PBLWorks, the leading provider of professional development for high-quality Project Based Learning (PBL), has created an online course to help teachers who are interested in PBL gain the knowledge and teaching practices to become a Project Based Teacher. Registration is now open for the first course, which begins on July 6, 2020.

The eight-week facilitated course, “Becoming a Project Based Teacher,” will provide participants with a grounding in the PBLWorks Gold Standard PBL Teaching Practices - informed by educational research and the experiences of over 100,000 teachers trained by PBLWorks.  Instructors are expert PBLWorks National Faculty members who will lead a mix of live sessions, as well as lessons that participants complete on their own. Participants will have the option to earn one graduate level professional development credit.

“We know there are many individual teachers whose schools are not ready or able to provide PBL training for their staff,” said PBLWorks CEO Bob Lenz. “So we’re excited to provide a path to becoming a PBL teacher for them, and to make it available online so it’s accessible wherever they are.”

In this course, teachers will learn how to incorporate effective teaching practices they’re already using into the framework of PBL, as they discover a new and rewarding role for themselves in the classroom. Instead of mainly being a transmitter of knowledge, teachers will gain the skills to become a well-informed coach, a facilitator of learning, and a guide through the inquiry process -- forming a learning partnership with their students. They’ll walk away from this course with a collection of tools and strategies for putting PBL teaching practices into action, immediately.

This new course complements PBLWorks’ foundational PBL 101 Workshop, which focuses on introducing PBLWorks’ Gold Standard Project Design Elements and builds the capacity of teachers to design high quality PBL projects.

For more information about the “Becoming a Project Based Teacher” course, visit https://www.pblworks.org/online-course/becoming-pbl-teacher.

About PBLWorks

PBLWorks (the brand name of the Buck Institute for Education) believes that all students – no matter where they live or what their background – should have access to quality Project Based Learning to deepen their learning and achieve success in college, career, and life. Our focus is on building the capacity of teachers to design and facilitate quality Project Based Learning, and on supporting school and system leaders in creating the conditions for these teachers to succeed with all students. For more information, visit www.pblworks.org.