“We are youtubers”: Project-based Learning to develop production skills. Guiding students through competencies to self-assessment

Abstract

[eng] It seems to be undisputed that the Spanish education system needs a change. In this sense, the European commission of the teaching department urged Spain to start assessing competencies. Although this change was taken up in 2013’s Spanish Educational Law reform, the so-called LOMCE (Ley Orgánica para la Mejora de la Calidad Educativa), to this day it has hardly been implemented. Project-Based Learning (PBL) stands as a great opportunity to include this, since it entails an active methodology which is focused on students, allowing teachers to have enough time and space to carry out a formative assessment. As the role of the teacher will not merely be a content provider, they will be able to use that time to guide students and provide constructive feedback throughout their learning process. Putting all this theory into practice will result in a project with different objectives, but the main one will be to constantly produce in the English language. The students will become youtubers and they will have to do their own research to create the final product, a video. They will put into practice the content and skills developed writing the script and performing for the cameras. In the process of development there will be micro-tasks with a specific objective as it can be to focus on the terminology learned, to practice pronunciation or writing skills, to exchange information with the other students, or to develop critical skills with a self-correction exercise. These competences will give students a good base to self-assess their project. All this will be wrapped in a context where speaking and writing skills are the engine of the sessions since students will be actively participating whilst guiding their own learning process.