Year-long project in Bay County, Florida supports Career Academy Teams
to design Project-Based Learning (PBL) Activities for High School Students
Collaboration, team work, communication, and creativity are skills Bay County School District Career Academy
Teams included in their project-based learning (PBL) activities during the 2012-2013 academic year. Starting in
October of 2012, Dr. Jill White and Jennifer Edge, representing the Florida Ford Next Generation Learning Hub,
embarked on a year-long project to coach the academy teams of Bay County School District on the design and
implementation of PBL for their students.
“For many of our Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers, this was the first time to participate in
professional development that specifically focused on the CTE classroom. Having this opportunity has greatly
empowered them to collaborate and design integrated curriculum together and that, in turn, provides great
learning opportunities for students,” stated Ann Leonard, CTE Director in Bay County School District.
The outcome of the year-long professional development was for every team to design a PBL activity to be
implemented in the 2013-2014 school year. Standard elements that were threaded through each experience
were how to work together as a team, how to align curriculum with new state standards, and how to determine
when students have mastered content. Each team accomplished the outcomes with success. Leonard has
reserved faculty development time in June to allow teams to action plan their designs to launch in the upcoming
school year. Key areas outlined in the monthly PD opportunity are described below.
October’s Focus:
•
What does a Career Academy look like and sound like?
•
SWOT Analysis per Career Academy Team
November’s Focus:
•
Introduction to a guide, developed by the Florida Ford NGL Hub, for Project-Based Learning design
December’s Focus:
•
Network with business partners and identify ways to incorporate real-world scenarios in their PBL design
February’s Focus:
•
Facilitated planning time
March’s Focus:
•
Unpack sample PBL activities
•
Facilitated planning time
April’s Focus:
•
How to write a Driving Question (sometimes called an Essential Question)
•
Finalize PBL design
For more information about the Ford Next Generation Learning HUB at the University of West Florida or
about Integrated Project Based Learning contact Jennifer Edge, jedge@uwf.edu