Adoption-Ready Project-Based Learning for Computing Education: The FORAP Framework and a Multi-Scale Project Portfolio

Synthesis: Presents FORAP (Framework for Organizing Reusable and Adaptable Project-Based Learning projects) and a portfolio of 14 adoption-ready PjBL packages for computing education. The framework addresses the gap between PjBL's known benefits and its slow classroom adoption by making projects reusable, adaptable, and scalable across contexts.

Anchors in Active Learning and Active Learning practice for K-12 and Higher Education, connecting to CS Education and STEM Education implementation. It complements Scaffolding approaches by providing structures teachers can adopt without rebuilding from scratch, lowering barriers to Teaching adoption of hands-on computing Pedagogies and Teaching Strategies.

What this means for practice

• Instructors. Adopt an existing package instead of building from scratch: FORAP organizes 14 adoption-ready Project-Based Learning project packages that are meant to be reused and adapted across course levels rather than rebuilt by each instructor.
• Instructors. Budget for maintenance as a first-class cost. The authors note that installation and configuration materials become outdated quickly as dependencies, software versions, and platforms change, so plan a review cycle for every project you adopt.
• Instructors. Decide how AI-assisted development changes the assignment before you deploy it: the authors flag that AI help with coding, debugging, and system integration raises open questions about designing projects and assessments that still promote deep understanding.
• Instructors. Require instructor review of every support material — including AI-drafted or revised ones — for technical correctness and alignment with the learning objectives, since such materials remain instructor-facing infrastructure rather than student handouts.
• Instructors. Treat the portfolio as a starting point for local evaluation: the authors state that better approaches are still needed to isolate the effects of support materials across instructors, course contexts, project types, and student populations.

Limitations

• The paper reports no controlled quantitative evaluation of student outcomes or instructor workload — a limitation the authors state explicitly — presenting FORAP, the 14-package portfolio, and implementation lessons from classroom trials instead.
• Outcome evidence is deferred rather than reported: the authors plan to analyze pre-/post-survey data and instructor-facing measures such as project preparation time in future work, so no claim about learning gains is supported here.
• Durability is an acknowledged threat to adoption: installation and configuration materials can become outdated quickly as dependencies, versions, and platforms change, so reuse depends on sustained maintenance.
• The authors note that the effect of different support materials on student outcomes is not yet isolated, and that broader surveys and interviews with instructors are still needed to understand how FORAP supports adoption and adaptation across computing courses.

Citation

Ahmad D. Suleiman, Jan DeWaters, David C. Shepherd, Turgay Korkmaz, Faraz Hussain, Yu Liu, Daqing Hou (2026). Adoption-Ready Project-Based Learning for Computing Education: The FORAP Framework and a Multi-Scale Project Portfolio. arXiv preprint.