Marcus T. Wright

The Hard Question of Equity, Access, and PBL

by Marcus T. Wright on June 12, 2015 in 21st Century Skills, General Education

The 2015 Digital Media+Learning (DML) conference is currently underway. The theme this year is “Equity by Design.” I had a chance to catch the engaging opening session via online stream. The panel included CNN Political contributor Van Jones, MSNBC contributor Maria Teresa Kumar, and University of Texas at Austin Professor S. Craig Watkins. This was a […]

Is failure a positive result in PBL?

by Marcus T. Wright on June 6, 2015 in 21st Century Skills, General Education

When I was a kid, the idea of failing was incredibly frightening. I don’t recall hearing anyone say anything positive about that word. Failing was something to be avoided at all costs. These days, things are a bit different. The concept of failing as a positive thing and the learning that can occur through overcoming failure has gained […]

Using Student Work to Backward Design PBL

by Marcus T. Wright on June 1, 2015 in 21st Century Skills, General Education, Technology, Uncategorized

I love the concept of backward design. Think of the desired learning outcome first, determine how to measure if learning occurred, and then form the learning activity. How can you lose? I’ve been thinking about how such an approach could be linked to project-based learning. Yes, we could establish the learning goal and how to […]

How Schools Can Help Students Solve Real-Life Problems

by Marcus T. Wright on May 13, 2015 in 21st Century Skills, General Education

Often we talk about PBL in terms of how it helps students with their own learning. But there’s another area where PBL can allow students to shine – serving others to address real-life problems. We see a great example of this from Glendale High School (Springfield, MO). As part of their PBL-based curriculum called “Quest,” […]

Kids Can Design Video Games to Power-Up PBL

by Marcus T. Wright on April 27, 2015 in 21st Century Skills, General Education

I remember booting up Super Mario Bros. for the first time. The bright colors. The iconic theme music. Jumping on my first goomba. Good times. What I didn’t think about back then was how many people actually worked on the game. Someone designed the level. Someone else composed the music. Someone else did the artwork and […]

Should School Districts Open Incubators for Project Based Learning?

by Marcus T. Wright on April 21, 2015 in 21st Century Skills, General Education

Often times educators are faced with the challenge of integrating project-based learning into an already established classroom, within an already established school. Integrating such change can run into all types of obstacles, with one reason being that the infrastructure of the school (physically and intellectually) was not originally intended for such an immersive and potentially […]