CHAPTER 6 Teaching with Educational Websites and Other Online Resources
Focus Question:How might educational websites provide interactive and engaging learning experiences for students?
- Educational websites provide opportunities for students to explore their own questions or through a site in a nonlinear, self-directed manner.
- Educational websites allow students to engage with online material through stories, characters, mysteries, and controversial issues.
Tech Tool: WebQuest
Before this post I was not sure what a WebQuest was so i typed it into Google and I soon discovered thousands of online lessons created by teachers around the world. Through this i learned that a WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented online tool for learning. The greatest thing for me about a WebQuest is that it provides interactive virtual explorations of ideas and concepts. One of my goals in life is to travel and just explore new things I know I would really enjoy an activity involving a WebQuest. I found a really cool example of a WebQuest designed for 5th graders where they are to explore and sale the seas with a well-known explorer from the past. The student must write a persuasive letter to convince the crew to let you stay aboard and be a sailor. http://mrshuttersclass.tripod.com/
Summary&Connection
I learned a couple things in this chapter. I know it is important for educators to switch it up a bit to keep students engaged and learning. I learned what a WebQuest was and how cool it would be to use in my own classroom. Students can even create their own Quest and have each other explore,critic or even grade each other! Educational technology is growing pretty fast these days and this chapter does well with guiding a teacher with ways they can be apart of the growth as well.
Resources:
Maloy, R. W., Verock-O, R. E., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2010). Transforming learning with new technologies. Allyn & Bacon.
Glad that you got excited about the WebQuests - they are quite effective when done well, but they are a bit more difficult to create than at first glance. The key is that balance between freedom and structure in an inquiry-based, exploratory nature. Sounds like you discovered some good tidbits of learning! :)
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