Designing a Novice Teacher Training Program for Project-Based Learning

This design case highlights how two instructional designers initiated, designed, and implemented a K-12 novice teacher training program to address three known challenges teachers face when understanding, designing, and implementing project-based learning (PBL). The design framework comprised three areas: trainees, training program design, and trainees’ work environment. The training was delivered in three phases: teachers as learners, teachers as enactors, and teachers as independent designers. Over ten weeks of design implementation in the fall semester of the 2020-2021 school year, we learned three design elements that led to successful training: the phase-based design, the three-area framework, and the project’s management documents. We also encountered challenges that hindered the transfer of training as novice teachers attempted to integrate PBL in their classrooms: teachers’ lack of classroom management skills, heavy workload, and the impact of COVID-19. In reflection, we plan to improve our design by embedding training for classroom management, adopting multidisciplinary design if feasible, and boosting longer mentorship.