Project-Based Learning Made Easier Through Partnership Between Project Pals and Eduscape

MONTVALE, N.J., August 14, 2019 (Newswire.com) - ​Project-based learning has reached new levels of engagement and teacher facilitation thanks to a new partnership between Project Pals and Eduscape. Project-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method where students work on projects, guided by a teacher, that are authentic, engaging and solve problems, complex questions or real-world challenges. Project Pals is an all-in-one interactive platform that empowers students to investigate, create and problem solve in an interactive workspace and collaborate in real-time. Under the partnership, Eduscape has developed “Project Pals Academy” and launched a new category for PBL among its comprehensive professional learning offerings. In addition, Eduscape Global will be developing relationships for Project Pals to reach a wider audience through strategic partnerships across North America, Asia and LATAM.

“Professional development is essential to successful technology implementation in the classroom. We are thrilled to partner with Eduscape to provide the professional development for Project Pals. Their experience supporting teachers in the adoption of technology and research-based pedagogy, including project and inquiry based learning, is key to equipping teachers with the project management skills needed to administer collaborative learning at scale, so that all students can experience the transformative power of tech-enabled project based learning." – stated Miriam Bogler, CEO and Founder of Project Pals.

Project-based learning has been around for over 50 years and pioneered in the medical profession to stimulate learning among medical students by creating hands-on, relevant applications to the theory they were learning in the classroom. Despite having great benefits in the K-12 classroom, PBL has not been universally adopted because it requires the teacher to take a more active role in the learning and adjust to guiding and managing learning activities instead of leading them.

“Project Pals provides the ideal digital platform to enable PBL to become an integral strategy of the teacher’s pedagogy. It drives student-centered instruction by facilitating open-ended design and collaboration while providing simple lesson design, assessment and management tools for the teacher with curriculum-aligned projects and mapping tools. The platform makes PBL and STEM a lot more achievable for the everyday teacher. I’m not sure how either strategy is practical without a digital resource like Project Pals to manage and drive collaboration,” stated Alex Urrea, Managing Partner of Eduscape.

Project Pals is being used by many schools with varying levels of PBL integration across all grade levels. Career and Technical Education schools are also discovering the benefits of the platform to help teach project management skills, which are a critical element of career readiness according to the Council of Chief State School Officers and their Task Force on Career Readiness.

"Our mission at Project Pals is to equitably scale project-based learning for all students," said Uri Bogler, COO and Co-Founder of Project Pals. "We believe that technology is essential to scaling project-based learning in schools, similar to how project management software is ubiquitous in scaling 'project-based work' at corporations. Partnering with Eduscape will help us cultivate opportunities stateside and internationally. Their established network of school and district partners will enable us to support more educators in using technology to facilitate collaborative problem-solving in everyday instruction." – added Bogler.

Project Pals Academy offers workshops not just on how to integrate the platform into PBL; but also infuses PBL strategies and projects that align to U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and other real-world challenges. Meaningful hands-on instruction that models best practices in PBL are at the core of every learning experience for the teacher.

"Through Project Based Learning, educators can bring real-world problems to life and give students a platform to solve those problems. By bridging various subject areas, Project Pals fuels collaboration, and student voice and choice - the classroom can become filled with PBL opportunities for students making it fun, interactive, challenging, and applicable to a child’s world." – stated Dr. Katrina Keene, Director of Education Solutions for Eduscape.

For more information about Project Pals, go to https://eduscape.com/projectpals.

About Project Pals

Project Pals is the leading digital PBL platform in education. It was founded by Miriam Bogler, who taught as a computer teacher and tech coordinator at several Southern California public and private schools before earning her master’s degree in educational technology leadership from George Washington University. After two decades in the classroom, she saw an opportunity that could truly improve achievement and prepare students for a successful future—no matter their chosen path. Channeling her passion for education, technology, and cognitive science, Miriam designed the Project Pals platform.

About Eduscape

Eduscape is one of the leading professional learning organization in the country. Its team of experienced educators has developed and delivered professional development to over 600,000 educators and school leaders. The organization's expertise ranges from interactive technologies, classroom productivity applications to STEM Education. Eduscape is a Google for Education Training Partner, a leading Microsoft Global Training Partner and the only privately-held certified provider of the ISTE Educator Certification. It has also been selected by over 20 award-winning STEM product companies to develop their training academies. Eduscape Global, an affiliated entity, currently develops solutions for K-12 educators in Canada, China and LATAM. It also uses Eduscape's network to cultivate and develop markets for STEAM-focused education companies in those respective regions.

Source: Eduscape