Digication

I learned a few new tricks to use with digication but over all I do not think this is going to be a site I utilize in the future. STJ has to make us use it and I understand that but I would have benefited from weebly.com instead I think.  I will continue to work on my webquest with the examples given and hopefully have a better webquest to present to the class. 

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 offered a few interesting tips I had not considered in evaluating websites to use for the children. I am starting to see that you must evaluate the websites you choose to use with your students the same way you evaluate the literature you share with them. The book points out that the websites we use have to be appropriate for the students in terms of language and content. Engaging activities for the students will retain their attention and promote fun educational facts that assist your course content. The table on page 181 provides us with a guideline to justify using certain video games. We may not be sure if using a video or game is appropriate but the guidelines provided allows us to evaluate which ones we may use in an educational manner.

InspireData and Persuasion Map are two tools that I would like to use in my classroom. If I am able to have a few computers in my classroom, the students would most likely prefer to write their essays on it. The Persuasion Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to map out their arguments for a persuasive essay or debate. Students begin by determining their goal or thesis in a short sentence. They then identify three reasons to support their argument, and three facts or examples to validate each reason. The map graphic in the upper right-hand corner allows students to move around the map, instead of having to work in a linear fashion. 

InspireData also caught my attention as a tool I want to utilize because students can use InspireData to investigate, analyze, represent data and information in dynamic graphs and charts. InspireData tools make it easy to change variables and plot types so students can explore data in multiple, meaningful ways. This encourages them to investigate data analytically, ask more questions, and apply their understanding of the data to form better conclusions and continue exploration. 

The suggestions made for the learning skills games for vocabulary building is also a new age way of tricking your students into learning vocabulary. Depending on the age of your students, there are plenty of games you can play with your students to foster learning. Incorporating educational concepts into the games they play will assist the children in retaining the information because in the background they are listening to the cues on screen. Depending on the task they have to achieve they will match the corresponding educational goal you have for the students. The students are focused on the action of the game without knowing that they are learning at the same time because the tasks the game has the children's achieve are educationally based. 

My big take away form this chapter is for me to learn to view evaluating the websites I use with my students the same way I evaluate the books I use in the classroom. I now know to evaluate everything from the outside links the websites offer to the vocabulary used on the sites as well. I did not think that so much work went into choosing the websites I use as long as the school has the proper filters on their system.This would work for the sites I use in class but not for the sites I assign for outside reading or projects.  

Class Discussion

My take away from this class was the benefit of using the Internet for virtual field trips and exposing the students to different cultures and other schools thru technology. The benefit of using the Internet as a virtual tour allows the students to have a base knowledge of a subject. This is an exciting new technology aspect I would like to use in my classroom and link up with other schools in other states for virtual conferencing.  I would have to first monitor the content I look for before I present it to the children but this will assure I have a well-rounded knowledge of the content they are looking through as well.  My only hope, as I always put, I hope my school will be accessible to technology in the classroom for the students. 

WebQuest

Webquest is a new innovative way to engage the students with online learning. It is an online journey you are taking the students on and a new way for the students to view learning. Using a tool they are most comfortable with is like tricking the students into learning. A term I would hear a lot growing up was to trick the students into learning is the only way to get them to learn. This can be the new form of “tricking” the students into learning. Using the Internet and incorporating engaging activities into your lesson plan can get the student to want to learn. The internet has many different avenues the students can be shown to use to improve their school work and can be shown educational areas that have more to offer then just YouTube.  I learned today that you need a lot of links and areas for the students to go to. You should be speaking to a general audience not just a specific class.  Each area should have the appropriate steps to follow for the students, so they are not lost in your webquest. Viewing the different types of webquest that are on the web provides me with a lot of ideas for how I would like to construct my webquest.  I find the most important part of the webquest, or component of the webquest, is the more links you provide the longer the students will be engaged.  My fear is that the school is work in will not have enough computers in the classroom, if they have any, to utilize webquest.