Literary Review

Facilitating Technology-Enhanced Problem-based Learning (PBL) in the Middle School

Classroom: An Examination of How and Why Teachers Adapt

by Peggy Ertmer, Krista Glazewski, Donna Jones, Anne Ottenbreit-Leftwich, Yuksel

Goktas, Kelly Collins, and Aslihan Kocaman

Published in the Journal of Interactive Learning Research in January, 2009

Meghan Rotkosky

National University

TED 690: Masters Capstone

 Abstract

Authors: Peggy Ertmer, Krista Glazewski, Donna Jones, Anne Ottenbreit-Leftwich,

Yuksel Goktas, Kelly Collins, and Aslihan Kocaman

Title: Facilitating Technology-Enhanced Problem-based Learning (PBL) in the Middle

School Classroom: An Examination of How and Why Teachers Adapt

Publisher: Journal of Interactive Learning Research, Volume 20, Number 1: 35-54

Year: 2009

Reviewed By: Meghan Rotkosky, National University, TED 690

This peer-reviewed article describes a study of five PBL teachers set in middle

school classrooms and showcases their challenges, strengths, and planning techniques

including the technology utilized in their planning and implementation of PBL units. This

article gives examples from each of these teachers, along with the strategies and

techniques that each teacher uses to combat the trials that PBL units face in execution.

This study was designed to examine the perceptions of experienced PBL teachers

regarding the challenges they encounter when using technology-supported PBL (p. 40).
 Literary Review

I chose this journal article due to the fact that it hit two different parts of my

professional development 5-year plan: project-based learning and technology. I sought to

find an article that would give perspective and insight into the ways in which technology

can be used to enhance project-based learning units. I was able to be a part of a PBL

classroom where students were on a one-to-one technology system, meaning each student

was given their own personal iPad that they used both at school and at home. This made

utilizing technology in the classroom incredibly easy. But it made me think: what if I

taught at a school that didnt have the technology resources available to the students like

my last school? What could I expect students to be able to accomplish without their own

personal technology devices or tablets?

This article was interesting. It felt like half of the article was an introduction to

project-based learning. At first this really worried me because I have read articles about

project-based learning, spent time student teaching in a PBL classroom, and have spent a

huge amount of time researching project-based learning strategies. I didnt want this

article to be a waste of time and only informational. Luckily, once the article spent time

introducing project-based learning, it delved deeper into the strategies and techniques that

these five middle school teachers employ during PBL units in their own classrooms.

The article begins by outlining the planning, implementation, assessments, time

constraints, and role of technology in project-based learning planning. In this portion of

the article Ertmer et al. details the reasoning behind teachers choosing to not incorporate

PBL strategies in their classrooms. The fact that teachers are more comfortable and

familiar with lecture and recitation situations, (p. 37) being the most common. Project-
based learning can take a considerable amount of time to learn and the learning curve is

often as complicated and complex for teachers as it can be for students.

The next portion of the article contains information on the methods of project-

based learning. The five middle school teachers range from English to science teachers,

have as many as 18 years teaching, and some even have as many as 18 years informal

project-based planning experience. Each teacher was interviewed and gave their

perspectives thoughts, mistakes, and learning experiences in the planning,

implementation, and assessment portions of their PBL units, as well as information on

their tactics to battle time constraints and their practices for using technology to augment

and enrich their PBL units.

The results of the interviews gave many interesting strategies to address the

challenges that students and teachers face in PBL units. All five teachers agreed that

planning is a hurtle that many teachers need to overcome before starting PBL units. One

of the teachers interviewed, Martha, states I think that you are just initially

overwhelmed. You look at that and see all the preparation you have to do to initiate a

PBL, and you go, I dont want to do that; that is too much work. (p. 43). This makes

sense to me, especially having seen the breadth of a PBL unit from start to finish before.

The strategies suggested by these five teachers ranged from ensuring that you, the

teacher, understand and really know the technology that you provide to the students and

employ in your classroom, integrating small alternative activities to break up the

monotony of group work and provide needed content for the unit, creating websites as

provided to the students to use as a launching off point for independent and group

research, and tricks to help teachers to utilize their time as much as possible for any given
PBL unit. All of these strategies are helpful and it was interesting to hear about what

challenges others have faced when integrating project-based learning into their

classrooms. This can be helpful but at the same time, each PBL unit has its own issues

and reading articles can only get me so far. I know that each challenge will be unique;

just as each group of students will be unique and provide a unique set of issues.

The best part of the article I think began on page 47 and is titled Reasons for

Persisting with PBL. This portion of the article provides insight into reasoning behind

slogging through the challenges associated with PBL and gives insight into how PBL

units provide students with engagement opportunities, give meaningful comprehension to

content, and establishes significant skills such as independent research and cooperative

learning. Each teacher in the article stated that there are issues and challenges but it is

worth it to put the effort and time into learning how to implement the project-based

learning strategies in their classrooms.

Overall I think this article was great. It provided many pieces of information for

incorporating project-based learning into a middle school classroom. It did not however

detail much about technology used in project-based learning planning. There were

portions of the article that detailed technology but overall the article gave more

information on the strategies of PBL as a whole, instead of the technology that can

enhance these units of study. While technology was in the title of the article, it was clear

that it was not the sole purpose of the study nor was it an important part of the study. I

felt like I learned information but this would not help my professional development goals

as far as technology is concerned. Id give this article one thumb up, it wasnt great but

was helpful.
Reference:

Ertmer, P. et al. (2009) Facilitating Technology-Enhanced Problem-based Learning

(PBL) in the Middle School Classroom: An Examination of How and Why Teachers

Adapt. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, Vol. 20, Num. 1, 35-54. Retrieved from

http://www.learntechlib.org.nuls.idm.oclc.org/j/JILR/v/20/n/1