Developing a Driving Question

Developing a driving question for this project is far more difficult than I had first thought. The factors that need to be considered in constructing an effective question are numerous and ensuring that I have addressed each key feature is an arduous process. 

Revising and rethinking this single driving question makes revising and preparing a piece for publication seem like a piece of cake! 

A good driving question should

• be answerable but not be easily answerable (ie. not google-able). The driving question for this project is not an easily answered question since it is not a question about international students in general.
• be open-ended in that multiple answers and/or solutions are possible. Multiple answers and solutions are possible for this project. Students will find practical solutions to address the issues that international students face.

• be interesting, engaging, and relevant for learner. Since the topic revolves around international students,  the learners themselves should be more invested in finding an answer(s) to the question. They are not only learners but also stakeholders.
• lend itself to a wide range of subquestions. Learners will have to ask themselves many subquestions to answer the question thoroughly and propose practical solutions.
• lend itself to research, investigation, and reflection. The specific nature of question and subquestions will require that students do both primary and secondary research and investigation.  Given that this project is focused on international students and the issues they face, learners will engage in reflection from the onset of the project. It also requires a written component, so students will engage in reflection during the writing process as well.
• allow learners to demonstrate the mastery of learning objectives. The learners will be able to demonstrate their mastery of the outline learning objectives in both the media artifact and the culminating written paper.

The driving question and subquestions can form the basis for a unit since they require a great deal of research, reflection, and application of specific language skills. Students will perform both primary research using interviews and secondary source research. This will require the development of effective question composition and interviewing etiquette as well as information competency. In addition, since the ESL department in which I teach employs content-based language learning pedagogy, all language skills such as vocabulary learning skills, grammar, skills, and summarizing skills can be taught with sustained content that is guided by and related to the driving question. This material could include general interest articles and peer-reviewed academic journal articles. 

Drake, R. J. (n.d.) Driving Questions [Weblog]. Retrieved from http://www.jetspost.com/eportfolio/pbl/driving_questions.htm

Technology Supported Project Based Learning

Over the past few days, I have been thinking about the final topic or project I would like to develop for an intermediate/advanced ESL academic writing course. The learning objectives that students must meet were developed to facilitate the successful transition of international students into mainstream freshman composition and all other undergraduate general education courses. A few of the course objectives on which I would like to focus include:

1. Paraphrasing and summarizing ideas from texts using correct citation format
2. Integrating appropriate quotes into essays in order to support claims
3. Demonstrating the appropriate use of lexical items on Coxhead’s (2000) academic word list
4. Interpreting information from readings and other media to select and evaluate ideas for writing

There are three factors that need to be considered when approaching the implementation of PBL in this ESL course:

1. Students come into this writing course with no previous experience with the skills mentioned in the course objectives, so they are learning these skills as they progress through the course
2. I would have to implement PBL during the last half to last third of the course after students have been introduced to these skills and have had ample opportunity to practice them.
3. Content-based language learning is the preferred method of instruction so unit themes can be varied (This is a positive aspect . . . I think.)

One theme around which this project may revolve is discrimination and racism. I touched on this theme briefly in Ed Tech 502 but I would like to develop it into something with more substance. I thought this topic might be relevant because of random conversations among some of my students, my own interactions with friends who were brought up in other countries, and anecdotes from other ESL instructors. It seems that many international students

1. have a very cursory understanding about discrimination and racism in general
2. believe that discrimination and racism is a problem unique to the U.S.
3. believe that there is no discrimination and racism in their own cultures.

A second theme I am considering is academic integrity/plagiarism and intellectual property. I thought this might be relevant as this issue is an already major concern in institutions of higher education across the U.S.

I am not sure what the final project would be in either case; however, I do know that whatever it is will be used in conjunction with the final exam in the course, so this is an additional factor I would have to consider.