You are here: Diigo Home > Groups > Project Based Learning > Forum > Software to support PBL?
I've shared a post on TechLearning (cross-posted to my blog because of commenting problems there) about different software programs and web environments available to help teachers facilitate PBL tasks. I've shared the tools of which I'm currently aware to this group. Please add other resources you know about, and if you have specific experiences with any of these please share those as well. :-) Here are the questions I posed at the bottom of my post:
1. Are you aware of other software options which should be included on this list? [of project management software or web services appropriate for PBL school contexts]
2. Are you personally using or aware of other teachers using project management software currently to facilitate student PBL activities?
Wes, howdy. I've shared a list of online project management programs bookmarks with this group. Great idea to model project management with project-based learning. What a fascinating idea!
Miguel
8->
Wesley Fryer wrote:
> I've shared a post on TechLearning (cross-posted to my blog because of commenting problems there) about different software programs and web environments available to help teachers facilitate PBL tasks. I've shared the tools of which I'm currently aware to this group. Please add other resources you know about, and if you have specific experiences with any of these please share those as well. :-) Here are the questions I posed at the bottom of my post:
>
> 1. Are you aware of other software options which should be included on this list? [of project management software or web services appropriate for PBL school contexts]
>
> 2. Are you personally using or aware of other teachers using project management software currently to facilitate student PBL activities?
Wes,
I've shared a link to a wiki page re: Essential Learning with Digital Tools. (It's from the Appendix to Reinventing PBL.) The idea is to keep the focus on learning functions (which are pretty stable), rather than tools (which come and go). We want this to be a hot-swappable document. In other words, as new tools come online or are adopted by smart teachers for pbl purposes, we want to be able to update the Appendix and have available for download from our blog. We also want to engage the wisdom of the crowd in creating this list. So, please weigh in!
Thanks,
Suzie
Wesley Fryer wrote:
> I've shared a post on TechLearning (cross-posted to my blog because of commenting problems there) about different software programs and web environments available to help teachers facilitate PBL tasks. I've shared the tools of which I'm currently aware to this group. Please add other resources you know about, and if you have specific experiences with any of these please share those as well. :-) Here are the questions I posed at the bottom of my post:
>
> 1. Are you aware of other software options which should be included on this list? [of project management software or web services appropriate for PBL school contexts]
>
> 2. Are you personally using or aware of other teachers using project management software currently to facilitate student PBL activities?
I run Moodle, which is free. We also use a number of Web2.0 applications in conjunction with Moodle. Moodle is if you like the central hub for students to drop assignment tasks, ready daily tasks and access breadcrumb trails of resources, including pull ins from other sites.
Having used Blackboard, Sharepoint, Lotus, WebCT, I have to say that Moodle in current build is ultra reliable and flexible - free is the least of it's virtues.
I can also recommend that if you have no courseware server to hand (Moodle is happy to run on a Pentium 4), then online I recommend to use a combination of a wiki and a Ning.
I use www.wikispaces.com for a wiki - though I am part of a wetpaint wiki here and there.
Have a look at http://horizonproject2008.ning.com/
Some of you will be familiar with Alan Levine aka CogDog - this is an exellent use of in school tech for teachers. As the kids can 'blog' in the Ning (wow I sound like Spike Miilligan), you can create a strong community and keep it simple for analog-style teachers to cope with.
We wrote our own online reporting application - due to the absolutely stupid money that New Tech Foundation was talking about. Again that runs of a free MySQL platform. To keep it simple, we use Excle spreadsheets for staff to do the marking, and simply upload these. This negates the need to build some fancy CMS and have to teach people to learn it.
If anyone is interested, we can set you up with a Guest Account to view our Moodle Courseware.
Moodle has project management build into it - or at least you can add it in if you want it.
Dean, what an inspiring post. I'm working on a grant for my school district and your first paragraph was just wonderful. Could I interview you--and share as a podcast--how you use Moodle with students to create this "central hub?"
Also, I'd love to get a look at what you're doing.
With appreciation,
Miguel Guhlin
mguhlin@gmail.com
http://mguhlin.net
http://itls.saisd.net
dean groom wrote:
> I run Moodle, which is free. We also use a number of Web2.0 applications in conjunction with Moodle. Moodle is if you like the central hub for students to drop assignment tasks, ready daily tasks and access breadcrumb trails of resources, including pull ins from other sites.
>
> Having used Blackboard, Sharepoint, Lotus, WebCT, I have to say that Moodle in current build is ultra reliable and flexible - free is the least of it's virtues.
>
> I can also recommend that if you have no courseware server to hand (Moodle is happy to run on a Pentium 4), then online I recommend to use a combination of a wiki and a Ning.
>
> I use www.wikispaces.com for a wiki - though I am part of a wetpaint wiki here and there.
>
> Have a look at http://horizonproject2008.ning.com/
>
> Some of you will be familiar with Alan Levine aka CogDog - this is an exellent use of in school tech for teachers. As the kids can 'blog' in the Ning (wow I sound like Spike Miilligan), you can create a strong community and keep it simple for analog-style teachers to cope with.
>
> We wrote our own online reporting application - due to the absolutely stupid money that New Tech Foundation was talking about. Again that runs of a free MySQL platform. To keep it simple, we use Excle spreadsheets for staff to do the marking, and simply upload these. This negates the need to build some fancy CMS and have to teach people to learn it.
>
> If anyone is interested, we can set you up with a Guest Account to view our Moodle Courseware.
>
> Moodle has project management build into it - or at least you can add it in if you want it.
Miguel guhlin
Wesley Fryer
dean groom
Suzie Boss