Project Based Learning Approach

     When I signed up to take this course in project-based learning, I didn't fully know what to expect. I had done some projects in high school and during my time teaching at the high school and middle school level but I was not sure how the course would improve my teaching. I envisioned looking at several examples of projects and how they worked or looking at a variety of different technologies (such as smart boards, etc) and becoming educated on using these devices. While this would have been a useful course to take, I'm not sure that it would have benefitted me terribly in my present teaching since my school doesn't have a lot of resources or money available for such pieces of technology.
     However, once we began to delve deeper into the course and I found the the class was designed so that we could become more familiar with technologies and resources that were already available to use through the internet, I got excited. Many of the activities that we designed and readings that we did, dealt especially with things that I can use tomorrow. I instantly saw the benefit of the course.
     One of the technologies that I learned about was website building. I hadn't really thought of ways to use these in my classroom and I didn't know that there were tools available to me that would allow all of my students to create their own product. Since learning about site-building, I have already used Good Sites and Weebly in my classroom in mini projects that my students have done.
     There are many other technologies that I have used that I find to be extremely valuable to my teaching in the future. A number of these resources - such as podcasts and screencasts - allow a teacher to show a skill or give information and not have to repeat themselves over and over again! It makes assigning and creating projects that much easier.
     Through this course I was able to create a project that I will use in the very near future. However, the more valuable part is that I gained skills with new pieces of readily available technology that will help students becoming more interested in history and help me become a more effective teacher.