Projects may be carried out by both individuals and within groups. The outputs might include a report, presentation, poster, artefact or prototype (physical or digital). Project based learning is “a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge.” (BIE 2015). When undertaking a project, seven distinct stages have been identified that the project owner(s) go through. These are: the question, plan, research, produce, improve, present and evaluate. At each stage students may engage in a variety of activities. This multifaceted form of learning presents opportunities to participate in authentic and meaningful problems and to develop a range of skills along the journey. Reflecting upon these experiences, can encourage students to reconstruct what they have learned, and go on to confidently articulate the skills they have developed (or have yet to develop), and how they can apply these in other situations. Learning how to self-reflect on these experiences and developing a habit of doing so, can have a profound impact on learning. However for some this does not come easily and is often undervalued. In my talk I will share the Project Based Learning (PjBL) Toolkit and how resources within this can be used to scaffold effective and meaningful multimedia reflective practice, develop confident communication skills and digital capabilities.

1. The Project Based Learning (PjBL) Toolkit:
Integrating digital and social media to enhance meaningful
reflective practice in project based learning
Sue Beckingham | @suebecks
#SOLSTICE2017 Edge Hill University

2. LEAD Associate Scheme
The Sheffield Hallam University LEAD Associate scheme
is part of the TALENT framework and provides an
opportunity for academic staff in faculty to work for
one year with LEAD specialists to develop and
disseminate a learning enhancement initiative.
The PBL Toolkit – Embedding digital capability
through project based learning and
multimedia reflective practice

3. Context
Students from all disciplines engage at some
point with project based learning,
independently and/or within groups.
The PjBL Toolkit considers how digital and social
media can be used to develop skills to help
learners organise and reflect upon their learning
during the project and thereafter.

4. https://project-based-learning-toolkit.com/

5. The PjBL toolkit provides:
STUDENTS with resources they can explore to
develop their own toolkit which will help them
connect, communicate, curate, collaborate and
create, throughout the project lifetime.
STAFF with suggested activities to use with
students to encourage the development of their
students' project(s); and effective reflection and
application of their learning.

7. Personalised toolkit
The digital toolkit and associated guidance is intended to
empower the learner/project owner and provide them with
the means to take ownership of their own learning experience
through the creation of a personalised toolkit.

8. Defining project based learning
Project based learning is:
“A teaching method in which students gain
knowledge and skills by working for an extended
period of time to investigate and respond to an
engaging and complex question, problem, or
challenge.”
(BIE 2015).

9. Projects can be undertaken by individuals or within
groups.
The outcome of a project might be presented as a
report, presentation, poster, artefact or prototype
(physical or digital).
An additional aspect can include an evaluation of the
project and/or a personal reflection of what has been
learned

10. No one can eat an elephant whole
"When eating an elephant take one bite at a time"
Creighton Abrams

11. Project processes
Anticipating and planning for the resources that must be
available for an objectives to be reached
Planning these objectives by allocating time
for periods of work
Breaking goals down into achievable objectives
Setting goals
Adapted from Laffey et al 1998

12. Considering a project in stages
At each stage students will
engage in a variety of activities.
This multifaceted form of learning presents opportunities to engage
in authentic and meaningful problems, receive ongoing feedback,
and to reflect on personal/peer contributions and progress.

13. Ongoing reflection and feedback

14. Idea or
Question
Plan
Research
Produce Improve Present Evaluate
A common concern...
The learning during the lifecycle of a project is not always captured
Evaluation and critical reflection often relies on memory

15. For many the missing bit of the puzzle is:
1. Where to capture ongoing feedback
2. How to effectively reflect on progress

16. Learning how to reflect on experiences and developing a habit of doing so,
can have a profound impact on learning.

17. But...
there is amotivation towards reflection
"Amotivation is the state of lacking the intention to act.
When amotivated, people either do not act at all or act
without intent - they just go through the motions."
(Ryan and Deci, 2000)
"Amotivation results from not valuing an activity"
(Ryan, 1995)

18. A need to inspire intrinsic motivation
Three psychological needs: competence, autonomy and
relatedness - which when satisfied yield self-motivation
and mental health and when thwarted lead to diminished
motivation and wellbeing (Ryan and Deci 2000)
passive and
alienated
proactive
and engaged

19. Scaffolding
“Scaffolding is any tool, procedure,
or aspect of the learning
environment that is specifically
engineered to assist learners in
performing tasks for which they
would otherwise be unprepared.”
Laffey et al 1998

20. Scaffolding Project Based Learning
Three points need to be explored by students at
the start of the project:
1. What is reflection
2. How to do it
3. Where to capture it

21. Transitional Scaffolding
“Scaffolds are transitional in two senses:
they support a developmental change in the
learner; they also change themselves in that
as the learner develops a higher level of
understanding, earlier scaffolds are no
longer necessary and new ones are put in
place to move the learner beyond the newly
acquired stage of understanding.”
Husbands and Pearce 2012:7

22. passive and
alienated
proactive
and engaged
Relatedness
Go write 500 words and
reflect on your learning
No structure
Risk amotivation
Provide context
Introduce a structure
Encourage multi media
formats
OR

23. After-Action Reviews (AARs)
Share ways reflection is used in life outside of university
• Are conducted during or immediately after each event.
• Focus on intended training objectives.
• Focus on soldier, leader, and unit performance.
• Involve all participants in the discussion.
• Use open-ended questions.
• Are related to specific standards.
• Determine strengths and weaknesses.
• Link performance to subsequent training.
(Department of the Army, Washington 1993)

24. Reflective practice in sport
"It's very difficult to attempt this immediately after a game. This is the time
for the result to sink in and the emotions to sink out, whether positive or
negative. A performance, regardless of scoreline, should be appraised in
terms of what was on form and what can be learned."

26. Scaffolding reflection

27. Scaffolding reflection

28. https://project-based-learning-toolkit.com/reflection-toolkit/

29. The Digital Support System
Considers support for six areas:
• Instructional: 1) scaffolding and 2) coaching
and
• Learning: 3) planning and resourcefulness, 4)
knowledge representation, 5) communication
and collaboration, and 6) reflection
(Laffey et al 1998:75)

30. The Digital Support System
Structural supports to assist novice learners in the performance of
tasks for which they would otherwise be unpreparedScaffolding
Situated responses to learner task performances which are targeted
at bringing learner performance closer to expert performanceCoaching
Instructional
Adapted from Laffey et al 1998

31. The Digital Support System
Tools designed to assist learners with the complex demands involved
in planning and being resourceful within authentic research projects
Planning and
Resourcefulness
Tools designed to assist learners in the framing, representation, and
re-representation of their ideas, knowledge, and their development,
and in deriving cognitive benefits form the act of representation.
Knowledge
Representation
Tools designed to support the exchange and sharing of ideas and
results, collaboration between widely distributed participants,
feedback, discussion and debate, and the growth of a ‘community’
of learners.
Communication
and Collaboration
Tools to support self and communal evaluation of previously
completed work, with subsequent cognitive and physical revision,
re-framing, and restructuring of ideas, assumptions and
representations.
Reflection
Learning
Adapted from Laffey et al 1998

32. You don't know what you don't know

33. Using a digital toolkit
A primary aim of introducing a digital toolkit (which
includes social media and other technology) is to
introduce students to a support system that will
help them engage in feedback dialogue and the
digital recording of active reflection at each stage of
the project.
In the context of group projects this may include
both personal and shared feedback.

34. EXPLORE >> video images screen capture audio curation << EXPERIMENT
Public
Professional
Portfolio
Capture
Feedback
Reflect
Inquiry
PERSONALisedblog
tutors...peers
employers...public
Providing students opportunities to develop professional digital and social media skills
to enhance meaningful engagement with personal and professional development planning through inquiry, feedback and reflection
Sue Beckingham | @suebecks | Sheffield Hallam University
observe
listen
interact
learn
A prior project
which identified
the value of a
'digital toolkit'

35. “The principal goal of education […]
should be creating men and women who
are capable of doing new things, not
simply repeating what other generations
have done; men and women who are
creative, inventive and discoverers, who
can be critical and verify, and not accept,
everything they are offered.”
Piaget 1988

36. Identifying new approaches
The students engaged in
a SWOT analysis of a
collection of suggested
tools that might be
useful for each of the
seven stages.
https://project-based-learning-toolkit.com/activities/

37. Project Based Learning Card Activity

38. Project Based Learning Card Activity

39. Project Based Learning Card Activity

40. Project Based Learning Card Activity

41. Project Based Learning Card Activity

42. Project Based Learning Card Activity

43. Project Based Learning Card Activity

44. We use this to send each other messages about allocated tasks within
the group. This allows us to keep up to date on what each team
member is doing. A strength of this can be that we can communicate
quickly and efficiently on any task.
Facebook
Messenger
We use this to collectively edit group projects and share files. This
allows us to work on different aspects of the same project as a team. A
strength of this can be that we can complete tasks with better
understanding as we can see what other team members have
contributed.
Google
drive
We use e-mails to share links at times. This is because we can easily
email a link to a webpage or to a separate Google Drive folder which is
shared with us. A strength of this can be that it is easier to access
emails through different devices and platforms at the university such
as SHUSpace or Gmail.
Email
We use verbal face to face communication a lot to express our
opinions and come up with ideas. This allows us to build a relationship
as a team. An advantage of this can be that we all get a chance to
understand everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. This allows us to
effectively allocate roles within a project.
Verbal

45. A weakness of this can be that we may lose track of the topic and talk
about other social issues irrelevant to our projects.
Facebook
Messenger
A weakness of this can be that everyone can edit the files mostly in
our team so more mistakes can be made.
Google
drive
A weakness of this can be that it is not checked as often as instant
messaging services like Messenger. Therefore, a team member might
open the email then forget about following the link later.
Email
. A weakness of this can be that if someone is not present at a meeting
they may feel left out at another meeting. This could effect the
communication and relationships within the team over time.
Verbal

46. We decided to use Skype and Google
Hangouts in order to find ways to
improve this project. We did this
because it’s an easy way to get everyone
together and then people don’t feel like
they haven’t contributed to the project.

47. I used Trello to plan out my project, and I kept to
my schedule throughout the project. Trello is a
virtual pin board which came in very useful when
I had to add things to my to do list or tick off
completed items.
I learnt a lot during the development of this app,
I greatly improved my coding and management
skills, as well as my organisation.

48. Multimedia reflective blogs
WordPress was used by Level 3 students to create blogs
to reflect on their projects.
Students were encouraged to use multimedia to
supplement their written posts. For example: Photos,
stock images, user generated videos and screenshots.
Some students went on to narrate 20-30 minute
reflective posts using audio.

49. Multimedia reflective blogs

50. I did a presentation with my group to show the rest of the
class how we were getting along with the app we have
been designing. This allowed us to gain feedback from a
range of different people in the room. One person asked us
how we would implement security to avoid a DJ getting
spammed. This did not occur to us before. This
presentation helped me see that sharing ideas with a
range of people can help improve them. Other people’s
feedback can help contribute to creating a useful resource;
that can be used by a range of audiences.
Peer feedback

51. Doing this as an individual project has allowed
me to demonstrate and develop my skills and
understanding on this topic. I do enjoy working in
a team but being able to complete a task alone
allows you to showcase your own skills. I used
techniques such as setting reminders on my
phone for each day that I worked on this to break
down the amount of work I had to do. This
allowed me to complete the task very quickly. It
also ensured that I covered all aspects that I
needed to.
Skills development

52. I believe I am achieving my targets because I have
ensured to be a contributing member of my team in
every task. I have ensured to keep communications
strong between our team through organising an online
group chat. I have also made sure to improve my
continued professional development skills by following
the targets I set out for myself in a previous post. This
included remaining positively involved within my team
and punctuality. Punctuality is an aspect that I have
been working hard to improve overall.
Skills development

53. This year and all of my academic and personal
achievements have developed me as a person more than I
imagined it would at the start of the year. I personally
believe that I have developed my organisation and
teamwork skills greatly.
There are some area’s that I still need to work on, such as
time management, which is a big problem for me. I will
definitely be using everything that I have learnt this year
for my own personal development for quite some time.
Skills development

54. Provides a stimulus to keep the learners in flow
(Csikszentmihalyl 2008) through digitised reflective
practice, including ongoing feedback that can be
re-visited within their chosen spaces.
Ongoing reflection and feedback

55. Working towards deep reflection
Takes practice and encouragement

56. Building a confident vocabulary
Reflect on their talents
in context:
skills, experience, knowledge,
responsibilities, achievements,
strengths, weaknesses, areas
for self-improvement
to articulate skills developed
and applied learning

57. Empowering students to be prepared for
'The Network Era'
Organisations are increasingly more networked in
the sense of how workers create, use and share
knowledge (Jarche 2014).
We need to introduce our students to ongoing
opportunities to develop a wide range of
digital capabilities so that they may go on to be
confident communicators, collaborators and
reflective practitioners in their chosen field.

58. Abstract
Projects may be carried out by both individuals and within groups. The outputs might
include a report, presentation, poster, artefact or prototype (physical or digital).
Project based learning is “a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and
skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an
engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge.” (BIE 2015).
When undertaking a project, seven distinct stages have been identified that the
project owner(s) go through. These are: the question, plan, research, produce,
improve, present and evaluate. At each stage students may engage in a variety of
activities. This multifaceted form of learning presents opportunities to participate in
authentic and meaningful problems and to develop a range of skills along the journey.
Reflecting upon these experiences, can encourage students to reconstruct what they
have learned, and go on to confidently articulate the skills they have developed (or
have yet to develop), and how they can apply these in other situations. Learning how
to self-reflect on these experiences and developing a habit of doing so, can have a
profound impact on learning. However for some this does not come easily and is often
undervalued.
In my talk I will share the Project Based Learning (PjBL) Toolkit and how resources
within this can be used to scaffold effective and meaningful multimedia reflective
practice, develop confident communication skills and digital capabilities.

59. Beckingham, S. (2016) The Project Based Learning Toolkit https://project-based-learning-toolkit.com/
Buck Institute for Education BIE (2017) What is Project Based Learning (PBL)
http://www.bie.org/about/what_pbl
Csikszentmihalyl, M. (2008) Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper Perennial Modern
Classics.
Gibbs G (1988) Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Further Education Unit. Oxford
Polytechnic: Oxford.
Husbands, C. and Pearce, J. (2012) What makes great pedagogoy? Nine claims from research. National College
for School Leadership.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/329746/what-makes-great-
pedagogy-nine-claims-from-research.pdf
Jarche, H. (2014) Seeking Perpetual Beta. Online at: http://jarche.com/2014/04/seeking-perpetual-beta/
Laffey, J., Tupper, T., Musser, D. and Wedman, J. (1998) A Computer-Mediated Support System for Project-
Based Learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 46 (1), pp. 73-86. Online at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/30221051
Nerantzi, C. and Beckingham, S. (2015) BYOD4L: Learning to use own smart devices for learning and teaching
through the 5C framework, in Middleton, A. (ed.) (2015): Smart learning: teaching and learning with
smartphones and tablets in post-compulsory education, Sheffield: MELSIG publication, available at
http://melsig.shu.ac.uk/?page_id=50
Ryan, R, M. and Deci, E. L. (2000) Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social
development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), pp 68-78.
http://88.255.97.25/reserve/resspring09/psyc510_NAksan/Mar16th.pdf
References

60. Sue Beckingham | @suebecks
Educational Developer and Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University with a
research interest in the use of social media in education.
Blog: http://socialmediaforlearning.com/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/suebeckingham