What Are the Main Challenges of PBL?

Practicing project-based learning at school aligns what students are learning with the needs of the modern workplace, making it a desirable objective for schools to pursue. Yet, a large number of failed attempts lead a growing number of teachers to give up on the practice altogether. The two most significant challenges are teamwork, an important skill that holds the potential for conflict and free-riding by students, and the difficulty experienced by teachers and students in adapting to non-traditional teaching and learning roles. Other important challenges include demanding workloads for teachers and students, a superficial gain of content knowledge, lack of clear implementation guidelines, lack of focus on identified learning outcomes, a lack of trained personnel that can lead PBL, and lack of adequate professional development to train PBL.....The Buck Institute claims that you can’t just turn students loose and expect them to be able to effectively function autonomously. Teachers need to create teamwork and student collaboration guidelines that include co-crafted norms, practices, and routines. These rules cover how to team up students with the right partners, how to work together in teams, team member roles, etc., which I will focus on in my next blog entry.

- https://www.projectpals.com/project-based-learning-blog/implementing-project-based-learning-challenges-and-solutions#:~:text=Other%20important%20challenges%20include%20demanding,professional%20development%20to%20train%20PBL.

John Spencer: https://spencerauthor.com/sprints-mini-projects-and-project-based-learning/

.....Some standards simply don’t fit well within a PBL framework. It’s not that these standards are less authentic or real-world. It’s just that they lend themselves better to other frameworks. In general, these are the standards that:

• improve with repetition and daily practice

• focus on discreet, measurable skills

• require significant direct instruction and guided practice

• tend to be individual endeavors

In language arts, these standards might include reading fluency, blending, and phonics work. In math, this might involve math facts and basic computational understanding. In social studies, this could involve discreet skills in studying maps. In art, PE, and music, these are often skill-based performance standards that simply require daily practice. In these moments, a more traditional approach might work best. It might not seem as authentic but it actually is. In the real world, we all engage in repetition and practice.

Still, most standards align well with creative projects. Every subject has elements of iterative thinking, divergent thinking, problem-solving, ideation, imagination, and hands-on prototyping. But even then, sometimes the answer isn’t a full-scale PBL project. Sometimes the answer is something shorter and more abbreviated.

7 Common Project-Based Learning Challenges and How to Overcome Them

https://www.experientiallearningdepot.com/experiential-learning-blog/common-project-based-learning-challenges-and-troubleshooting-tips

1. Apathy

The Challenge:

With self-directed PBL, students design projects around their interests. Interest-based learning can be powerful, but can become difficult when students tell you that they don't have any interests. This problem comes up often, and is painful for everyone involved, including the students. Don't take it personally and don't give up!

Tips:

Everyone has interests. If you have a student saying they don't have any, start digging around for the source of this statement. A student might have interests, but not the skills to identify them (yet). Or maybe they simply aren't comfortable with you yet.

Sit down and talk to them. Learn about them. Relationship-building and the offering them the right tools are key. By getting to know each student you can help them figure out the struggle, set personal goals, AND identify their interests and skills for potential projects.

Resource Suggestions:

• Free PBL Topic Brainstorming Activities

• Personal Learning Plan Template

• PBL Culture-Building: Personal Essay and Storytelling Project

2. Low Productivity

The Challenge:

Low productivity is one of the most common problems with anything that is student-directed. You are giving them choice and freedom, which is wonderful in so many ways.

Having choice and autonomy is empowering, but students may not know what to do with this freedom, especially if they are new to student-directed PBL. They often, then, choose not to do anything with it.

Tips:

Your job as teacher, facilitator, coach, and mentor is to provide students with the tools to direct the experience. Give them the appropriate guiding materials, implement consistent checkpoints, and provide feedback often. Be organized yourself!

Another student might have all of the tools and experience, and still be unproductive. Work with students one-on-one to determine the source of low productivity. Once the source has been identified, tweak expectations and goals.

Resource Suggestion:

• Self-Directed Project-Based Learning Starter Kit - This bundle contains a personal learning plan, the design workbook, the templates required for the experience itself, student and teacher planners, rubrics, and more. This starter kit irons out EVERY challenge mentioned in this blog post. ​

3. Poor Quality

The Challenge:

Students produce projects that are well below their capabilities. There are many problems with that, and if you recognize it as a pattern in a student or two, nip it in the bud quickly.

Tips:

I wrote an entire blog post a while ago about how to boost PBL project quality, so I won't get into that too much here. Check out the link for specific tips and tricks.

But generally, if students are producing poor quality work, the root of the problem is likely the expectations that have been set. As my post emphasizes, establishing a culture of quality work from the start is the ticket.

Suggested Resources:

• Free Mini-Course: Get Ready for Student-Led Project-Based Learning - This self-paced online course includes 5 short videos and a printable checklist that help you take actionable steps to prepare for self-directed PBL success to avoid pitfalls later

4. Burning Bridges

The Challenge:

Project-based learning is different than a standard project for several reasons, one of which is the use of community experts. Students rely on the community as a critical source of information.

Occasionally a student doesn't follow through with a scheduled meeting with a community expert. Regardless of the reason, bridges are burned, and that is painful.

Tips:

The solution? Don't stop trying. It can be frustrating, but guiding meaningful connections between students and community members is a part of your job as a facilitator.

You can also ask that the students deliver an apology letter and write a personal reflection on the matter, depending on the situation. Help the student empathize and take responsibility.​

​5. Shortage of Willing Community Participants

The Challenge:

Cooperation and collaboration between students and community members are not always seamless and are not entirely on the shoulders of the students.

Occasionally, students or myself will get rejected by a community expert when asked to get involved in a student's project. One of my favorite local artists flat out said "I don't work with teenagers." Again, painful and frustrating.

Tips:

All you can really do is move on. You might also consider pushing a little harder by tactfully helping the community member or organization see what the student(s) will bring to the table. Organize collaborations and partnerships with community members that are mutually beneficial.

Suggested Resource:

• Community PBL Bundle - The projects in this bundle are dependent on community relationships. Help learners practice these skills with community-specific projects. ​

6. Incomplete Projects

The Challenge:

Projects fizzle out. Students start a project, work diligently on it for a day or two, and then never return to it again. How much, if at all, do you let them do this?

Tips:
You may have noticed a theme throughout this post; student-directed project-based learning is not a one-size-fits-all model. One student may ditch a project for an entirely different reason than another student. Handle the issue on an individual basis.

​If it's a pattern they may be struggling with organization. They might get distracted or lose interest. They might even lack specific skills that would normally promote follow-through. Communication between you and your students is key.

Another piece of the puzzle may be your own lack of organization and/or management strategy. It can be difficult to manage multiple projects between students. If you are not aware of where students are at in the process, you can't help them make progress. Try to stay organized.

Suggested Resource:

Free Self-Directed Project-Based Learning Implementation Spreadsheet - This is a simple Google Sheets that has been pre-formatted to help you organize and manage multiple projects in your classroom or homeschool.

7. Lack of Independence

The Challenge:

Lack of independence is an overarching challenge that encompasses every other frustration that I've already mentioned in this post.

Apathy, low productivity, poor quality projects, etc. all stem from the inability or desire to independently produce quality and meaningful work.

Tips:

So let's get to the core of this issue. "Why aren't my students more independent?"

The first place to start is acknowledging that your students may lack the skills necessary to independently manage and produce great PBLs. They're young and may not have had opportunities to design and lead their own learning experiences.

Therefore, if they are not trained in student-led project-based learning they simply are not going to know what to do, which tends to lead to apathy and low productivity.

Make PBL culture-building and training a priority. Diving right into student-led PBL might work for some but will definitely not for others. If you notice some students struggling with independence, take a step away from self-directed PBLs and insert some training exercises.

One option is to start with teacher-directed project-based learning so that they can get a handle on PBL components and the steps involved in project-based learning.

Then give them PBLs that offer opportunities for choice. When you feel they have developed the skills to independently direct and manage their own PBLs you can try launching student-led project-based learning again.