Online Learning

I have the unique capability of working with lots of students and teachers. My job requires that I not only engage students in the use of technology in their learning, but teachers as well. One misconception teachers have when they hear the phrase, “integrating technology,” is that the act of integrating must be a huge under-taking. I am constantly trying to debunk that misconception. Within that idea, teachers sometimes believe integrating technology only means creating a product for a unit or lesson that is technology based. In moving teachers away from this view point, I like to present ideas for lessons that incorporate technology as part of the learning process. Webquests or wikis are two tools I like to suggest to teachers, as they are based on units or content already being taught.

These two avenues for technology integration allow students to interact with content as they are learning it, which creates a more engaging learning experience. Webquests are beneficial when teaching a concept in a class like science or social studies. A teacher can present a higher-level thinking question for students to answer as they work through the webquest. For example, a guiding question for a webquest could be: What would life have been like if the U.S. had not dropped the Atomic Bomb? This is an actual question for an upcoming webquest project I am co-teaching, the teacher and I are building a webquest around it. All the research and activities that are part of the webquest revolve around students quest to answer this guiding question. Any content area can use this type of learning structure.

I have found wikis to be very beneficial as a collaborative partner to any type of unit or novel study. I especially like wikis that go along with literature, and are broken up by sections of the novel or literary elements. For example, a wiki used with a mystery novel could have specific pages for literary elements such as Prediction, Inference, Characterization, Setting, Plot, Context Clues, etc. Each page can provide group activities or chances for discussion and collaboration focused around the study of the novel.

Both wikis and webquests align with high quality pedagogical strategies. Wikis and webquests can offer a variety of these strategies depending on the organization and goals of the lesson. One beneficial addition to unit-based wikis is the incorporation of vocabulary building activities. Such activities are collaborative and students, together in groups, come up with working definitions of key concepts and decide on appropriate ways to visually represent those words.
In addition to vocabulary-building, wikis and webquests foster cooperative learning. Both tools can offer opportunities for students to work together to accomplish tasks. Much like vocabulary building, the opportunities for cooperative learning on a wiki or webquest depend on the design and goals of the project.

Wikis and webquests both engage students in complex cognitive tasks as well. Depending on the products or tasks associated with the goals of a wiki or webquest, students can be engaged in higher-level thinking skills. The Atomic Bomb webquest is an example of how students will use research and their own analysis of that research to complete small tasks all focused on answering the question: What would life have been like if the U.S. had not dropped the Atomic Bomb?

LMS systems would be the most challenging technology to use at this point in time. Although our district currently has a Moodle license, it would be the most challenging, mid-year, to have teachers set up and create online learning environments through Moodle. This would not necessarily be a challenge because of the actual technology of Moodle, rather the time required to create classes and organize content is not conducive to the already-full plates of teachers. In addition to the time required to set-up online learning environments through Moodle, organizing content through the lens of an LMS system would require teachers to locate resources and re-define the way they currently deliver content. It is, however, a goal of our district to have teachers begin to use Moodle. The process will begin this summer during a series of training opportunities. It is our hope that teachers will feel more empowered to use this tool when they are not in the midst of the school year.

Wikis

I have been a lover of wikis for some time. In my current role as a Teacher Leader for Technology, I often use wikis as vehicles of instructional technology for teachers and students. The wiki I am sharing is one I used for a summer workshop for teachers. We explored various web 2.0 tools through the lens of a wiki. I also like to use wikis with students for many reasons. The first being security. Many of our students are not old enough to have email addresses in order to sign up for tools, and this can be frustrating. Wikispaces allows teachers to create password-protected student accounts, and the wiki itself can be created privately, so the student identity and privacy become non-issues. Here is a link to one of the many wikis I have created: http://easyonlinetools.wikispaces.com/

As part of the wikis lab, I added a page to Wikipedia about my school, Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School. Before I created one, there was no dedicated page to GBMS on wikipedia. On Wikipedia, I added some factual information about GBMS’s location and its history as a school. Here is a link to the GBMS page on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Brooks_Middle_School