Post Project Reflection

Who will you involve in the process?

In a perfect world where everyone has an unlimited amount of time and everyone's schedule revolves around my schedule, I would include students, faculty from the ESL department, faculty from other departments, and administrators involved in the PBL project reviewing process. In reality, I would settle for a few of the students who were involved with the project, a few peers from the ESL department, and one or two peers from other departments. I would also invite a few administrators to be involved in the review process knowing that their participation would probably be superficial at best. A diverse group of reviewers would help me further fine tune the PBL process. Students could address any issues that I missed or may have not addressed thoroughly enough. ESL department faculty could critique activities and assessments to ensure that they facilitate mastery of course objectives, are valid measurements of course objectives, and are informed by current applied linguistic research. Feedback from faculty in other departments could guide ESL instructors in what skills should be addressed in more depth by the PBL unit based on their own experience with learners who come through the ESL program. They could also provide suggestions on future PBL units, perhaps geared towards content/problems stemming from other disciplines. 

What will your process look like?

1. I would begin the assessment process at the onset of the PBL unit. I currently keep a teaching journal for the classes that I teach, so I would carry this method over for the PBL unit. 
2. Since I envision the PBL unit being completed well before the end of the semester, I would acquire student feedback immediately after the completion of the unit. The feedback could be obtained in the form of a survey or as a journal-type assignment. 
3. Feed back from ESL faculty, faculty from other departments, and college administration could be obtained any time after the presentation of the final products. 
4. An ESL faculty meeting could be arranged for sometime before the end of semester to compare notes and discuss the future of PBL units in the department.
5. A meeting consisting of interdepartmental faculty and administration could be arranged to discuss various aspects of the PBL process, the success of PBL in the ESL department, and the future of PBL on the campus as a whole.

Is it just a one-time assessment?

Just as multiple opportunities for reflection is a salient feature of the PBL unit for students, the assessment for this project would be iterative in nature as well. The assessment process would start shortly after the onset of the PBL unit itself and would continue to the end of the project and carry over to the start of the next PBL unit that is implemented. Initial assessment would be completed solely by the instructor and then involve students, faculty, etc. as the unit progresses. Each time a PBL unit is implemented, whether it is a repeat project unit or a completely novel unit, reflection must include reference to past project successes and failures.