Wikispace
The amazing thing about wikispaces is that you, as an instructor, can create a closed environment for you and your students to work together on projects that you can bring to the entire class. “Wikis are a collection of web pages located in an online community that encourage collaboration and communication of ideas” (Roblyer & Doering, 223). One wikispace that I found structured correctly for a classroom dynamic is http://bhsenglish.wikispaces.com/summer_reading. Summer readings are essential for English teacher’s to jump starting their school year and connecting to new students through webbased learning. On their page they include an area designated for essential questions about the summer readings. When building an online resource the content should engage the student, “rather than presenting content to the learner, online content must purposefully and strategically engage the learner” (226). This is why when formatting an online space like Wikispace it is always important to think about the audience you are trying to engage.
Web-based Lesson
In my classroom I can see myself utilizing Electronic Penpals or "Keypals." http://www.theteacherscorner.net/penpals/ is a perfect website for penpals, the teacher can designate the age group and what part of the world they want to communicate with. This would be considered a form of "Interpersonal exchange-- Students communicating via technology with other students of with teachers/experts" (239). I would give guideline to my students on what kind of content is appropriate to discuss while still allowing them the freedom to have dairy-like entries. I would also give specific prompts to the students, in relation to what we were focusing on in class.
Widget 1
The fist widget that I chose is a useful tool called Feedzilla. Feedzilla is a live news feed of current events in the US. When creating your personal Feedzilla the user can pick special categories to focus on certain events. For example my Feedzilla is specified to update on Art and Literature. In my opinion current events should always be incorporated into the classroom. When using internet tools "the Internet should not be thought of as an end in itself; the activity should accomplish some objective or purpose in the required school curriculum (238). An assignment that I would give is to have my students pick one News article to read and write a response to; not only does this assignment focus on reading and writing skills but its informative and gets students interested in current events that affect their life.
Widget 2
Cbox is a widget that functions as a chatroom where your
students can post questions or responses of the learning material.
"Chatrooms are Internet locations that allow 'live' communications between
two or more users" (223). This would be useful when dealing with distances learning or web-based lessons. It also allows for the students to collaborate in a controlled environment where the teacher can still observe.
I also picked epals as a web based learning tool. It really is a wonderful concept that can build vocabulary and enhance learning. Also it is a wonderful way for students to learn about other cultures. I love that you mentioned having guidelines for the students post, When I first thought about this concept my main concern was making sure the conversations remained appropriate and educational. According to Roybler & Doering (2013), "...just like any online environment, there can be risks associated with such an approach" (p. 239). As long as we make sure to keep or students safe first and teach them online responsibility, these learning tools can be extremely helpful.
ReplyDeleteI love the penpals idea. When I read about it in the text I knew I would want to use this idea in my class. However, Roblyer & Doering stated to be careful and cautious in this activity in terms of cyberbullying and other related risk. But, with proper guidance I feel this is a great assignment. I also love your cbox widget as well.
ReplyDeleteAwesome Tilyn!, according to Roblyer& Doering, "social networking tools are steadily becoming the most used authoring technologies in the classroom." That is evident with you using options like Feedzilla, for your students. The days of just picking up a newspaper for current events are gone. Do you think you'd include the exercise about a credible source for your news cycle? Teaching bias in news would be another awesome way to use Feedzilla.
ReplyDelete