicobservations, and conduct peer reviews.

Truthfully, my fifth graders’ usually earned As on theirprojects. That’s because they knew exactly how I was going tograde the projects before they ever began working on them. Iconstantly checked in with them to make sure they were onthe right track. If their end product wasn’t the best it could be,I gave students opportunities to revise before their finalassessment.

Watch the video from Edutopia about embedding assessmentthrough the project.

Getting the Word Out

Today we have many avenues forsharing student work. There areblogs, websites, eBooks, YouTube,and social media. AlanNovember believes, “Teachersneed to stop saying ‘Hand it in,’and start saying, ‘Publish it,’ instead.”

If you have a class website, that’s probably a great place topublish. Or, consider using siteslike KidsBlog, Blogger, Weebly, or Google Sites. Keep in mindthat the tool that students use might already have its own

method of publishing. For example, Shadow Puppet Edu canupload right to get-puppet.co You can paste that URL intoanother site or use the provided embed code to insert it rightinto another webpage.

Publishing is just the first step for getting an audience. Theintended audience needs to know that the production exists.You might even include the promotion of the end product aspart of the project. Some ways to get the word out about theproduction include:

Pasting the link to the product into a QR code: Post thatQR code around school, and put it brochures, postcards,and newsletters.Posting the linkon Twitter Facebook, Pinterest, and/or GooglePlus: Figure out what hashtags your intended audiencemight use and include those. Using hashtags like#comments4kids, #pbl, and #pblchat can get projects infront of other educators’ eyeballs.Collating all projects into one page: ThingLink is handyfor doing this in a visual way. Here’s an example.Scheduling a red carpet premiere of videos: Inviteparents and the community to see what students havecreated. Don’t forget the popcorn.Having a TED Talk night: Students deliver short, wellrehearsed presentations to an audience.

#mannscience #PBL look at these good looking presenters! So proud of all my students. #amazing 3:13 PM - 17 Apr 2014

Amanda Mann @amann4edu

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MNTHS students and families celebrating students' science videos! Thanks parents! #pbl #class2017 7:57 PM - 30 Sep 2014

Stephanie Hart @HartScienceRox

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School holds #ComicCon showcasing student projects: hubs.ly/y0fhmC0 @JoplinGlobe #pblchat #pbl 4:51 PM - 29 Oct 2014

Alma @GetAlma

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Reflect on It

John Dewey knew that reflection isessential to learning. He asserted, “Wedo not learn from experience… welearn from reflecting on experience.”

You might reserve time for students toreflect daily on their progress andcollect those reflections in a journal or as an exit ticket. Youfor sure want to have time for students to reflect at the end ofthe project. By reviewing their process and their product, theycan really consider what went well and what to do better nexttime.

Edutopia has a list of 40 reflection questions that look back,inward, and outward. I used many of these questions to makemy random reflection question link. Clicking this link will take

you to one of 30 reflection questions I’ve programmed intothe HTML. Students in small groups can call up a questionand explain their answers to their peers. For even morefun, take a look at the dice I made as a way for students toexpress their response to the reflection questions.

Don’t forget that you as the teacher should also reflect on theproject. Write down your thoughts and things you want toremember for the next project.

You Know Better Than Anyone

The productions your studentsmake depend on their abilities andinterests and the availability ofresources and time. As theteacher, you get to juggle all the variables to guide studentstoward quality end products that serve as evidence oflearning. Yes, it takes a lot of class time to do project basedlearning. And, you probably can’t teach everything through aproject. But a project may be an excellent instructionalstrategy for some of the content and skills your students needto learn.

When I taught fifth grade, my students were often activelyinvolved in projects. So much so that a fourth grade teacherdown the hall confronted me in the teachers lounge one day.She looked at me over her glasses, slowly shook her head,and said, “Tony, it seems every time I pass by your classroom,you aren’t teaching.”

She and I obviously have different definitions of teaching. Ibelieve a teacher is much more than a dispenser of

information–it’s a teacher’s job to create learningexperiences. Chances are those experiences do not involvequiet classrooms with all eyes on the teacher. In projectbased learning, the teachers does less standing in front of theroom and more coaching, modeling, and mentoring withindividuals and small groups. Formulating a project andguiding students through inquiry, sharing, and reflecting is alot of work. Outsiders don't see all that work by just glancinginto a classroom.

Krissy Venosdale observes, “A good chapter in a textbookprepares kids for a test. A great authentic learning experienceprepares students for life.” Put simply, time and energy forproject based learning is well worth it!

LEARNING THROUGH PROJECTS - THREE PRIMERS

POSTS INVESTIGATING AUTHENTIC QUESTIONS

Tony Vincent 1 Comment

Project Based Learning

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Hello Tony,I really agree with you. As an art history teacher I creatematerial but I like sharing what I do... and as well I likelearning from other colleagues

My site: https://sites.google.com/a/mataro.epiaedu.cat/flipped-classroom/homeMy flipped videos:https://vimeo.com/channels/historiadelart

Keep sharing,

@ManelTrenchs

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