Summary of contents of the course on PBL run by Teacher Academy in 2016

1. This is me, Elena Pezzi!
Hi everybody! I'm Elena, I teach Spanish in a secondary school in Bologna, Italy. I love my job
and I constantly try to adapt my teaching methods to what fits the best to my students.
At school I am currently working in a 2.0 environment and I try to put in practice PBL
methodology, that is why I have registered in this course ... to learn something more!
I like reading, learning, cooking, knitting, but, above all ... travelling!! (don't you see the
wonderful Macarella's Bay in Menorca?)
Something more about my lifelong

2. learning ...
and PBL teaching ...
The school where I teach is a secondary school in the centre of Bologna. It is a very old and
historical building, as well as some colleague's frame of mind ...
PBL methodology is not very well known in my school although I try to implement it in my
everyday teaching ... I have been eTwinning Ambassador since 2009 and I think that PBL and
eTwinning can work together very well ...
That is why we began to implement the use of ICT in my school: first of all, the computers
room, then some electronic whiteboards in some classes, then some pc and now we have got
two classes where we "experiment" a mixed and mobile setting done by netbooks, notebooks,
tablets and smartphones. Some of them have been bought by the school, some of them are
BYOD.
Together with a PBL way of working, students are much more engaged in their own learning
process, learn much more one from each other and have access a much wider range of
knowledge than before.
As I have said before, some colleagues of mine have the same frame of mind, some don't ...
but I strongly believe that our students will engage them ... We just have to wait a little more
until it is a ...

3. Don't you know what eTwinning is???
As I have said before, a relevant part of my professional life is related to eTwinning, where I
learn, teach, share, run projects, find friends ...
If you still don't know it ... don't miss this wonderful opportunity! Register immediately!
Module 1.1 What is PBL
Any questions you have about PBL...
Well, more than questions about PBL I can say that for me, teacher of foreign languages, it has
always been clear that "The approach adopted here, generally speaking, is an action-
oriented one in so far as it views users and learners of a language primarily as ‘social
agents’, i.e. members of society who have tasks (not exclusively language-related) to

4. accomplish in a given set of circumstances, in a specific environment and within a particular
field of action" (CEFRL, chapt.2). I know that it is not exactly the same, but it has been
extremely important for me in order to recognize my path... Teaching and learning a foreign
language immediately puts you in a "project based situation", where rules, grammar and
structures are just the tools to build your communicative competence ...
What you hope to learn on this course...
A deeper understanding of what PBL is and how to implement it better and better in my
classes (because I perfectly know that it works!)
What challenges you anticipate in adopting PBL in your school...
In Italy teachers (especially in secondary schools) are still centered on a content-based-
learning; what I find very difficult (but also challenging) with some of my colleagues is to make
them understand how stimulating a PBL approach can be. Students can be the key: as the
videos say, they can demonstrate to their teachers the 4 Cs that PBL encourages: critical
thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity.
Module 1.2 Why use PBL
Why you think PBL is not used more widely in our education systems?
Because (at least in Italy) we are still pretty too much centered on a content-based-learning,
misunderstanding that a PBL approach not only fosters higher competences but also a deeper
acquisition of contents...

5. What is stopping us from achieving what is outlined in the video? What are the biggest
challenges we as educators face and who is stopping us from adopting the PBL
approach in our classrooms?
I think that fear is stopping us... Most of us do not feel comfortable when students have an
active and independent attitude towards learning: critical thinking, collaboration, creativity
suppose that teacher is more like a coach than a "lecturer". We are obliged to redefine our role
and position in the class, passing from a leading position to a side-by-side training, using
different methods and tools, learning to be flexible according to our students needs. In a word:
we have to change our mind...
Something and someone which helped
me a lot...
A great teacher, trainer, researcher, but above all ... friend! Thanks to Enzo Zecchi who helped

6. me to discover PBL and to put it into practice in my classes!
For Italian-speaking teachers, here you are quite a long conversation with Enzo about PBL,
learning environment and PNSD (we talked with him during our last eTwinning Learning Event:
"eTwinning, PNSD e AD - il valore aggiunto della coprogettazione digitale nell’innovazione
della scuola italiana" that we ran together Laura Maffei, Marilina Lonigro, Paola Arduini and I)

7. Module 1.3 P2P - Reflections on our
current teaching practice
What teaching strategy do you use most commonly? What do YOU do most of the time in the
classroom? What do the students do most of the time? Do you feel your current approach
could be easily complemented with a PBL approach? Do you sometimes have the problem
that students don't remember what they "learned" the day before? How do you address this?
Do you already use some of the PBL approaches mentioned in the video? What works, doesn't
work? Why? How do you find out about your student needs and how do you incorporate this
knowledge in your teaching? Finish your reflection by identifying a class and a subject
topic that you teach which you can use to experiment with PBL.
Well, as a foreign language teacher, what I normally do when I am with my students is to mix

8. some teaching strategies, but the core of my teaching method is an action-oriented approach
(according to CEFRL) where students have to accomplish tasks (not exclusively language-
related) that vary according to environment, circumstances and settings.
I think that this approach can be very easily complemented with a PBL approach (in fact, I
think that both approaches have a wide range of similarities), especially when you combine it
with an eTwinning project which has - in my opinion - some good aspects:
1. language is used as a communicative tool, to DO things with language, and it isn't studied
for itself (= it is real)
2. students have to come to an agreement about activities to carry on together (= they have to
take into account specific circumstances and environment)
3. they have to "produce" something that is the result of their critical thinking, communication,
collaboration and creativity (= non googleable activities)
4. they remember what they "learned" because it is relevant for them, it is not something that
teachers have imposed (= it is meaningful)
Two years ago we ran a project called "El viaje maravilloso" ("The wonderful journey") where
they had to "build" their own journey through some countries in Latin America, discovering
culture, traditions, literature, art and so on sharing ideas and experiences with their
international partners.
Next year I think I will do the same with another project, "La voz de la mitad de la tierra" ("The
voice of one half of the earth") related with the image of the woman all over Europe throughout
the history. They should discuss, collect information, share ideas, propose solutions, be
creative together with their partners in order to be "better 21st Century human beings" ...
This kind of approach is successful only if each student is actively engaged in the process, if
they know that it is something relevant, that reaches an important learning objective, otherwise
they will do what Enzo Zecchi said in his speech: "there is a group of students who will work
hard, another group who will "sunbathe" with other teammates work and finally a third group
who will hang around..."

9. 1.4 Components of Good PBL
What I find the most challenging for me is assessment. I think that it is so perhaps because I
am quite familiar with the four other keys and I've been working on them with my students for
quite a long time ... but assessment is still hard to manage ... You have to build specific
assessment rubrics and what I wish is to create them together with my students, in order to
engage them also in an authentic assessment process ... Sill a long way to do ... but I
completely agree with the last image of the video...
As I have said before, it is not difficult for me to find real-world connection while teaching
Spanish (not even when I teach them Literature...), because every single topic can be used to
build a project to work on. That is why I find PBL approach easy to match with my curriculum
(core to learning) and with my ways of organising students collaboration (it is not difficult to do
although in Italy we still have very "teacher table centered" classrooms...). If you adopt a
"Student driven" approach you can easily understand that they are more deeply engaged,
more responsible and very proud of what they discover ...
That is why I am sure that my very next step is to actively engage myself and my students in a
scientific experimentation of "multifaceted assessment" (I am working on it, but I am sure that I
can do better and better)

10. Module 1.5 The Driving Question
It is very interesting to think about how to transform a question into a Non-Googleable one...
For instance. Question 1: “What does it mean to be a healthy eater?” Turn the question
into a non-Googleable question.
My proposal:
Let's organise an eTwinning project: "The best school canteen you have never seen"
Together with our European partners let's create the perfect menu for our school canteens that
is healty, tasty and ... full of our local traditions!
Non-Googleable Question 2: “How are airplane wings constructed?”
Was Leonardo a fool? What do you think if we try to rebuild one of his inventions and see if it

11. works?
Module 1.6 P2P - Your PBL Design:
Formulating your driving question
As I have said before, next year I think I will organise an eTw project, called "La voz de la
mitad de la tierra" ("The voice of one half of the earth") related with the image of the woman
all over Europe throughout the history.
Our driving question could be:
“The role of women in the world: what can we do in order to be better 21st Century
human beings? Could history help us to understand the voice of the other half of the
heart? Let’s discover it together..."
My context: Italian students, 17-18 years old, studying English, French and Spanish as foreign
languages, curious and quite open-minded towards foreign cultures but, at the same time,
easily influenced by stereotypes and prejudices about women.
My partner's (Alicia's) context: Spanish students, 17-18 years old, Spanish-speaking,
Through this project students should discuss, collect information, share ideas, propose
solutions, be creative together with their partners in order to be "better 21st Century human
beings" …
My learning goals:
1. use foreign language (Spanish) as a communicative tool, to DO things with language, so
that it means that it isn't studied for itself (= it is real)
2. topics are relevant for my students (both boys and girls) because it deals with their everyday

12. life and they will remember what they "learned" because it is not something that teachers have
imposed (= it is meaningful)
3. students have to come to an agreement about activities to carry on together (= they have to
take into account specific circumstances and environment)
4. they have to "produce" something that is the result of their critical thinking, communication,
collaboration and creativity (= non googleable activities)
Module 2: Developing effective
collaboration for PBL
This picture represents the joy and happiness of my students when they work at eTwinning
projects: it was taken last year, when eTw celebrated its 10th anniversary. I think that you
cannot work with a PBL approach without joy ...
But I think that PBL could be represented also by a group of enthousiastic teachers who work
together despite they do not work in the same place ... Online collaboration about teaching
methods and projects in order to improve their methodologies and work with students ... But
they meet together, eTwinning Ambassadors during Catania's European Conference in 2013 ...

13. Module 2.1 - Twitter Chat: 13th June
We had a very interesting Twitter chat on Monday ... Thanks to Bart, great moderator and to all
the participants!! More than 1500 original tweets & almost 250 contributors in just 1 hour! The
story on Chirpstory
Module 2.2 - What is effective
collaboration?
As I said before, effective collaboration for me is when I see my students working in small
groups together with their european partners in an eTwinning project. Each activity they have
to do is interrelated both in our class and in european groups. They have to come to an
agreement with their mates, develop a part of a topic, assume and share responsability, follow
some steps to come to a common goal (a product, a debate ...)

14. Module 2.3 - Effective Collaboration for
PBL inside the Classroom
First of all, I find this post extremely useful:
1. Make sure team members know what is expected of them
2. Create norms and roles where appropriate
3. Monitor progress constantly
4. Celebrate even little successes
5. Give students ways to informally develop cohesion
In the video one teacher says: "I don't think group work comes naturally" ... That's it, students
have to learn to work together but I think that - before - teachers have to learn to work together
and to trust their colleague's works ... One of the major problems in secondary school in Italy is
that we (teachers) are still too concentrated in our own work and we rarely collaborate with
other colleagues... How can we teach effective group work features if we are not able to put
them in practice while working together?

15. 2.4 - Finding collaboration partners
outside the classroom
Involving the Community: Add an entry reflecting on which people from your community
you or your students could engage with. Think about if you have contacts to or knowledge
of networks of local professionals? Which organisations or people engage with the school on
a regular basis? Are there any businesses working with the school such as caterers, IT
companies, or sports organisations? Who are your school's neighbours? Could they be
approached? What about school alumni? And who could you or your students ask for
support in identifying the right people?
I work with students between 17 and 19 and I teach them Spanish literature. One of the
activities I always do at the beginning of their "literary adventure" is make them know the
author of their text book (she is a friend of mine). She comes and speaks with my students to
show them the process of writing a text book, how to work with literary texts. They ask her
questions, interact, learn how to "ask" information from a text etc. We set up a little
workshop where she and I act like supervisors and they are the authors of a chapter of their
"literature dream book". They are always very interested and engaged; it does not often
happen to them to know a writer and discover how to be authors themselves!
2.5 - Collaboration Tools

16. It is really difficult (if not quite impossible) to say a tool that it has not already been
mentioned .
That is why I will just tell you my favorite ones:
Google Apps for Edu to share, collaborate and build activities (we have got an institutional
domain, so that teachers and students access the same space)
Piktochart to realise infographics
Blendspace to organise materials
Padlet to brainstorm, share thoughts and ideas
Tricider to collect and vote ideas
... and much much more ...
Here you are a very basic collection of tools that I have tried in these last few years: Non solo
Tic
2.6 - P2P - Building your PBL Learning
Design
This is the link to my Learning Designer about the project that I have already mentioned: The
voice of one half of the earth - La voz de la mitad de la tierra.
The first TLA: Let's become a team!
Teacher forms 6 groups using TeamUp tool.

17. To know better the characteristics of each student and foster team cohesion, teacher sets up a
collaborative activity about the topic where each student has to help each other group member
to reach a common goal.
The situation: you are on a desert island and you want to come back home.
Student 1 has got a rope
Student 2 has got alcohol
Student 3 has got matches
Student 4 has got a big coloured scarf
How do you succeed in save your life?
Each group has to find the most creative and effective idea to escape from the island...
Module 3 - Developing student-driven
activities for PBL
Resilience - staying with problems. Briefly describe a situation
in your professional or personal life where you were first
unsuccessful but because you stuck with it you succeeded in
the end. Finish by identifying why you stuck with the
problem/task and did not give up.

18. I will never forget my first day as primary teacher. I had studied to be secondary school
teacher, no one had explained me how to teach children from 6 to 10, I could only help myself
with my own experience as pupil...
When I entered the classroom I immediately faced with a 9 years-old boy who told me "I don't
care who you are or what you want to do ... I declare you WAR..." and he began to shout,
throw things everywhere, behave like a "terrorist" ...
He kept on behaving like that quite all year long ... I was so desperate that I wanted to give up
and dimit.
What/who helped me? How did I manage to survive?
Thanks to my two wonderful colleagues who supported me in every situation, gave me
advices, show to the violent and oppositive boy that we were a team and he could not put one
against the other (in the end I realized that he had a sort of jealousy against me: in some way I
had broken the "magic circle" between him and the two other teachers ...). Barbara and Renata
taught me how to become resilient (which I wasn't at all...) and the importance of sharing aims
and goals for our pupils' benefits.
3.1 Scaffolding for Student Ownership and

19. Independence
Students should jump into the deep end and learn through their failures. Providing them
too much support makes them dependent. DISCUSS!
If we want that our students learn from their failures, we (all the teachers) should act
consequently. We should work together pursuing the same aims and goals in order to help
them
to be interdependent one from each other and not uniquely dependent from us (but we
love seeing them dependent...)
not to be too competitive like "I win, you lose" (but how many of us foster
competitiveness among them...)
to consider failures as an opportunity to learn more and more persistently (but are we
ready to think the same?)
to think as a whole and not as lone stars (but how many colleagues act like stars?)
3.2 Developing Student Resilience
Before thinking about how to develop resilience in my students, I've taken this self-assessment
test and the results are...

20. Student Resilience - Reverse Brainstorming. Identify how we as teachers can weaken
our student's confidence and independence. Use your own and others' reflections to
help you create a classroom environment that supports students to become confident
and independent learners.
You're a perfect loser ...
You won't reach anything if you keep on acting like this...
Look at XY: HE is brilliant, intelligent, smart ... well, your opposite...
Haw can you keep on making such horrible mistakes after all my explanations???
Trying to make you understand this is a waste of time (my time...)
Ah ah ah ... that's it ... another silly answer ... please, connect your brain with your
tongue before speaking...
(It is not science fiction, we all know that these are real "classroom sentences")

21. 3.3 An Entrepreneurial Mindset
Let's see if we all have an entrepreneurial mindset and can think out of the box. Let's
create a Word Cloud together for lots of different uses of a plastic bottle.
My ideas:
1. mosquito catcher
2. cat frightener
3. artistic lamp (cut, melted and shaped...)
3.5 P2P - Building your PBL Learning
Design
For this module we would like you to continue adding TLAs to your Design, with a focus on
scaffolding for student independence and ownership, building resilience and an
entrepreneurial mindset in general. For example, you should include a TLA where students
reflect about their own work and how they can improve it, thereby supporting independence

22. and ownership over the learning process. After adding these TLAs your Design should
ideally provide opportunity for students
to identify the questions they would like to pursue (within the context of your
Driving Question)
to make choices on all key project-related aspects such as resources used,
products created, use of time, etc.
to take significant responsibility and work independently from the teacher, but
with guidance if necessary
to reflect during the project about their own work and learning
Hope I did so ... Here's the link to my LD:
The voice of one half of the earth - La voz de la mitad de la tierra
4. Assessing PBL
4.1 Teachmeet - Mon 27th June 18:30h
I was there ... Very interesting Online Teachmeet right now on #pblcourse​

23. 4.2 Embedding Assessment into PBL
Identify simple formative assessment techniques that can be easily embedded into PBL
A. When working with PBL approach I always build assessment criteria with my students. We
share and discuss the main aims and goals of the different parts of the project and we decide
together how to assess them, building criteria that match with the aims. They prepare a rubric
either with point or emoticons, it depends on the step to be assessed.
B. At the end of an activity, students quicly write down on a paper:
1. what I have learnt
2. what I still have to learn
3. what I liked
4. what can be improved
Then we discuss about it

24. 4.3 Peer Assessment for PBL

25. Share your experiences with peer assessment, either as someone participating in peer
assessment type activities like on this course or as a teacher organizing peer assessment
activities with your students.
I regularly use peer assessment in my PBL activities, both for assessing process and products.
What I find extremely useful for my students and me is that - as the teacher said in the second
video - you are obliged to pay attention to your teaching / learning method and to the goals and
objectives of your activity.
I think that peer assessment requires quite a long time to be implemented and you cannot do it
alone. In my school not so many teachers use it regularly, so I have to work twice, both with
my colleagues and with my students to help them to discover how useful is such kind of
assessment.
I think that if you (teacher) experiment it as a learner (like in this course) it could be easier that
you would adopt it in our teaching practice.
And yes, definitely, the ladder of feedback is really helpful!
4.4 Creating & Using Rubrics for PBL
Assessment

26. Give the Rubistar tool a try, adapt an existing rubric or create one from scratch that you could
also put to use in your PBL activities, and then share it in the form. Your rubric can be in your
own language.
Here's my rubric; it's in Spanish (luckily Rubistar is a bilingual tool, English and Spanish...) and
it is intended to assess one of the final products of our PBL and eTw project: The voice of one
half of the earth / La voz de la mitad de la tierra.
Students have to produce an emagazine where they collect their research, thoughts, ideas and
suggestions about the role of the women over the centuries and nowadays by writing articles.
4.5 P2P - Your PBL Learning Design
As a final step, make sure to finalise your design with further activities (TLAs) so that it
becomes a rounded and rigorous design that follows as much as possible the features
of an effective PBL as identified in the Project Design Rubric by the Buck Institute of
Education. Make sure that your final Design will help you to implement PBL in your
classroom next school.

27. Hope I did so ... Here's the link to my LD:
The voice of one half of the earth - La voz de la mitad de la tierra
I have enjoyed this course a lot and I am sure that peer review will help me a lot!
4.7 Course Self-Assessment
Just in a very simple word ...
A very big thanks to all moderators and
participants! Neverending learning...