Session+5

**__Session Five__**

**5.1: Introduction to Project-Based Learning**

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//1) What opportunities for project-based learning currently exist within your department? // The World Languages Department offers many opportunities for project-based learning, including in-class projects relating to vocabulary such as family trees and travel brochures, research projects on regions of France and French-speaking countries, poetry reviews and recitations and group skits and presentations incorporating culture, grammar and vocabulary studied in class. //2) What opportunities does project-based learning provide for our students? // Project-based learning offers students a chance to work independently or to explore group process work as they delve more deeply into particular aspects of the material that are especially interesting to them. It is mostly student directed, so it complements well-organized and concise mini-lessons well. I think it is potentially good practice for university-level study, where students are required to do much of their work on their own outside of class. //3) What potential weaknesses exist in this approach to education? // ﻿I think the biggest potential weakness to project-based learning is that students run the risk of taking on either too much or too little when designing their projects, or they do not manage their time well. There is the possibility that students will not balance progress and product effectively, getting bogged down in their work or hastily assembling a poorly-done project with little substance. With group projects, there is the potential that each person might not complete his or her portion of the work, thereby derailing the project for the entire group. In order to avoid these and other potential pitfalls, the teacher must very clearly explain expectations and set ground rules for effective, thoughtful independent or group work.


 * 5.4: Glogging **

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I love the concept of Glogster as a way for students to create paperless projects. I think in time I could get used to using it, but I found it to be cumbersome and somewhat limiting on both my home computer, a rather elderly MacBook, and my school computer, which I suspect suffers from some sort of electronic emphysema given its constant wheezy protests. It was challenging to get meaningful amounts of text into the windows (unless I missed something - rather likely as the heat has been getting to me). I also couldn't get accent marks to appear with the normal keystrokes on my Mac, and I couldn't type anything at all into the text windows until I switched from Safari to a more mainstream browser. In short, it seems like a great tool for those who have the appropriate equipment, and despite the difficulties, I had fun putting together my online poster.