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Students at Colleton County New Tech Entrepreneurial
Academy work together to complete group projects as
they would in a work environment. Faciltators team-teach
standards-based content relevant to students’ lives.
Interest in project-based learning (PBL) in South Carolina is growing
rapidly. A number of schools and districts in South Carolina are
incorporating some project-based learning into their curricula as a
way to get to the deeper learning needed to better prepare students
for college and careers. Some schools have created PBL-based
schools-within-schools and some have fully converted to a PBL
model. As schools continue to implement this approach to education,
superintendents and principals have called for more teachers who
understand how to design, deliver, support and assess quality projectbased learning. The scarcity of such teachers has been emphatically
identified by a number of the state’s education stakeholders as one of
the leading obstacles to broad implementation of this innovative and
proven methodology.
In response to this need for more PBL-trained teachers, the Riley
Institute at Furman partnered with key colleges of education
throughout the state, including those at Furman, Claflin, College of Charleston, and Winthrop to jointly develop a threecourse project-based learning endorsement for South Carolina’s teachers. With support from the South Carolina Department
of Education, the detailed three-course endorsement has been approved by the State Board of Education and is moving to
the final stage of approval by the legislature in spring 2015. Once finalized, the curriculum design, coursework, syllabi and
resources will become “open source” upon which any college of education may draw.
Beginning in 2015 and 2016, teachers and students preparing to be teachers will be able to take these courses at institutions
throughout the state. To learn more about the endorsement and how to register, please see contact information below.
Claflin University
The endorsement coursework will begin in spring 2016 through the Center for Professional and Continuing Studies.
Contact: Valerie E. Harrison, PhD, Dean, School of Education, vharrison@claflin.edu
College of Charleston
The endorsement coursework will begin in spring 2016 as a graduate certificate in project-based learning as part of the
existing M.Ed. program in Teaching, Learning, and Advocacy (MTLA).
Contact: Susan Hallatt, Director of Admissions, hallatts@cofc.edu or the MTLA program director, mtla@cofc.edu
Furman University
The endorsement coursework will begin in summer 2016, and courses will be electives in the Master of Arts in Education
degree program with a concentration in Curriculum and Instruction.
Contact: Troy Terry, PhD, Director of Graduate Studies, troy.terry@furman.edu
Winthrop University
The endorsement coursework will begin in summer 2015 as part of both the M.A. and M.Ed. programs.
Contact: Sue Spencer, PhD, spencers@winthrop.edu
For more information, please contact Cathy Stevens at the Richard W. Riley Institute at Furman, cathy.stevens@furman.edu.