My Initial thoughts About a WebQuest

 Well, my first thought of a webQuest was that it is a very difficult task to accomplish and true it is not easy. I have tried several times to make it impressive and attention grabbing but I feel I have not done enough.  The good thing is that there is provision for updating whenever one is ready.

A WebQuest according to Tom March, Circa 2003 is;

“ … a scaffolded learning structure that uses links to essential resources on the World Wide Web and an authentic task to motivate students’ investigation of a central, open-ended question, development of individual expertise and participation in a final group process that attempts to transform newly acquired information into a more sophisticated understanding." 

A WebQuest  constitutes;

·         Introduction

·         Task

·         Process

·         Resources

·         Evaluation

·         Conclusion

·         Teacher page and it also has a welcome page

There are some 21st century learning and innovative approaches and these include;

·         Quality questioning and in-depth thinking

·         Research and synthesis

·         Small group discussion

·         Using technology and posters

·         being creative

·         Simulation

·         Demonstration

Project Learning Goals

The initial idea of this project revolves around the nature of our leaders in and outside school. The essence is to get the learners to analyze  and present a short skit to the community showing why and how leaders at virtually all levels fall short of people's expectations and how they can and should be helped to become better leaders.

Curriculum objectives/Goals
ü  to read, understand and explain the causes of bad leadership as shown in the play Betrayal in the City.
ü  To analyze the Character of the leaders from the grass roots to the last man/ top man in the Play Betrayal in the City  and to evaluate the reasons the playwright comes up with to justify their actions.
ü  Dramatize the most revealing sections of incompetence and inefficiency of leaders in the play.
ü  Design a play to incorporate all ideas about leadership and how leaders should/ and can be helped in their leadership roles.

21st Century Skills

ü  Critical thinking and problem solving.
ü  Communication and collaboration.
ü  Research.  
ü  Creativity and innovation.

Higher order thinking skills
ü  Analyzing.
ü  Evaluating.
ü  Creating.
ü  Applying.

Way forward

I will get the students to view the play first and carry out a class discussion. I will then get them to observe their own student leaders within the school, some of the leaders from the local communities and top Government leaders. They will then carry on more research, make their own decisions as a team, share tasks and create a finished product. I will be there to guide and motivate them.
The project is all about getting to realize and understand why and how leaders betray the trust of the people, and how these leaders should/ and can be helped to change for the better. The learners will come up with  ideas to share with the rest of the school community to create awareness and provide solutions too.

 

The Essence of Projects

My earlier thinking was that if anybody was to get learners to engage in project work, it should be scheduled outside the school program on the assumption that it needed a lot more time than could be accorded it on a school time table. Secondly, I assumed that apart from being time wasting, the learners can be easily distracted and at the end of the learning time nothing would be achieved. All this has changed because I have come to realize that when learners are engaged in something that requires a hands-on experience, their interest will definitely be aroused and they will do a bit more learning than they would otherwise have done. From the videos that I have watched in this lesson, I have seen that the learners instead get to focus on the project at hand and everyone is actively involved. They even go ahead to share ideas and build/create something beautiful at the end. The excitement on their faces all the time shows they are enjoying the learning process and this is how learning should be.
The strongest arguments to using Project Based Learning include;
·         The learners are effectively engaged and direct their own learning
·         They learn to work together and exchange/ share ideas
·         They are better prepared for higher levels
·         They learn well and remember better
·         The presentations they make help boost their confidence and communication skills
·         They develop creativity that later helps them in improving their communities
·         The learners are more likely to meet the more demanding standards.
In short, Project Based Learning promotes critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity.
Implementing this approach has its challenges. For instance in our country today, the curriculum is rigid, and the resources are not available because of financial constraints. Getting learners to have personal tools they could use such as digital cameras, laptops etc. is a challenge in itself. Most of them come from families that are either average or living below the poverty line and cannot afford such luxury.

 

Innovative Learning Approaches and Digital StoryTelling

In this course I have learnt that I can transform my learners from being knowledgeable to being knowledge- able by engaging them using the technology and social media. I have learnt that learners need to be in charge of their own learning and do things themselves. They need to be engaged in order to do this. They need to collaborate and add to the existing knowledge. In order for them to become knowledge-able, they need to practice. They need to embrace real problems that they do not know the answers to. They need to be able to harness and leverage the relevant technology tools. They need to work collaboratively on tasks. They need to learn the art of critical thinking and go beyond just seeking meaning. I have learnt that through critical thinking and problem-solving the learners build knowledge.

 

Although the learners are addicted to social media they have not been using it for Educational purposes. I have learnt that introducing the social media as a tool for learning would be beneficial to the learners because they are already very interested in it  and would therefore be inspired to search and research on given topic. It would also make the lessons more interesting and take away the boredom that is exhibited in the traditional classrooms.

I have learnt that with innovative approaches to learning with technology, my role as a teacher  would change for the better. I would no longer be the giver but the partner.  I would be the guide to the learners as they explore, research, recreate and put together using technology. My task would be to ask the right questions, trust the children, and Set the goal high and let them reach for it.

I have learnt that Game-based learning is one of the best ways to teach because it brings fun into learning process. Games help the learners to increase their fluid knowledge which is used in problem solving.
I have learnt that technology can support other forms of learner engagement through; Adaptive methods, Transformational, Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating and Transferring.
I have also learnt that Digital Storytelling  helps learners to develop critical thinking, report writing and media literacy.

Game-Based Learning

It has not been an easy task to design a game as a team bearing in mind that my team members belong to other subjects and we are in different locations, with different responsibilities and work load. Let alone the challenge of internet accessibility. Getting everyone to work at the task at the same time is like taking a horse to the well and forcing it to drink.   
Games are very exciting to play and each time I would fail a step I would become desperate not to fail the next number. The games keep you on edge and give you adrenaline rush as you strive to get everything right. Like in the kahoot game in the course, there were times when I just had to guess what the answer would be and at times I would get it right at times not. I felt the pressure to get all answers right.
Games are good at knowledge building as they force one to analyze and think critically before making a decision. It is equally important for learners to play as well as to create games because this boosts their creativity as well as their problem-solving skills. They even make the learners smarter because in most cases as they play there is maximum multi-tasking. ie They chat voice, chat text, operate character, manage short term objectives, manage long term objectives, and manage interrupts.
Game-based learning brings so much into the learning process. It brings;
·         fun and entertainment
·         passion and Motivation
·         engagement and involvement
·         Creativity
·         experiencing
·         interactive entertainment/Collaboration
·         Problem-solving skills
·         Decision-making
·         Research
·         Learner-centered
Ways in which games address curriculum standards;
·         maintaining a balance between fun and learning
·         Making academic content integral
·         planning the role of the learners and that of the teacher
·         not divorcing de-contextualized components from fictional content
Games can be integrated into the Literature subject through;
·         Quizzes
·         Word play/ Puzzles
·         Role play etc

Social Media as a Communication Tool for Learning

Social media are tools that allow people to share information. They depend on mobile and web based technologies to create interactive platforms.  Social media would be a good communication tool for learning especially twitter, Face Book and WhatsApp that seem to be the favorite of the students here at my school. It could help in the following ways;
·         For students to discuss questions or assignments given to them.
·         Teachers could post questions with hash-tags and the children answer directly to him/her and to each other.
·         There would be increased participation from the learners as it helps them to find their voice.
·         Students post their responses on in class readings and discuss aspects of a topic without so much as disrupting others who are reading.
·         Can be used to keep students up to date on tests and due dates.
·         It would give time to the students to discuss even outside class.

It is however, not without its pitfalls some of which include;

·         Addiction
·         thought fragmentation
·         distraction
·         suffocates face to face interaction
·         mindless banter
·         hinders critical thinking etc.
My learners have been using WhatsApp and FaceBook for chatting mostly, apart from a few who have used it for discussing assignments that have been given to them, sharing notes, playing brain teasing games and asking questions of what was studied at school in case one has been absent/ away from school.
I would use Facebook and WhatsApp for posting questions that learners can discuss collaboratively. I would also post images that they would have to analyse and interpret. WhatsApp would come in handy when it gets to video clips of literature text books.
The learners would have assignments to look for resources online and if they found a valuable one they would be tasked to tweet it to the group.

 

Real World Collaboration, and Efficiency of Collaborative Technology Tools

Collaboration in this lesson has not been easy at all. There has been a lot of delays in people coming up to post their comments or even to edit.  Matters have been  made more difficult by the fact that I could not move on because I had to wait for other members to post their contributions either on the wiki, Google docs, or the mindmeister.  I think this business of collaboration has to be revised and people have to be brought on the same page before it can be effective and efficient. Even now, because of the delays in members contribution, a number of us had to move on and that means that  we missed whatever contribution  came after .

I  would make it clear to all the learners that their contribution is imperative and would earn them marks but it has to be done at the right time, not lagging behind and then coming up when everybody has moved to the next step. In that case they would lose marks for inefficient collaboration. I would set a time limit and close the site the moment the time is up. This is to instill discipline and try to have control on the movement of the lesson.

I also think, it would be more effective if done in smaller groups like say Four to six learners in a group. That would ensure effectiveness and efficiency as far as posting contributions is concerned. A big group brings/ causes laxity.