Dive Brief:

• Kelly Grotrian, an East Brunswick High School social studies teacher, created a twist on the standard document-based question (DBQ) activity, giving students control over their own learning.
• Grotrian writes for eSchool News that when she used to show videos, students wouldn’t pay attention and they’d wait until the video was over to get answers from her or their friends, but with a “video-based question” activity, they liked moving through short videos and answering related questions at their own pace.
• As a follow-up project, Grotrian asked students to research topics related to World War II and create their own VBQ exercise for their peers, which even further engaged students who took responsibility for researching their topics thoroughly enough to become the teachers for their friends.

Dive Insight:

Grotrian’s experiments in her classroom reflect two popular trends in education today — project-based learning and personalized learning. Grotrian used Google Forms to create her original VBQ and gave each student a Chromebook on which to complete the assignment. Digital technology offers powerful tools that let students take more control over their own learning and go at their own pace. And many teachers around the country have seen impressive results from project-based learning, particularly when it comes to student engagement and behavior.

Getting comfortable with project-based learning might take time for some teachers, however. Researchers for MIDA Learning Technologies recently found teachers had to do some work to get used to stepping away from the lecturer role in their classrooms. Becoming a facilitator of student learning is a skill schools and districts should consider providing specialized training to teach.