Five Ways to Incorporate Tech Into Project Based Learning

Stephen Mosley
Jul 25, 2017 · 3 min read

In a nutshell, PBL is essentially instruction where students acquire new skills or new knowledge when a single issue or question is investigated. In the end, students produce a product to show what they’ve learned. And, because of the nature of technology and its ability to promote research, collaboration, and presentations, it’s no accident that PBL has become more prevalent as technology has begun to take hold in education.

So how can technology take an active part in PBL? Technology makes PBL much more accessible for both the student and the teacher in that many of the tasks that PBL demands, such as the aforementioned tasks of collaboration, research, and presentation, are much easier to produce with an iPad or Chromebook. The following are suggestions on how to use iPads or Chromebooks when conducting PBL.

1. Create Interest: One of the essential parts of PBL is creating interest in a topic for the student. Sure, you can facilitate a discussion or pass out reading material to students about the topic, but why would you do that when you’ve got a perfectly good set of iPads or Chromebooks at your disposal? Why not peak students interest using a YouTube video about the event? Show a brief few minute video that would entice the students to want to know more or ask questions.

2. Collaboration: Collaboration is also a key element of PBL because part of PBL involves the students learning how to effectively collaborate together. And again, what makes technology so great is that it make collaboration easy. A small group can easily work on a project together putting together a Google Drawing or Google Slides. Perhaps they want to create a brochure using Google Docs where collaboration is easy. Students can collaborate creating a presentation using the Explain Everything app.

3. Task Managers: Since collaboration is a key to PBL, assigning tasks to their group members can play a key part in group work. Students can use task managers such as Google Keep or Evernote to separate work assignments and create deadlines when certain aspects of the project need to be completed. If they’ve got access to iPads, the Reminders app lends itself perfectly to creating deadlines and to do’s.

4. Sharing Their Progress: Teachers can check on their students progress using different tech tools. Using Seesaw (app and online), teachers can ask groups to post their daily progress in a class journal which could then be turned into an accessible website. Students could be asked to fill out a daily Google Form about their progress. They can also use Blogger to create a blog about how their project is going, posting daily on their progress.

5. Creating a Product: Ultimately, students are going to create a product showing what they’ve learned about a particular topic. In doing so, part of what makes PBL so great is that the teacher can give the students a choice on how they want to show off their findings. An iPad or Chromebook lend themselves perfectly to student choice. They can use their technology to create a podcast, a video, or a multimedia presentation. They can use a tool such as Explain Everything (online or app) or present using Google Slides Q&A. Using Google Slides Q&A, students can elicit questions and answer them as they go or at the end of their presentation. They can use their tablets to create brochures, comic strips using presentation apps such as Apple’s Keynote or Googles Slides. Students can create short books about their topic using Book Creator (app or online).

Stephen Mosley

Written by

Educator/Writer/Tech Enthusiast

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade