Choose one question. Responses due by Oct. 27, 12noon.
1. The authors discuss several benefits and challenges to using WebQuests for student learning. Summarize the important pros and cons of the WebQuest, and explain how you will minimize potential problems in the design and development of your WebQuest.
2. Choose at least two NETS-T that would be met by the WebQuest described in the article. Explain (specifically) how the NETS-T that you identified are connected to one or more of the activities implemented in the WebQuest.
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Question 1. Pros and Cons of Web Quest.
Cons: Navigational disorientation, information unorganized.
Pros: Faciliatate thoughtful literacy, collaboration, thoughtful connections and critical reading.
Ways that i will minimize these problems are "need to ensure that
learners are sufficiently scaffolded while at the
same time giving them opportunities for exploration
and encouraging them to take ownership of
their learning"(p.9). This will help with the brain overloading and make sure that the students are staying on task. Another thing i can do is view some sites and guide the students to the most organized sites that will not confuse them.
Question 1: The Pros and Cons of WebQuests
Pros: It creates an authentic research environment, distributes knowledge in multiple ways, gives a variety of perspectives, and promotes critical thinking.
Cons: Navigational disorientation, information overload, and distraction.
One of the ways that I would reduce these problems would be to choose clear sites to include in my resources section. These sites would be easy to read with little or no outside advertisements. The necessary information on these sites should be easy to find.
When I do implement my webquest in the classroom, the learners would be placed in groups of two or three for the quest. If the groups are chosen wisely, my theory is that they will motivate each other to stay on task. I will also implement reflection assignments that will document the days work.
Pros: student can work collaboratively. Many different activities can be used. Deeper learning processes can occur.
Cons: some students are not proficient in computer use. Overwhelming information can frustrate students. Sometimes our first questions are not always the best for higher thinking.
In my lesson plan I really think I need to contemplate my goals and questions to ensure that students will get the most learning out of the webquest. I have found it is hard for me to think of questions that are not too hard or too easy. Also I will try to have multiple people look at my webquest to make sure it is organized and understandable.
Question 1
Pros
- Offers multiple knowledge representations
- Promotes thoughtful literacy
- Provides opportunities for collaboration
Cons
- Students may lack sufficient skills in using the internet
- Navigation difficulties
- Information overload
- Too many distractions
In order to minimize potential problems in my WebQuest, I can provide explicit instruction on how to use the internet prior to using the WebQuest. This will give the students the skills they will need in order to find their way around the internet. I will also organize my WebQuest so that it is easy for the students to maneuver around the site. In order to avoid information overload, I can teach the students skills such as skimming and scanning the pages to find the relevant information prior to using the WebQuest. Distractions can be minimized by monitoring the students while they are on the internet, having the students go to websites that have few distractions, and modeling proper use of school computers.
Question 1
Pros:
- Learners can experience the same content in different ways.
- It enables learners to process information using a variety of complex thinking skills.
- Information can be accessed and presented in multiple ways.
- Offers interactivity and opportunities for collaboration.
Cons:
- Navigational disorientation
- Information overload
- Distraction
- Information on the internet is sometimes disorganized.
I will attempt to avoid the cons by providing just a few sites to find the information and keep them to sites that don't have too much extraneous information. This should help to minimize the possible negative issues of webquests.
question 1
I think that the most important pros to Web Quest are: influence of multiple tasks, collaboration, and having children make their own choices. I think that having a variety of tasks for the students to perform like role playing, and poetry writing help students to understand materials better, and keeps them interested. I think that social interaction helps students to make real life connections, and understand concepts better. Also allowing the students to make choices that interest them, and being in control of their learning helps to create learning meaningful when using Web Quests.
Cons: The cons are: hard navigation, information overload, and distractibility. I think that when Web Quests are hard to navigate students get frustrated and are less likely to focus on the work. Also when there is to much information the students get overwhelmed and loose interest in learning that subject. Another issue that is big is distractibility the book says, " Lisa and Ben usually checked e-mail or played some online games before settling down to work" (p.651).
When I create my lesson I can decrease some of the problems associated with Web quest by making sure that the information that I am presenting matches what I want the children to learn. I could also allow children to use other data they gathered from home to include real life connections. I also need to make sure that the activities I choose are interesting, and engage the children in a meaningful way. I also need to make sure they have background knowledge so they understand what the information means, and they are not overloaded. As a teacher I need to make sure the sites I am sending my students are appropriate, measure deep learning, and are easy to read and understand. Also when I create my lesson I think it will be important to implement choices so students enjoy what they are learning about and stay interested.
Question #1:
Pros: Web quests help teach information in unique ways, promote thoughtful literacy, and web quests provide opportunities for group work and collaboration
Cons: Students may not have adequate skills for using the internet, Navigation difficulties can occur, students may be faced with information overload, and web quests tend to have too many distractions
Understanding the pros and cons to web quests will help me sculpt the ideal design for what I want my web quest to offer. I will make sure my web quest is clear and concise with instructions that allow students to understand what is required of them. I will make it fun and interactive in the simplest form as to not overwhelm or distract students with the information given.
QUESTION 1:
The benefits of web quests are the abilities for real-world application, thematic relevance and complex thinking. They can access and present the information they find in several ways. They also have opportunities to collaborate and interact with their peers. Students are able to learn about resources available to them and practical research techniques with help from the teacher. They are also able to connect separate ideas, which they find. Students, through web quests can also retain info through individual thorough study. Teachers have the capability to find resources for web quests that are of various level of challenge and different types of activities to meet the needs of all students and learning styles.
Unfortunately web quests also have negative possibilities as well. Teachers must make time to individualize web quests for student needs as well as provide extra help for students that are in need. Students each need their own computers, which may not be available in all schools. Students also need adequate skills, strategies and sufficient exposure to web quests in order to be effective “questers”. Sufficient sources must be searched out and critiqued by teachers before they are used because information online can often be incorrect or disorganized or hard to interpret for young learners.
In order to make web quests effective for y students I would attempt to save personal time by finding existing web quests and critiquing them. I would evaluate the web quests and adapt them for my current classroom and students. I would use web quests for thematic units, so they can participate in them throughout a period of time and participate in research for various class projects.
Question 2:
One standard the WebQuest meets is NETS-T #1 B "Engage students in real-life issues/authentic problems", the article mentions that "as students made connections between their readings and realities of enviromental protection, they were anxious to try out their new knowledge in their homes." These students found out information and wanted to apply it to their real-life situations. And looking back over the article I would say that it also met NETS-T #1 A which states, "Promote, support, and model deep thinking/creativity." The articles states that if the WebQuest is designed correctly then it can "support their thinking and active involvement at the levels of analysis, synthesis, transformation of information, decision making, and evaluation."
Question 1
Pros: You can present information in multiple ways, enhance critical thinking and problem solving skills, can be used as collaboration.
Cons: May have problems with navigation, can have too much information, students are easily distracted with other internet connections.
Some ways to minimize major problems might be to adapt exsitsting web quests rather than creating one from scratch. Make sure that your navigation is easy and clearly defined. It would help too, if you had someone who wasn't a student, or you, look over the webquest and give you some input on how they felt it was. Whether navigation was easy, and if they understood the objections clearly, but with not so much information that it's too confusing and attention losing.
Question 1. Pros and Cons of Web Quest.
Pros:Web Quests can "facilitate thoughtful literacy when tasks are carefully selected, organized and delivered." Better the students reading skills, use of multimedia, and browsing capabilities.
Cons: Too much information at one time. Getting off task to other sites.
I will watch for information overload by instructing students specific paragraphs, and limiting the amount of information expected to cover at one time. I will bring into the web quest time for participant discussions. I will remember to review previous lessons in the lesson plan.I will watch to make sure all of the links are followed by appropriate questions that keep the students on task. I will have another person review what I am trying to teach, and be open minded to their critique. I will test the webquest out myself first to make sure it flows well and there are no distractions for me.
Question 1: I found the authors of this article made a few important points. Webquests are a great way to use technology in an educational way, and not just to learn isolated skills. It is also a great way to integrate subjects together. It is also a great way to sponser research in an authentic way, and a great way to scaffold stduents into higher level thinking skills.
The article mentioned some problems with it I never thought of before. The article discussed 3 main issues with using the internet as a teaching tool: navigational problems, information overload, and distractability. I think the article mentioned some good techniques to deal with this, including using students to help each other find the right pages, and teaching scanning skills. I think these are issues that would need to be dealt with in any classroom. Navigational problems would eventually diminish as the students gain more experience with the internet, as they will become more used to typical layouts, and what to expect when they click on something. This can be dealt with also by making sure the websites are up and running before students go there. Information overload would occur if there is only a piece of information needed from a website. I would teach my students how to scan, like they did in the article, as well as use tools such as "find." I also think I will be selective in finding and choosing websites, and try to find ones that are straightforward and succinct. Distractability seems to be a classroom management issue, and I would treat it as such. In any classroom, there are rules of doing the things the teacher wants when they ask- for example, they do math during that time. I would explain to the students that the same rules apply in the computer lab. I would have them set their own rules and consequences. I would also create some time where they would be able to explore and do things like check their email, so they will know that it is a good thing to do at the appropriate time.
Question 1
Pros of Web Quest is that it promotes deep thinking, information can be accessed and presented in multiple ways,allows for interactivity and collaboration.
Cons are navigational disorientation, information overload, and distraction (Ikepeze 654).
In order to minimize the above cons I would make sure that the students already have a good foundation of knowledge for the Web Quest I am presenting this will decrease the information overload and will keep them from wandering to sites that are irrelevant. I would also be sure to include only a few websites in the resource section of my Web Quest that are appropriate for the ages of the students using them that way the information they are getting is accurate and doesn't go over their head.
Question 1:
Pros
-Authentic research environment
-Promotes Critical thinking
-Interactivity
-Opportunities for collaboration
Cons
-Navigation disorientation
-Information overload
-Distractions
To help me produce good Webquests I will use useful and valuable sites in my resource section. I will not choice sites that have many distractions.
Also, in my Webquest I will give detailed, step by step instructions. The students will know what to be doing and how to stay on task.
Question #1:
The Cons of WebQuest include navigational disorientation, information overload, and distraction.
The Pros of using WebQuest: interactivity and opportunities for collaboration, provides authentic problems that can enhance
critical and complex thinking skills, facilitates inquiry, communication, expression, and construction of knowledge.
I will minimize potential problems in a WebQuest by making sure it walks the student through making connections. It won't leave all of the learning up to the student. users need guidance in their learning. Also it is important to make sure the content of the Web Quest is simplified enough so the students can take it all in and make sense of it without being overloaded. One way to do this is to ask someone to preview the WEbQuest and make revisions if they couldn't handle all the information.
Question 1:
Pros: Promotes critical thinking, collaboration with other students, deep learning.
Cons: Navigational disorientation, information overload, disorganized information, scattered.
Ways to minimize these problems is to choose sites that are very well organized for recommending. Also allow instructions before-hand so they'd understand it somewhat before just being thrown into it. Also have a non student look over it and see if they can understand it and get feedback.
To keep kids from getting distracted, remind proper use of computers or even have them turn monitors off when I need their attention.
Question 1.
Pros: faciliatate thoughtful literacy, group work, thoughtful connections to the subject and critical reading
Cons: Hard to navigate, information is unorganized.
The way that I will minimize potential problems in my webquest will be through careful and clear directions. I will tell them everything that I expect and how to do it in the webquest. They will still be allowed creativity but I will limit the differences in the information by providing them a few choices and guiding the activities.
+: A webquest can engage students in a way that requires multiple cognitive processes, synthesis and evaluation. It can also provide opportunity for students to apply leadership, planning, and organizational skills. It also offers a sense of choice to the students in regards to how they approach the task and research.
-: A webquest can cause a certain vertigo so that the students don't really know where to start or which steps to take. It can be confusing if not clearly defined and explicitly instructed. Students can easily veer off task given the enormity of potential for other activities on the internet.
A good way to avoid the problems of potential distraction is to provide all the links they will need to accomplish the webquest. Also, I think it's important to provide intermediate deadlines through the process, which also requires an organized layout of the task so the students can know at any given time where they "are" in terms of accomplishing the assignment. It's also important to make sure that the webquest doesn't have too much information on one page and that it's obvious which order they are to go through it. Maybe providing "next" and "previous" links would help.
Question #1
The important pors and cons of the Web Quest are these: Web Quest pros are that they are a fun new way to help students to become familiar with using the internet to find information for school prjects on any subject, or on anything they may want to find the newest information on. And they also help students to see that you can do things in different ways and with different materials. The cons are that Web Quest can be confusing for students when they first start to use them. It will take time to get comfortable using them and understanding them. And some students will want to only use the old way of paper. Potential problems with my Web Quest were that I did not know how to use the program hardly at all. There was so much to learn. And I know there is so much more that I can learn.
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