Personal Project Gone Virtual
Written By: Bhumika Kale
Edited By: Maria Nosovska
Online learning has affected all our normal high school lives in many ways. A major part of the IAE 10th grade curriculum is the Personal Project. Fortunately enough, this year’s all 10th graders were still able to spend an entire semester dedicated to their personal project. During this course, students are expected to participate in a sustained, self-directed inquiry project within a global context. Some of the goals to gain from this project include generating creative insights and developing deeper understandings through sophisticated research, demonstrating the skills and knowledge required to complete a project over an extended period of time as well as able to communicate with their community and share their project. Lastly, the Personal Project works to appreciate the process of learning and help the students be proud of their accomplishments.
Throughout the course, as virtual learning becomes a normality, students are taught that what you put in is what you will get out. The five major components that build this project include a clear and challenging goal, process journals providing evidence of your journey, a product or outcome, a project report and finally a tri-fold display for the project exhibition. In this article you will find information about virtual changes to the project, and answers to frequent questions regarding virtual personal projects, directly from our personal project teacher Mrs. McSween!
What date is the final exhibition?
“The final exhibition will be Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021. The projects will be shared with seminar classes.”
Who will be able to access the presentations?
“We would like as many people as possible to be able to see all of your hard work! We plan to share the exhibition videos with all grades in their seminars and to hopefully share the links with students' families and the rest of the IA community”
Will it be anything like the previous years where all the grades get to see the presentation?
“It will be similar in the sense that we are inviting all students and teachers to check out the work the sophomores have been doing all semester, but it will be different because there are videos rather than trifolds to see”
“The final exhibition will be Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021. The projects will be shared with seminar classes.”
Who will be able to access the presentations?
“We would like as many people as possible to be able to see all of your hard work! We plan to share the exhibition videos with all grades in their seminars and to hopefully share the links with students' families and the rest of the IA community”
Will it be anything like the previous years where all the grades get to see the presentation?
“It will be similar in the sense that we are inviting all students and teachers to check out the work the sophomores have been doing all semester, but it will be different because there are videos rather than trifolds to see”
How did online learning affect your lesson plans and the way you intended to run this class?
“Online learning definitely made it more difficult to create the feeling of a community and to allow for more discussions of projects amongst students. It felt like students were less comfortable chatting or sharing on Zoom than they would have been in person. However, I think Personal Project overall was not as different as it would have been in-person compared to some other courses. Even if we were in the building this course is designed to be an individual research project.”
What were the struggles and what went well?
“From a teacher's perspective, it was difficult to make sure all students were on track and knew what needed to be completed and by when. Since everyone had a different topic, after the first few weeks the timelines for individual students began to look pretty different. Sometimes it felt more difficult to be heard since keeping cameras on and staying engaged was a challenge for most students, but I think it caused me to be more organized and thorough in my written communication. I think the best part of this course in my opinion was getting to learn more about what individual students are interested in on a deeper level than what I get to find out in the other courses I teach. It's a lot of fun to let students take the reins!”
“Online learning definitely made it more difficult to create the feeling of a community and to allow for more discussions of projects amongst students. It felt like students were less comfortable chatting or sharing on Zoom than they would have been in person. However, I think Personal Project overall was not as different as it would have been in-person compared to some other courses. Even if we were in the building this course is designed to be an individual research project.”
What were the struggles and what went well?
“From a teacher's perspective, it was difficult to make sure all students were on track and knew what needed to be completed and by when. Since everyone had a different topic, after the first few weeks the timelines for individual students began to look pretty different. Sometimes it felt more difficult to be heard since keeping cameras on and staying engaged was a challenge for most students, but I think it caused me to be more organized and thorough in my written communication. I think the best part of this course in my opinion was getting to learn more about what individual students are interested in on a deeper level than what I get to find out in the other courses I teach. It's a lot of fun to let students take the reins!”