Introduction and Overview (5 minutes)
Brief introduction and overview of Personal Interest Projects (PIPs) and their origin and evolution. Highlight the relevance of PIPs in the current educational landscape and the role of AI.
The Discover Phase: (10 minutes)
Content: Explain the Discover phase, where students brainstorm and select their project ideas. Highlight how AI can assist in this phase by generating ideas, conducting SWOT analyses, and helping students identify interests and feasible project directions.
Engagement: Share examples of successful student projects (e.g., directing a Zoom musical, building a deck) and how AI helped students overcome the initial hurdles of idea generation. Participants will participate in a brainstorm activity using a Large Language Model (LLM) and some interactive prompting best practices to refine project ideas.
The Create Phase(15 minutes)
Content: Dive into the Create phase, where students turn ideas into reality. Demonstrate how AI can help students plan, create timelines, find resources, and troubleshoot roadblocks. Explain the role of documentation and blogging throughout the phase.
Engagement: Share templates that assist with planning and problem-solving. Demonstrate how AI can support students in the planning of their project execution without diminishing the rigor and critical thinking.
The Share Phase (10 minutes)
Content: Discuss the Share phase, where students present their work. Highlight the importance of an authentic audience.
Engagement: Showcase examples of student presentations and creative ways they’ve shared their projects.
Connecting PIPs to Real-World Skills (5 min)
Content: Emphasize how PIPs develop skills like creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration—skills critical in today’s AI-driven world. Discuss how PIPs engage students in authentic, performance-based learning that AI can elevate but not replicate.
Engagement: Open Q&A session allowing participants to ask specific questions about implementing PIPs and using AI to support student projects.
Wrap-Up and Key Takeaways (5 minutes)
Content: Recap the three phases of PIPs (Discover, Create, and Share). Emphasize the importance of hands-on, meaningful learning in a time when AI is reshaping education.
Engagement: Final interactive poll on one new idea or strategy they plan to implement from the session.
After this session, participants will be able to...
Design standards-aligned personal interest learning experiences that foster student agency, ownership, and real-world relevance.
Apply strategies from Learning They’ll Love to transform traditional lessons into authentic, student-centered projects that ethically and effectively integrate AI tools.
Create an actionable plan or prototype for implementing hands-on, interest-driven projects that meet learning standards and model responsible AI use in their own instructional setting.
Learning They'll Love - published by ASCD by Elizabeth Agro Radday (me!)
Teach for Authentic Engagement - Lauren Porosoff
PBLWorks - pblworks.org
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