Project-based language learning (PBLL) affords opportunities to design and implement transformative language learning experiences which engage students with real-world issues through the construction of meaningful products that are shared with an audience beyond the instructional setting. This presentation will describe a construct that can help guide the implementation of PBLL and analyze some of its key features and affordances. Using the construct as reference, we will explore project designs that are informed by common pedagogical frameworks and practices in world languages, such as content-, place-, and community-based instruction. Our exploration will be anchored to four key features of project design: the identification of a real need, the definition of a project purpose, the collaborative construction of a product, and interaction with community partners. In line with specific needs in world language education, project designs will also illustrate how PBL can create opportunities to develop intercultural communicative competence and to respond to the needs of heritage learners.
About the presenter

Julio C. Rodriguez (PhD, Iowa State University) is director of the Center for Language & Technology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and two sponsored programs: the Hawai‘i National Foreign Language Resource Center (U.S. Department of Education) and the Language Flagship Technology Innovation Center (Defense Language & National Security Education Office, U.S. Department of Defense). His work is situated at the intersection of language learning and technology. Within the broad area of instructional technology, he is primarily focused on faculty development programs, project-based learning, materials development, online course design, and design-based research. Rodriguez has published and presented extensively on instructional technology.