Group Work and Project Based Learning

Last week I started a class about Project Based Learning. I had actually never heard that term before, but had an idea since I've been around teaching for awhile now. The first week was really difficult. I felt so stressed out at the end of every day that I thought I was going to explode by Friday. Throughout the week and over the weekend I tried to evaluate why the class was so stressful for me so that I could handle it better. This is a two week, three hour a day course, so there isn't much time for decompressing between classes. I think the stressful part of the class for me has been twofold - not having a good outline of what I am expected to learn, and navigating interpersonal relationships when I am also dealing with a lot of interpersonal relationship issues at home every evening as well.

I find that I need time to organize information in my mind and I need to get a general outline of what I am expected to do so that I can work efficiently. I do well with having work modeled or having examples so I can get a good idea of the big picture. I don't do well when I have to work blind because it doesn't have any real meaning for me.

What I have realized is that I need to make sure I give my students lots of modeling before I expect them to do a project.

Technology in Our Lives Today

I believe that technology is progress. It may not be perfect, but it isn't going away and we need to find the best way to use it. We need to use it to add worth to our lives instead of taking worth from our lives. In addition, as educators we should be prepared to teach our students to use technology in healthy ways.

The following slideshow is a compilation of quotes about technology that were interesting to me:



So, what are appropriate, healthy uses for technology in our time? I don't have a good, solid answer for that in each and every situation, so all I can say is that I know it when I see it. And I also know when I see technology being used in unhealthy ways.

Here are some good examples of healthy technology use that I have seen in my online life:

• Word of Mouth Bistro opened last year in Salem, Oregon in a location that has had notorious issues with businesses going under. They not only have survived, but people often wait for 20-40 minutes for a table because it is just that good. In addition to being a well-run, tasty restaurant they really did rely on word of mouth to spread their name. One of the only forms of "advertisement" they have used is an email list and a Twitter account where they advertise their daily specials. When something looks particularly mouth watering people will repost their tweet and it gets passed on that way. This is a thoroughly modern word of mouth approach and it has worked amazingly well for them. (@wordofmouthOR)
• La Capitale is another restaurant that has used social media to build their reputation. The restaurant opened a couple of years ago and has gained an amazing reputation. Most of the key players in the restaurant such as the owner/chef, bartender, hostess, etc, have their own Twitter accounts and have built relationships with other local Twitter folks. Unlike Word of Mouth who uses their account to post specials, La Capitale has just worked on building relationships with people through their accounts and then those people try out the restaurant and spread the word around town.(@kidcapitale @robdrinkenstein)
• Melina Tomson is a real estate agent in Salem who has a very active and informational blog about living in Salem, Oregon. She focuses on building a site which will draw people who are moving to the Salem area, who then contact her to help them find a home to buy. 
• Karen moved to Salem from out of state and didn't know anyone in the area. She has used Twitter to meet local people and build friendships. It also functioned as a place to share her feelings and the struggles that came along with uprooting her life and trying to start over in a new location.
• Online classes! This has allowed me to get my Master's while still working and being a self-sufficient adult. Even though online classes will never compare to face-to-face instruction for me, I think they really have their place and make life so much easier for working people who want/need to go back to school.
• The eatsalem.com blog was started because Salem had almost no online presence. There was no place to go online and find good, up-to-date, real information about restaurants in the area, so SalemMan (online alias) started it up and it is one of the most well-read blogs about Salem. After seeing the success of eatsalem.com, SalemMan started the salemites.com blog as a place to compile all Salem related blogs and websites. Neither one is particularly pretty and certainly not perfect, but they do the job of consolidating Salem related websites in one convenient place for local residents.
• Personally, Facebook allowed me to reconnect with an old friend from childhood who had moved to Kansas. We recently went on a girl's getaway trip to Arizona for a long weekend. We had been out of contact for over 6 years before that and it was through Facebook that I was able to find her phone number and reconnect.

I'm sure there are countless other instances of technology being used to enhance lives. As long as there are human beings there will always be a dark side to new inventions, but that doesn't make the whole thing a terrible idea. Yes, as Jaron Lanier says in You Are Not a Gadget (2010), online anonymity can create trolls out of people, but that doesn't mean it has to. I think a combination of changes in the technology we use, teaching online social etiquette, and changing laws governing technology would go a long way to making the future a better place for humans and technology to reside together.