I took a look at this YouTube movie and came across a few ideas that i myself had not really considered in the past. Although i am very much into gaming i had not really considered the educational benefits of gaming. I had thought games like Age of Empires could be potentially educational but i had not considered the ideas put forward about the physics that could come from some games.
The right games used effectively could be useful tools for teachers. However, for a teacher to use games in the classroom he or she must have a clear understanding of the purpose for using the game and be sure of the educational value of the game. This issue is also discussed by Jenni as she discusses the need for teacher evaluation of games.
As was suggested by Kirsty this site is a useful tool for teachers to find some of the answers to some of the questions that could arise whilst using ICT in the classrooms.
As suggested by Tim the idea of using this site to publish students work in the form of a news paper article could be an interesting and motivating learning activity for students.
This is yet another success story of a teacher form a school in New Zealand using ICT in her classroom.
I was really impressed with the amount of online activities that were being incorporated into the class blog. Incorporating a wide array of online tools could be a further way a motivating students as it provides students with opportunities to contribute different things to their class.
I also like the idea of having Podcast monitors that is three students per week reporting in the form of a podcast on the weeks activity. Over the term of the year providing every student the opportunity to produce at least one podcast.
After watching this YouTube movie once again i’m inspired!!!
I look forward to setting up a blog, wiki’s for my future students. Just seeing the enthusiasm of the students in the class in conjunction with that of the parents reinforces the great oppertunities available to students.
However, on a side note one issue is that none of the schools that i have been in have had that many computers available most are lucky to have two or three.
This useful article expands on the potential learning power of the WebQuest.
My minimal previous experiences with WebQuest might not actually have been a true indication of the potential of the WebQuest. Previously i had been given a so called WebQuest which fundamentally failed to implement the concepts put forward by this article.
Previously, i had been simply given a number of question and directions to certain sites to find the answers this was my understanding of the WebQuest prior to reading about it.
The article suggests that a true WebQuest should provide students with opportunities to engage in higher order learning and not just retrieving information but using the information they retrieve for a purpose.
Just wanting to share my experience with WebQuests in the primary classroom.
During my last practicum i tried to have my class work on a WebQuest to support their unit on Antarctica. I found what i thought was a useful WebQuest at home and worked through it on my home PC without any dramas.
However, when it came to school it was a different story as a few issues came to the forefront.
Firstly, even though i had printed out the URL for each student some found it difficult to copy it exactly as it was quite a long web address. As a result i good 15 minutes were wasted going around helping individual students to find the problems in their address.
Secondly, and more significantly was the problems that arose when some sites would be blocked by the department filter on some computers but not on others. Therefore some students were able to access the sites whilst others couldn’t. This however, was rectified by having those students who were able to access the information to share it with the rest of the class.
This experience however taught me about the importance of testing classroom activities on department computers before have students attempt the activity.
This article explores the use of WebQuests in the classroom.
Whilst, presenting two success stories the article puts great emphasis on the need for computers activities to be embedded into the curriculum rather than adding it to the already crowded curriculum.
The examples provided in the article were prime example of how WebQuests can incorporate a number of differing KLA’s which can be used to motivate students and provide them depth in their learning experience.
For the teacher WebQuests can be a useful tool to streamline the curriculum and it is important to see that the computer activities do not need to be an additional lesson to somehow fit into the day but could be used in conjunction with other learning.
Just a further note on blogging. I went to prac. all enthusiastic wanting to have my class produce their own blog only to have my teacher tell me that he was not comfortable with the students posting things on the net.
He told me that he was concerned about student security and even after i explained the security measures available on Edublogs he was not convinced. He also stated that he felt the teacher monitoring possibly required would be too time consuming for him when i finished my stint in the class.
If anyone is able to suggest any arguments that i could have used in this problem feel free to share.
