ALST600 Alaska Studies was not a typical history course – no lectures, timelines or tests. Your instructor was far from an expert on the subject.
We took a different approach – you were asked to be the historian in the room. The only textbook, the one you were asked to write.
You just experienced project-based learning.
What did the teacher in you learn?
The teacher in me learned that projects don’t have to only be for the teacher/professor and that people are motivated when the product is to be used/accessed by others outside of the ‘circle.’
My experience with projects in the foreign language classroom has been an easy cop-out for the teacher to have less work to do for a week when used ineffectively. Projects that were constructed outside of class time allowed class time to be utilized for other instruction or activities.
In my opinion, using a flipped classroom for projects is an effective way to go about creating the project. Using some class time for troubleshooting and collaboration was effective, while leaving some time for instructional practices.
I agree about the motivating factor of producing work for an outside audience. For me, the knowledge that the book was going to be published not only pushed me to work hard, it also shifted my focus slightly, from “what does the teacher want” to “what do I want out in the world with my name on it?”
I agree that it was a great way to use our class time given the quick context of our course.