Reimagining and Empowering the Design of Projects: A Project-Based Learning Goals Framework

How is project-based learning (PjBL) defined and what is its purpose? What makes a “good” PjBL experience? How authentic should projects be? Who chooses the project topic or challenge? Should students work on teams, present their work to experts, or write a self-assessment? Over the years, instructional designers and educational theorists have proposed different answers to these questions, and crafted expert recommendations on what projects should do or be, and how PjBL ought to look. Our on-the-ground experience has illustrated, not surprisingly, that PjBL is quite different in theory and practice. We find that PjBL is a flexible pedagogical approach that can help instructors in a myriad of ways; but a single project cannot do everything, and instructors must grapple with difficult trade-offs to shape a compelling PjBL learning experience. In this paper, we present a goals framework that enables instructors seeking to engage with PjBL to intentionally design PjBL experiences that encourage broad competency development, and to consider the fundamental question: What are you trying to support or achieve with a project? The framework describes broad competencies that transcend disciplines, emphasizes learning multiple domains (cognitive, affective, social, and psychomotor), and encourages flexible and non-prescriptive usage. The goals framework offers value to instructors as a communication tool, an analytical tool, and a design tool.