The document provides instructions for an assignment asking students to design a culturally relevant lesson plan using problem-based learning and technology. It discusses problem-based learning and its benefits, including defining context and meaning for students. It also describes different types of instructional contexts like creation, problem-based, and real or simulation contexts. The document emphasizes that problem-based learning supports culturally relevant strategies by involving students in knowledge construction and using their interests and resources.

1. Assignment Expectations
In the “A Case for Problem-Based Learning” written assignment
for Week Five, you will revisit the poor instruction observed in
the Jeff Bliss video from Week Three. You will apply your
knowledge of culturally relevant and creative instructional
strategies developed earlier in the course to describe and plan a
culturally relevant, project- or problem-based learning (PB2L)
experience that uses technology to create a more culturally
relevant lesson to be presented in your subject matter of choice.
The most important reason you are designing an experience that
emphasizes a project- or problem-based model is that such an
approach helps define a context that provides meaning and
purpose for all the skills to be learned. And context represents
all those factors in an instructional environment that provide
meaning for the students’ experiences, including the
information they receive. These are the factors that influence
and define what, when, where, how, why, and with whom
individual learners learn from instruction.
A number of educational researchers and instructional designers
have studied different types of contexts within specific learning
environments over the years (e.g. Jonassen, Peck, & Wilson,
1999), and these different types of contexts can be characterized
into three broad categories: creation, problem-based, and real
(or simulation). Within these broad categories, subcategories of
context types reside and, in many cases, overlap into multiple
categories. The figure blow represents this relationship:
Figure 1: Instructional Context Categories and Types
Table 1 presents descriptions of each context category or type.

2. Table 1: Descriptions of Context Categories or Types
Context Category or Type
Description
Creation
This type of context provides opportunities for learners to
create something.
Real/
Simulation
These context types allow learners to make decisions in the
development and/or subsequent operation of a real or simulated
environment or situation. Simulations often try to replicate
real-world environments.
Modeling
Modeling contexts enable users to develop models to explain or
demonstrate complex ideas, procedures, concepts, or processes.
Situation Exploration
Case-Based
Story
Situation explorations and cases don’t allow the learners to
control parameters of the environment, but they can freely
explore within a simulated or real environment or situation.
These types of contexts are often "problem solving" in nature.
Story contexts present stories (fiction or non-fiction), and story
elements such as characters, plot, setting, and conflict might be
used as “anchors” or themes to help facilitate specific, discrete
outcomes. Non-fiction story elements, such as collected and
tabulated data, reflect elements of cases that are often used to
help facilitate the learning of specific outcomes as well.
Research Problems
Problem-Based Learning

3. In this context type, research problems (problems associated
with a specific content domain) are presented to the learners,
and they must use computer-based resources to help solve the
problems.
Reference Exploration
Treasure Hunt
Scavenger Hunt
Reference exploration contexts encourage learners to freely
explore and access reference-type information.
In a treasure hunt, learners are given a topic or concept, and
they are directed to locate interesting information related to the
topic.
In a scavenger hunt, learners are given a list of interesting
questions to answer.
Games
This type of context usually engages learners in competition,
cooperation, puzzles, or strategies, often for the sake of
entertainment. Other contexts may employ this context because
of the motivational advantages of games.
Storytelling
This type of context encourages learners to construct and
communicate fiction and nonfiction stories. This context types
is presented separately from “creation” contexts simply because
the act of storytelling falls somewhere in-between creation and
communication.
Performance
This context type is directly related to creation and
storytelling. Plays, songs, and movies reflect some of the ways
in which learners can create and perform material designed to
tell stories and/or express perspectives.

4. “Big-Picture” Concept Mapping
This context type encourages the learners to create conceptual
“Big Pictures” that represent the scope of particular content
domains.
Discussions
&
Questioning
Discussion contexts are simply environments in which a
moderator presents or facilitates the articulation of topics to be
discussed by the learners.
A moderator can also direct questioning strategies specifically
designed to challenge and uncover depth. Playing Devil’s
Advocate, answering questions with questions, the Socratic
method of questioning, and redirecting questions to different
learners represent various strategies that can be employed.
What is important to consider about these different types of
instructional contexts is that some, like problem-based learning,
naturally support the implementation of many, if not all,
culturally relevant strategies:
1. Maximizing academic success through relevant instructional
experiences
2. Addressing cultural competence through reinforcing students’
cultural integrity
3. Involving students in the construction of knowledge
4. Building on students’ interests and linguistic resources
5. Accessing home and community resources
6. Understanding students’ cultural knowledge
7. Using interactive and constructivist teaching strategies
8. Examining the curriculum from multiple perspectives
9. Promoting critical consciousness through opportunities to
challenge predominant elements of the students’ social norms
Keep this in mind as you design a solution to the real problem

5. observed in the video of Jeff Bliss and Ms. Phung. Solving this
design problem supports your newly learned practice of
analyzing characteristics of effective meaningful learning
contexts and instructional strategies as they apply to working
with diverse students, families, and communities. It also
provides you with practice in formulating effective, culturally
relevant instructional strategies appropriate for the design and
implementation of instruction for a diverse population. Both
these skills will be needed to successfully complete next week’s
Final Project.
Running head: CROWDFUNDING
1
CROWDFUNDING
8
Crowdfunding
Name of Author
Name of Institution
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding refers to as a process by which a project or a
venture is funded by raising many little amounts of capital by a
large group of people through the internet. It is a combination
of crowdsourcing, a practice of engaging a group of people for a
common goal especially innovation, and micro-financing. The
entire act is made possible by three groups of people namely the
project initiator, a person who gives out an idea about the
project and how the money will be contributed, individuals or
groups who second the initiator's idea and lastly a moderating
organization that gathers the two parties to launch the concept.

6. Undoubtedly, the crowding process has grown significantly in
recent years helping individuals who have business ideas but
lack capital to be funded. However, global business analysts
still consider the process to be in its early stage of development
because many people globally have not embraced the method of
project funding. For instance, in 2015, approximately $ 34
billion was raised globally from crowdfunding. This amount is
meager as compared to America’s total income which
nearly16.01 trillion meaning that many people are still ignorant
about the crowdfunding. This essay intends to discuss the
various categories of the crowdfunding practice and the
advantages each has.
Reward-based overcrowding is a type of crowdfunding where
the individuals taking part in an initiated project contribute a
certain agreed amount of money for a reward. Most of the time,
the token is usually the commodity being produced. There are
two leading platforms of overcrowding that are reward-based
namely the Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
It is believed that the reward based technique is more rewarding
than the other categories for it focuses more on the act of only
donating to come up with the money required to run the project.
This implies that one does not have to seek funds from other
sources for there is no fixed amount of money a backer is
required to contribute sparing him from the risks that might be
associated with taking bank loans.
The method of crowdfunding is also user-friendly for it charges
one a small amount of money. They are also easy to operate and
manage and therefore, no person can be discouraged to use it
due to it being complex. The ability to quickly use the reward-
based method of crowdfunding makes it possible for investors
and people coming up with business ideas to consume little
amount of time and money that will be required to access the
internet.
The reward-based method allows an individual or a group of
people participating in a particular venture to have a personal
connection with people who are interested in knowing it entails.

7. This enables the project to be funded through charity from the
interested parties, joining of new members who add up on the
already collected contributions in other ways. Moreover, the
group project will be known for the curious individuals who
accessed information about the organization through their
platform have a likelihood of spreading the news via word of
mouth.
The fact that the reward based activity of crowdfunding does
not set boundaries for one on what to contribute makes it
compelling. No participant has a likelihood of leaving the
project because he or she cannot raise funds required for one
gives out what he can raise. Moreover, no individual in the
group carrying out the activity feels belittled or intimidated
because he cannot raise the required fee leading to all members
feeling important towards the general contribution of the goal
they had in mind.
Peer to peer lending category of crowdfunding entails the
process whereby a peer to peer lending sites links borrowers
with possible investors via the internet. The peer to peer
lending sites ensures they have all the relevant details about a
borrower to avoid circumstance of cons taking advantage. The
lending services also act as an intermediary of the interest rates
to be paid by a borrower.
This method of raising capital to run an errand has benefits; for
instance, an investor can get vast returns of interest as
compared to if he took his money in the bank. Also, he can gain
personal-satisfaction in knowing who borrowed his money and
for what purpose he intended to use it for, an act that he would
not have been able to get if he had given the money to the bank.
Certainly, if an investor has a direct connection with the
borrower, the interest cannot be fixed. The borrower and lender
negotiate on the interest rates, and they are able to come up
with the one which will favor the two parties. Some of the key
factors that influence the setting of the interest rates are the
period taken for the borrower to pay it back, the security the
borrower gave to the investor, the amount of money given out,

8. government policies, the rate of inflation among others.
On the other hand, the borrower who gets loans via the peer to
peer lending sites spares more time as compared to a borrower
who seeks financial support from banks because the banks have
lengthy processes required for one to be given loans. Moreover,
a borrower can request sympathy from the borrower by telling
him of his financial constraints leading to him being charged a
little amount of interest.
The method of overcrowding favors those individuals who are
excluded from taking loans, for instance, those with no credit
profile, those with a below average credit rating among other
reasons. Therefore, unlike banks, it gives people of all kinds of
financial status equal opportunities to access the same amount
of loans.
The act of someone financially stable or just not in dire need of
money giving another who needs to run his errands results to
the steady rise of the country's economy. This will have a
positive impact on all the aspects of the social amenities due to
increasing in tax which is used for development purposes.
In peer to peer lending, lenders are able to spread out their risks
through the various transaction they carry out by the end of the
required period. This implies that the risk he incurs after a
period he does meditation and calculations about his venture is
indirectly proportional to the number of transactions; therefore,
he is at liberty to carry out as many money lending activities as
possible.
Another critical category of crowdfunding is the donation
based. In this category, the backer receives a token for what he
has contributed towards the project being carried out. The main
difference between this method of crowdfunding and reward-
based is that in donation based, one may not get the token. Also,
the donation-based is most of the time carried out to raise funds
for charitable activities. Therefore, the backers do not receive
any legal ownership for any share of the project for the funds
are perceived as donations. Examples of donation-based
crowdfunding platforms are the Rockethub, Crowdfunder among

9. others.
An instance where a donation-based crowdfunding technique
can help one to get a Nobel price is where one comes up with
the idea of raising money for a charitable cause. Examples are
educating the girl child on ways to avoid getting pregnant
before finishing school, conserving the energy, helping the
orphans or the elderly in the society among others. The person
can be shortlisted for the Nobel award because of his actions
that purposes to make the world a better place.
Donation based has an advantage of enabling one to raise money
for his project that is non-profitable through internet sites for
example Milaap. This makes it more cost-effective as compared
to the traditional way of raising money for a charitable cause
that required one to use television or radio stations to advertise.
Moreover, the new method of raising fund for charity projects
saves one the process of booking space for his advertisement on
air.
The rise of the social media trend in the Information technology
world makes it easy and effective for one’s charitable project to
find funders. Many people nowadays spend most of their times
on social media platform. Therefore, the idea of raising money
to help a certain population in the society will reach the
targeted group who will spread his idea via word of mouth or
finance his cause (Nevin, Gleasure, O'Reilly, Feller, &
Cristoforo ). Equity crowdfunding entails the process where a
pool of investors invests their money in an early stage unlisted
company, a company that has not yet been listed in the stock-
market. These investors are given profits in the form of
dividends if the company makes a profit and they also suffer a
loss in case the company experiences a loss. The major
importance of the crowding technique is its ability to utilize
funds regardless of how small is. The main team players of the
equity method of creating a pool of funds include companies
such as Ourcrowd, FundersClub, CircleUp, AngelIList among
others.
The equity crowdfunding is usually influenced by the investors'

10. ability to see a return in trade sale experienced when a company
is sold to another in a hefty sum that is divided amongst them in
the form of dividends. Also, it is affected by public offering,
the process by which the company is finally placed in the stock
market and investors can sell their shares and lastly the
percentage the investors yearly get as profits (Butticè,,
Colombo, & Wright2017) The Equity crowdfunding has gained
popularity as compared to the other categories for it is pocket-
friendly. The technique of creating a pool of fund required to
run projects has platforms which do not charge any fee for one
to raise awareness about his business plans and a little amount
of money while raising money. (Kuppuswamy & Bayus 2017).
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Also, it enables the owner of the business idea to get a
better one for the various investors will come up with their
ideas. This will be manifested in the company’s quality of
output and the dividends each investor gets (Packard & Jiang
2017).
In equity crowdfunding, one can establish networks with
investors who will open doors for new ventures in future. As
one’s projects become successful, his investors have a
likelihood of investing in his future business projects and
referring people to invest there. Comment by Grammarly:
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One can gain trust from investors if his equity crowdfunding
venture moves forward.In cases where one is new in the
crowdfunding technique of raising money for his project and is
not able to get the exact number of investors he wanted, he can
start with the few number he has, and as success becomes a
norm, many investors will start to stream in into his business.
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It is simple as compared to the traditional ways of
investing one's money. One is only supposed to find the right
platform to venture his capital and use it regularly to pass the

11. message about his venture to attract the potential investors.
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It is prudent for investors to first get a full overview of
crowdfunding before running a campaign to raise funds.
Moreover, it is intuitive for them to know that the campaigning
might not be successful and the company might not get the
required number of investors or the capital needed to run its
errands.In this instance, the investor has to alter with factors
that influence the fundcrowding process such as the channels he
uses to advertise his ventures. If the investor succeeds in the
campaign, he still has a massive task of proving to the backers
that their decision of trusting him with their funds was the best
they would have made (Lu, L., & Fulk, 2017). Comment by
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References
Butticè, V., Colombo, M. G., & Wright, M. (2017). Serial
crowdfunding, social capital, and project success.
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41(2), 183-207.
Kuppuswamy, V., & Bayus, B. L. (2018). Crowdfunding
creative ideas: The dynamics of project backers. In The
Economics of Crowdfunding (pp. 151-182). Palgrave
Macmillan, Cham.
Lu, L., & Fulk, J. (2017, January). Exploring Crowdfunding
Projects’ Success through Social Embeddedness and Knowledge
Exchange Process. In Academy of Management Proceedings
(Vol. 2017, No. 1, p. 15917). Academy of Management.
Nevin, S., Gleasure, R., O'Reilly, P., Feller, J., Li, S., &
Cristoforo, J. (2017, August). Social Identity and Social Media
Activities in Equity Crowdfunding. In Proceedings of the 13th

12. International Symposium on Open Collaboration (p. 11). ACM.
Packard, M. D., & Jiang, L. (2017, January). Knowledge Signals
and Investors’ Funding Decisions: Evidence from Crowdfunding
Ventures. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2017,
No. 1, p. 11911). Academy of Management.