Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Final Thoughts on WebQuests
I just finished up my WebQuest after much time and effort. I thought that planning the assignment was interesting, but I was not happy about having to build it into a WebQuest when I first started. I encountered a lot of problems while working in QuestGarden. At one point, just days away from the deadline, I lost all of my work and information! I struggled to create links and upload pictures, and the formatting in QuestGarden was like nothing I had ever seen. Though I complained my way through this project, I actually feel that I am walking away from it with a lot of knowledge and valuable experience. This was the first time I had ever done a web-based project. I am starting to feel more comfortable working with computers and the internet. I probably won't make WebQuests a regular part of my lesson planning, in fact I most likely will never make one again, but at least now I know how to! If anyone is interested in checking out my finished WebQuest, visit http://questgarden.com/76/35/6/090215112734.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Obama's Education Plan
Unfortunately, I will not be able to participate in the chat about Obama's new education plan, but it is something I am very curious to hear about. If anyone does stop by the chatroom, please share anything interesting that comes up! The principal at the school where I am student teaching recently sent an article out to the staff with information regarding the new plan. It seems that much is being done to improve the education system, and I was especially impressed with the ideas and suggestions made to change our system of standardized testing. Hopefully education reform will be a priority with the new administration and improvements will be made to keep public education progressing. I hope the chat is interesting and informative!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Web Page Evaluation
The site URL is http://www.edhelper.com.
The site title is edhelper.com.
The site is student friendly because it offers games and activities; however it is only available to students of teachers who are registered members.
The site is very teacher friendly. It has ideas, plans, worksheets, puzzles, games, and activities for teachers to use to supplement their lessons. It is very well organized by subject, and then subdivided by specific concepts and lessons, as well as by grade level.
It is definitely an appropriate reading level for the audience of teachers that it will mainly reach. The supplementary work for students that is available on the site comes in a range of reading levels. A teacher would easily be able to find appropriate materials on this site for the grade level that they teach.
The screen loads rather quickly.
The site does not contain any advertisement banners or pop-ups.
I did not have any problems accessing any of the links contained on the website.
I feel very comfortable navigating this website. Everything is divided and subdivided very clearly, and the link titles are brief and descriptive. It has a simple design with easy to read text and small, but eye-catching, icons. There is a very convenient search option on the site to limit time spent reading through each section and enable the user to find exactly what they are looking for immediately.
I found the entire site extremely useful. The best features are the supplementary worksheets and ideas for lesson plans. The activities are fun and provide engaging and fun additions to almost any lesson.
I really did not have any problems using this site and found it to be quite clear and user-friendly.
The site seems to be very well maintained. It offers a newsletter with up-to-date information, and even includes a link entitled, “What’s New,” containing seasonal and relevant project ideas.
Students must log in but do not require a password.
The only personal information asked of students is for their first and last name and for their teacher’s email address.
This website seems to be fine as is. It has a large audience; it is easy to use, well maintained, and full of useful information. I suppose in the future the authors will want to modernize it by making the design a little more creative and fancy, but no improvements are necessary at this time.
The site title is edhelper.com.
The site is student friendly because it offers games and activities; however it is only available to students of teachers who are registered members.
The site is very teacher friendly. It has ideas, plans, worksheets, puzzles, games, and activities for teachers to use to supplement their lessons. It is very well organized by subject, and then subdivided by specific concepts and lessons, as well as by grade level.
It is definitely an appropriate reading level for the audience of teachers that it will mainly reach. The supplementary work for students that is available on the site comes in a range of reading levels. A teacher would easily be able to find appropriate materials on this site for the grade level that they teach.
The screen loads rather quickly.
The site does not contain any advertisement banners or pop-ups.
I did not have any problems accessing any of the links contained on the website.
I feel very comfortable navigating this website. Everything is divided and subdivided very clearly, and the link titles are brief and descriptive. It has a simple design with easy to read text and small, but eye-catching, icons. There is a very convenient search option on the site to limit time spent reading through each section and enable the user to find exactly what they are looking for immediately.
I found the entire site extremely useful. The best features are the supplementary worksheets and ideas for lesson plans. The activities are fun and provide engaging and fun additions to almost any lesson.
I really did not have any problems using this site and found it to be quite clear and user-friendly.
The site seems to be very well maintained. It offers a newsletter with up-to-date information, and even includes a link entitled, “What’s New,” containing seasonal and relevant project ideas.
Students must log in but do not require a password.
The only personal information asked of students is for their first and last name and for their teacher’s email address.
This website seems to be fine as is. It has a large audience; it is easy to use, well maintained, and full of useful information. I suppose in the future the authors will want to modernize it by making the design a little more creative and fancy, but no improvements are necessary at this time.
Monday, February 9, 2009
My First Impression of WebQuests
I first heard about WebQuests in my Assessment course last Spring semester. Another student who had been using WebQuests for years did a very thorough Power Point presentation on the subject. My first impression was that it seemed like a lot of work for designing projects that were mediocre. It appeared to be time consuming for the teacher, and I couldn't see a student getting enthusiastic about having to complete such a long, drawn out, and complicated assignment.
I just finished investigating the websites listed in module 3. I took my time and read through all of the information about what WebQuests are, how to make them, and even how to complete one designed by someone else. I must admit I was bored. I was unimpressed with the objectives of the assignments, and I didn't think a student would benefit from completing the WebQuests enough to warrant the amount of time they would need to spend working on them.
I have not started working on designing my own WebQuest yet. I do think that using the QuestGarden website will make the process easier, as the site seemed to be well organized and user-friendly. I was shocked to find out that WebQuests have been around since the 90's! I'm sure when they first came out they were a hit with teachers and students because of the novelty of getting to use a computer to complete an entire project. Now students are so used to using computers that a WebQuest is just another assignment.
I'm trying to be open minded about designing my own WebQuest. I hope that as I research it further and continue working through module 3 I will come to appreciate WebQuests and be able to design one that is engaging and worthwhile for my students. If my students respond well to my WebQuest, and I can see that they truly benefitted from completing the project, my opinion of WebQuests will be changed.
I just finished investigating the websites listed in module 3. I took my time and read through all of the information about what WebQuests are, how to make them, and even how to complete one designed by someone else. I must admit I was bored. I was unimpressed with the objectives of the assignments, and I didn't think a student would benefit from completing the WebQuests enough to warrant the amount of time they would need to spend working on them.
I have not started working on designing my own WebQuest yet. I do think that using the QuestGarden website will make the process easier, as the site seemed to be well organized and user-friendly. I was shocked to find out that WebQuests have been around since the 90's! I'm sure when they first came out they were a hit with teachers and students because of the novelty of getting to use a computer to complete an entire project. Now students are so used to using computers that a WebQuest is just another assignment.
I'm trying to be open minded about designing my own WebQuest. I hope that as I research it further and continue working through module 3 I will come to appreciate WebQuests and be able to design one that is engaging and worthwhile for my students. If my students respond well to my WebQuest, and I can see that they truly benefitted from completing the project, my opinion of WebQuests will be changed.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Some Helpful Websites
I am just coming to the point in my student teaching where I am starting to write some lesson plans and teach a few classes. My first science lesson is going to be on Thursday and my cooperating teacher told me a few sites to check out for some ideas and materials. One of the sites, edhelper.com, which was actually listed on the web page evaluation rubric, proved to be extremely helpful to me. I was able to get an idea for an activity, and a worksheet as an assessment off of the site for free! Another great site I'm taking advantage of for my lesson is BrainPop.com. It has videos and quizzes on just about any subject, and the students really get into them. I believe you need to pay for the site, but many districts subscribe to it. If you haven't already, go check them out!
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