Project Based Learning
Project Based Learning
Real-World Connection
Project-based multimedia learning strives to be real. It seeks to connect students’ work in
school with the wider world in which students live.
Extended Time Frame
A good project is not a one-shot lesson; it extends over a significant period of time. It may be
days, weeks or months.
The actual length of a project may vary with the age of the students and the nature of the
project.
Assessment – regardless of the teaching method used, data must be gathered on what students have
learned.
When using project-based multimedia learning, teachers face additional assessment challenges
because multimedia products by themselves do not represent a full picture of student learning.
Assessments have Three Difference Roles in the Project-based
Multimedia Context;
Activities for developing expectations.
Activities for improving the media products; and
Activities for compiling and disseminating evidence of learning.
Multimedia – as students design and research their projects, instead of gathering only written notes,
they also gather – and create – pictures, video clips, recordings and other media objects that will later
serve as the raw material for their final product.
Why Use Project-Based Multimedia Learning?
1. Identifying, organizing, planning and allocating time, money, materials, and workers.
2. Negotiating, exercising leadership, working with diversity, teaching others new skills, serving
clients and customers, and participating as a team member.
3. Selecting technology, applying technology to a task and maintaining and troubleshooting
technology.
Teaching the New Basic Skills, Richard Murname and Frank Levy (1996)
describe three sets of skills that students need to be competitive for
today’s job.
Hard Skills (math, reading, and problem-solving mastered at a higher level than previously
expected of high school graduates);
Soft Skills (for example, the ability to work in a group and to make effective oral and written
presentations); and the ability to use a personal computer to carry out routine tasks (for example,
word processing, data management, and creating multimedia presentation).