There are many different web resources that can be used in an ever growing technological school world that we live in. Each of them have some aspects that are good for a variety of different classes and grades. Some of them spoke to me, as a future educator, more then others did based on my philosophy of education and teaching persona. Two of them are described below
Quest Atlantis is an international learning and teaching project that used a 3D multi-user environment to immense children in educational tasks (Quest Atlantis, 2010). What a crazy new type of technology to get students interacting not only with people in different classrooms at their school or district but students from all over the world. Learning is so much social in a lot of these students, so having a new way to socially interact with new people is an added bonus of doing these type of tasks in a formal classroom setting. I am a very competitive person and I know that I am someone who builds confidence and other self aspect of life from these situations. Helping my students build confidence in themselves is a key part of my philosophy of education. I want my students to not be getting an education but getting an insight to themselves as part of this society. Quest Atlantis brings both worlds together. It allows my students to be engaged in class but also to learn different cultures from students they might interact with in different areas of the world. This is a two for one learning process that is not just educational items, but life goal items to be possessed. Last, Quest Atlantis brings things that these students do in school to a real world relevance. Students are always looking to see how the things discussed in class relate to what they might use them for in real life. If these simulations provide proof that there is education in everything, then these students have gained knowledge that is sometimes hard to display.
Another completely different tool I would use in my classroom stems from my philosophy of education portion I mentioned above about making students prepared for society, it is a website entitled Netiquette. Netiquette is the online version of the book Netiquette by Virginia Shea addressing the proper way to act and interact in a web environment (Albion, 2004). Shea brings up many valuable items about behavior on the internet including proper ways to send e-mails, proper discussion behavior, and even the proper way to use search engines. All of these aspects of her book are items students of this technology generation should know but probably are not being told. Most of the students in classroom today know more about the internet and what it can and cannot be used for then their parents. They are more likely to teach their parents how to do things, but at the same time are probably not using the internet correctly. If they are already not using it correctly when they are younger that could be detrimental to them as adults in the job field. I want my students to not only get educational smart, but society smart in my classroom. I want them to know how to properly address their boss in an e-mail or how to find an item on the internet a little better. If they are able to gain these learning items young, they can help teach others the important tools to successful web mastery. I could easily spend the end of class on Fridays going over a new chapter so that it is not taking away from the information I "have to cover" but is almost a reward for a good week. The students I think will be able to relate to it because they are on the internet all the time and it might even make things easier for them that they thought never could be.
There are many different types of web resources that are helpful for future educators, but some speak to certain types of teachers then others. In my future classroom, it is all about engaged students finding relevance in their learning and at the same time learning about real life society lessons that everyone should know. Everything is not always about pen and pencil, and in this day in age, that is becoming more and more clear everyday.
References:
Quest Atlantis (2010) Retrieved from: http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/#58
Albion books (2004) Netiquette. Retrieved from: http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/TOC0963702513.html
Superb post this week! Quest Atlantis is a wonderful site! Definitely one that has the potential to engage students in meaningful learning activities!
ReplyDeleteMy only issue is with your references... the first element of your reference is the author or organization name. For Netiquette - there is an actual author.. for Quest Atlantis, I believe it is an organization. That should come first, followed by the year of publication... and then before you add the URL, you need to state the title of the web page in italics - like you did with the Netiquette web site.