Project-Based Learning
Amy Villamagna
Summer 2019
Looking back
To start, let me just say that I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to engage with faculty and staff outside my program and discipline. I am happy that I decided to pursue the CPLC. The experience was different than expected in many good ways and I believe that the ultimate goal of this summer has been achieved – we have developed a community and in doing, started to shift the pedagogical culture of PSU. I initially expected to emerge from this summer with a clear plan (i.e. syllabus draft) for a co-taught INCAP that would integrate my research into a PBL course. But, as we close up the summer, I am excited to say that I am walking away with less of that in exchange for new ideas, practices, and tools to run with. Engagement in CPLC reignited my dedication to learner-centered teaching and has motivated me to continue on my own personal pedagogical pathway. I believe the community we have developed is one rooted in effective pedagogy and that these pedagogical practices will be at the heart of our cluster approach.
The ideas that have resonated with me most this summer have largely been related to project-based learning and openness. Interdisciplinarity is who I am and who I have been since 18-year old Amy V decided to switch majors from biology (pre-vet) to environmental studies. But, I will say that watching others see the glory of interdisciplinarity definitely reaffirmed who I am as a learner and teacher. Emphasizing interdisciplinarity in our pedagogy is an amazing and much-needed shift in higher ed culture. I consider myself a stronger and more creative thinker and problem solver because of my interdisciplinary education, but would be lying if I didn’t say that I have always felt others considered it a weakness. I laughed then and I laugh now thinking about how narrow thinking like that gets us all in trouble in the academy and most certainly beyond.
Looking ahead
While project-based learning wasn’t new to me – I have been both student and teacher in PBL courses- this summer gave me the confidence to jump in (and maybe go under) here at PSU. I will be teaching Watershed Systems, a required graduate course in Environmental Science and Policy, using the PBL approach. I can’t tell you how many bike rides, car rides, and dog walks I have spent thinking about this new prep. I have gone back and forth about a million times about whether this PBL would work with an outside partner, whether the students would experience group work and client-based PBL fatigue, whether we would have a book, whether students would work in groups, what sequence our readings would follow, what I want them to get from the course, etc. I have notebook pages filled with alternative plans and coming into university days I was plagued with indecision and mounting anxiety. Then it happened… sitting in a CPLC session during University Days, my vision for the course solidified and I transitioned power from me to th