|
Introduction
| Task
| Process
| Conclusion
| Credits
| Tutor's
Page
Introduction
Computers. Whether you love or hate them, there is an
incredible amount of useful stuff for teachers on them.
The problem is knowing how to find it and find it quickly. This
WebQuest is designed to teach you how to make the internet
work for you. You can use this information to make your
lessons more up-to-date, more relevant to your students, more
interactive and, best of all, quicker to prepare.
Convinced? Then continue.
Task
- By the end of the session you should have familiarity
with, and have written notes on, at least three websites:
- one for getting resources that you can use off-line to
enhance your lessons. In other words these are
materials you can print and photocopy for your classes.
- one for activities that you can use with students in a
computer lab
- and another that will provide some very useful support
for teachers like you.
- For each of the three sites you
visit you will have a question to answer. This may be
factual or ask for your opinions about using it as a
resource.
- Then you explore each website
further to find out what else is on it that may be useful
and how you could exploit it. You can write a very
short evaluation of the site.
- Your answers and comments
should be as accurate and readable as possible as they will
be put onto the internet, for all of you to share.
Process
- Work with a partner It is important to
help each other both with any computer skills and the decision making. You
should work together on one computer. Your group will be
given a number.
- First look at this example task:
| Situation |
Your students have just taken
their exams and you want to give them a fun activity (that will also help
their English). You know a lot of them play computer games. |
| Link |
Go to www.bellenglish.com Your
username is "teachers" and your password is "teachers"
(unless you have already registered in your own name). Go to
the Multimedia Game. |
| Question : |
What facilities and equipment would you need to be able
to use this with a class of students? What computer skills would the learners
need? |
| Answer |
sample answer
|
| Comments about this site (e.g. what else is
on it that may be useful, how could you use it, overall evaluation
etc) |
sample comment |
- When you have finished reading
these instructions you can go to the Tasksheet for your group.
Click on your group number at the bottom of the page and
your Tasksheet will appear.
- Copy and
paste the Tasksheet into a Word document and then save it.
Follow the instructions at the top of the Tasksheet.
- For each task, read the question carefully, then click on
the link to go to the website and the answer the
question. Write or cut & paste the answer in your Word document.
- Go back to the same website and spend a few minutes
exploring it. Make notes on the following:
- What else can you find there that may be useful in
your teaching?
- Does it make you think of any ideas for teaching with
this material?
- Anything you have to bear in mind? (eg American
English)
- What's your general evaluation of this site?
Put these notes into the comments box on your
tasksheet.
- Now you can go to the next task and repeat the process.
- When you have finished all three tasks, if there is enough
time, you can try some of the other tasks. Go to
Tasksheet with all the tasks on.
You don't need to write anything for these.
- Before you finish, make sure you have saved your work as
instructed on the tasksheet.
OK, off you go! Bon
voyage!
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Conclusion
Well, now you should have a very useful resource. Three
websites that you can (and hopefully will) use as a teacher .
But there's more than that! Everybody's work will be collated so in fact you'll have access to 15 links each,
annotated by your peers. Remember these fall into three
categories:
- resources that you can use off-line to
enhance your lessons
- activities that you can use with students in a
computer lab
- useful support
for teachers like you
But what else have you got out of this activity?
Hopefully the following:
- an appreciation of the wealth of material out there on the
web that can help you plan interesting and relevant lessons.
- knowledge of some specific websites where you can find
material of use to teachers.
- possibly more confidence in navigating around the web and
pasting your findings into a web document (or if not some
knowledge of where your weaknesses are in this area).
- an appreciation of the value of collaborative working on
computer tasks, especially when students are paired with a
partner whose computer skills are different.
- an eagerness to know more!
Many of the sites you visit will have extensive links pages
- this is only the start of a long journey!
Credits & References
Many thanks to Sharon Whittaker, Phil Brabbs (
http://www.volny.cz/brabbs/
),
Andy ( www.ugvm.org.uk ), Mike Motteram and Craig
( www.hadleigh.org.uk
) for their
assistance in creating this WebQuest.
It was designed with the help of
The
WebQuest Page
We all benefit by being generous with our work.
Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this
WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere
provided that the original author's name is retained along with
a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line
after the original author's name, you may add Modified by
(your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me
know and provide the new URL.
Last updated
February 2006. Based on a
template from The
WebQuest Page
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