Chapters 3,4,5

Imagining the possibilities for a project are endless. If I just think about what kind of projects are possible for me to implement today because of technology that I would have never been able to do when I was a student is exhilarating. I like the idea of a project where the students must make a video, and post it online. The video can be anything from expensive video equipment to a digital camera with video. I expect that using the project approach the students will showcase their skills and knowledge with great work because they will be more interested and enthusiastic about doing the work. I also believe that as the teacher I will have more work to do with guiding them in the right direction with their projects, and more work brainstorming how to implement the project and create great instructions and rubric to make the directions clear for the students. I think that the overlap between disciplines do make some projects great. I think it also helps the students learn how to connect all the knowledge and skills they are learning throughout their schooling. They are going to go into the workforce and have to use many of the skills and knowledge all at once. The projects that cross disciples can also help students see certain aspects in a different light and thus gain a better understanding of information and skill.
I have not yet practiced my teaching in a classroom; therefore I have not encountered any of the “project pitfalls” in the classroom. However, through creating projects for my school assignments I have encountered that it is easy to overly script the project with many steps. It is hard for me to keep the steps down and leave room for the students to be creative with their work and showcase their skills and knowledge. I think that it will help when I can go into a classroom and try out projects to get a feel for how much structure is needed. I think that the suggestion for optimal ambiguity is going to be hard to find. I think that optimal ambiguity will be different for every project, and maybe different for every class. I imagine that my students will respond well to a project that is structured but also gives them flexibility to be creative. I think it is important to let the students take their projects and make them their own.
I believe that the use of multiple assessment methods is very important. I believe that it gives students a better opportunity to show their true skills and knowledge, and give the teacher a better representation of the students work. I think that it is very important to have the students assess their own progress and reflect on what they have done. Self assessment and reflection can give the students a great understanding of how they are doing, and what they need to work on. They can gain more knowledge from assessing themselves and their peers. The feature that is desirable to me from the technology focus the use of a learning management system (LMS). I believe that a LMS is a great tool that can be very beneficial to the students and the teacher. It would be a great way of to open communication between students and between students and the teacher. It can also be good for students to easily retrieve information outside of the classroom.