Encountering E-Learning Education

 I thought it would be worthwhile reflecting upon a number of educational tools available through the internet to further my discussion about teaching using technology. The first online teaching medium I have chosen to evaluate is WebQuest. WebQuest is a guided research resource where students have a role and sense of responsibility in learning. WebQuest is an effective teaching tool as it gives students educational direction whist providing scaffolding for learning. WebQuest was designed as a resource for teachers to teach through using the web. This is achieved through directing students to materials and resources available online focused on a particular topic or idea. It is an inquiry orientated activity where students draw upon the web in seeking information. This model of teaching was developed in 1995 at Dan Diego State University by Bernie Dodge and Tom March. It receives a startling 1700 hits per day.

Web-quests are becoming widely accepted amongst primary school teachers as an effective and informative way of encouraging students to learn through inquiry and investigation. The process of learning is largely reliant on students taking responsibility for their educational experiences. Generally WebQuests are good at directing students to topical online resources which develop greater insight and depth of knowledge in any given subject area. Some WebQuests also embrace the concept of constructionism. This is done through giving students roles such as navigator or secretary and embracing the idea of exploration to increase motivation. However, other WebQuests use a fairly restrictive and limited approach towards teaching using technology and the extent on constructivist approaches is simply sharing students’ work with the class’. I feel that the Internet is such a powerful and easy tool for sharing students work and providing them with a real, global audience. I do not consider only sharing students work within the classroom as deep sharability or a meaningful sense of audience.

WebQuests all follow a similar four step format: Introduction, Task, Process, Evaluation, Conclusion. Additionally at the end of each QebQuest there are pages for credits and teacher evaluation. I believe WebQuests are an excellent teaching resource. It is interactive and provides students with responsibility and purpose in learning. It is also a very diverse resource and covers a vast array of topics which could be explored in the classroom. As a prospective teacher I can envisage myself using Web-quest but also creating my own WebQuest pages. I can imagine that WebQuests would be an effective way to encourage collaborative work and assemble learning activities in an engaging manner.

I thought it would be worthwhile reflecting upon a number of educational tools available through the internet to further my discussion about teaching using technology. The first online teaching medium I have chosen to evaluate is WebQuest. WebQuest is a guided research resource where students have a role and sense of responsibility in learning. WebQuest is an effective teaching tool as it gives students educational direction whist providing scaffolding for learning. WebQuest was designed as a resource for teachers to teach through using the web. This is achieved through directing students to materials and resources available online focused on a particular topic or idea. It is an inquiry orientated activity where students draw upon the web in seeking information. This model of teaching was developed in 1995 at Dan Diego State University by Bernie Dodge and Tom March. It receives a startling 1700 hits per day.

Web-quests are becoming widely accepted amongst primary school teachers as an effective and informative way of encouraging students to learn through inquiry and investigation. The process of learning is largely reliant on students taking responsibility for their educational experiences. Generally WebQuests are good at directing students to topical online resources which develop greater insight and depth of knowledge in any given subject area. Some WebQuests also embrace the concept of constructionism. This is done through giving students roles such as navigator or secretary and embracing the idea of exploration to increase motivation. However, other WebQuests use a fairly restrictive and limited approach towards teaching using technology and the extent on constructivist approaches is simply sharing students’ work with the class’. I feel that the Internet is such a powerful and easy tool for sharing students work and providing them with a real, global audience. I do not consider only sharing students work within the classroom as deep sharability or a meaningful sense of audience.

WebQuests all follow a similar four step format: Introduction, Task, Process, Evaluation, Conclusion. Additionally at the end of each QebQuest there are pages for credits and teacher evaluation. I believe WebQuests are an excellent teaching resource. It is interactive and provides students with responsibility and purpose in learning. It is also a very diverse resource and covers a vast array of topics which could be explored in the classroom. As a prospective teacher I can envisage myself using WebQuest but also creating my own WebQuest pages. I can imagine that WebQuests would be an effective way to encourage collaborative work and assemble learning activities in an engaging manner.

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