By: Khitam Al-Utaibi iEARN-Jordan Representative ALC 5th Annual “Shaping the Way We Teach” Conference “Promoting Equality in the English Language Classroom: Making Every Learner’s Chance to Succeed the Same -- Regardless of Gender, Social Standing, or Geography” January 19, 2013 Amman, Jordan

1. iEARN
&
Project-Based Learning
Khitam Al-Utaibi
iEARN-Jordan Representative
ALC 5th Annual “Shaping the Way We Teach” Conference
“Promoting Equality in the English Language Classroom: Making
Every Learner’s Chance to Succeed the Same -- Regardless of
Gender, Social Standing, or Geography”
January 19, 2013
Amman, Jordan

2. iEARN(International Education and
Resource Network)
• iEARN is a non-profit network that supports
over 40,000 teachers and 2 million youth in
more than 130 countries to collaborate
through a global online network in projects
designed to make a difference in the world.
Since 1988, iEARN has pioneered the use of
interactive technologies to enable students to
engage in meaningful educational projects--
with peers around the corner and throughout
the world.

3. iEARN-Jordan
• Started in Jordan in 1999 and was coordinated by different administrations on
small scale.
• In Sep 2009, iEARN –Jordan was approved by the iEARN International Assembly
and now is coordinated by Ms. Khitam Al-Utaibi.
Achievements:
– Video Conference Seminar between Department of Education -US and
Jordan Ministry of Education for high school students to talk about Global
Warming . Ten Students from public schools in Directorate of Education -
Amman 1st. (Dec 2009)
– Workshop for 11 teachers from private schools in Amman. (Dec 2010)
– Workshop for youth specialized in IT. (Feb 2011).
– Workshop for Al-Hassad Private School teachers (March 2012)
Where you can find us:
You may find us on our Facebook iEARN-Jordan. Visit, like and share! Thanks!

4. Examples of iEARN Projects
• Beauty of the Beasts
• Future Citizen Project
• My City and Me
• To Dam or Not to Dam (Rivers), That is the
Question

5. Jordan Education Reform for
Knowledge Economy
• Knowledge Economy
• 21st century Skills
• Ways of Thinking

6. Does The Formal Education
System Help?

7. Challenges and frustrations!
Where do they come from?
• The formal education system:
– Human: Teacher, Supervisor, Principal, student
– Facility: classrooms, computer labs, science
labs, library, other (gym, music room,)
– Curriculum: standards, textbooks, e-content
– Technology and applications: internet?,
intranet?, video conferencing, online courses,
distance collaboration
• Home, neighborhood, self, etc!

8. Research on the Role of Student
Characteristics in Project-Based Learning
• There is a frequently voiced claim that
Project-Based Learning is an effective
method for prompting heretofore
reluctant and disengaged students (e.g.,
low-achieving students) to become
motivated and engaged learners (Jones
et al., 1997).

9. WH Question Words
To help you determine the skills you want your
students to acquire by answering different
questions. The list should help you in this task.
We use question words to ask certain types of
questions (question word questions). We
often refer to them as WH words because
they include the letters WH (for example WHy,
HoW).

10. The Coming to California Project
A twelve-week interdisciplinary United States
history and English project for 11th and 12th
graders. The project focused on immigration into
California and included a class mosaic as a
product.
Source: The Project Based Learning Handbook,
Buck Institute for Education. The Arabic version of
the Handbook will be issued by March 2013.

11. The Coming to California Project
PROJECT OUTCOMES
Content Standards
• Students read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of literature.
• Students write coherent and focused texts that convey a well-defined perspective and tightly
reasoned argument.
• Students deliver polished formal and extemporaneous presentations that combine traditional
rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description.
• Students analyze the relationship among the rise of industrialization, large-scale rural to
urban migration, and massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe.
• Students analyze the major political, social, economic, technological, and cultural
developments of the 1920s.
Skills
• Students will be able to set goals and carry out a project plan.
• Students will be able to deliver an oral presentation in front of a large group.
• Students will be able to generate an interview plan: who, what, where, when, how.
• Students will be able to work effectively in a group and be more disposed to cooperate with
peers.
Habits of Mind
• Students will be more tolerant and understanding of immigrant groups.

12. The Coming to California Project

13. The Coming to California Project
PROJECT EVALUATION
1.Planned as a 10-week project, the Coming to California
Project was completed in 12 weeks, with successful
presentations and a strong a sense of student
accomplishment.
2.A test for content knowledge showed that a majority of
students had mastered test and lecture materials on
immigration and key historical events, such as the
Depression, the New Deal, and the Japanese internments.
3.In presentations, students demonstrated passion,
tolerance, and understanding as they related the journey
and migration stories of the ethnic group they had chosen
to investigate.

14. The Coming to California Project
…PROJECT EVALUATION
4. Many students were motivated to research their own
family history in California and relate their findings to
immigration topics.
5. As part of the project planning, the teaching team
scheduled one 90-minute period with students to
reflect on the project and evaluate the learning that
had come from the project.
6. The evaluation was conducted in a community
fashion, with students and teachers in a large circle.
Students facilitated the debriefing and recorded the
discussion.

15. The Coming to California Project
Three management strategies helped make the project successful.
• First, teachers closely monitored the pace and direction of
project activities using weekly progress reports that included
teacher observations, weekly student progress logs, and Friday
debriefings.
• Second, as the teachers mapped out the project, they used five
different grouping strategies to ensure greater productivity and
accountability.
• Third, different learning contexts helped students stay enthused
during a long project. In addition to working in class and at
home, students conducted research in the library and in the
community, presented to other classrooms and to the
community in an all-school assembly, and worked on the mosaic
in a studio near the school.

16. Thank You 
To know more about iEARN-
Jordan, you may contact me
through email:
iearnjordan@aol.com