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| EDUC 632, Summer 2001
Kelly Whaley |
Reflection on Uses
of the Internet in the Classroom
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| Wow! I can't believe how much more confident I am
about using the internet as a teaching and communication tool after taking
EDUC 632. Prior to taking this class, my students and I primarily
used the internet for research. However, I am leaving EDUC 632 feeling
rejuvenated and excited about implementing several ideas that I have for
modifying the way I use the internet in my classroom. These ideas center
around communication, resources, online tools, and lesson delivery.
The first change I am going to make in my use of the internet is to use it to improve my communication with parents. I am going to set up yahoo groups for each of the classes I teach and send out weekly newsletters to keep parents up to date on due dates, special projects that we are working on, etc. For the past three years, I have put my e-mail address on the letter that I send home to parents on the first day of school. In those three years, I only had two parents e-mail me. I definitely think the yahoogroup will be better because I will be initiating the communication. Plus, parents will be better informed about what is going on in the classroom because they are more likely to see an e-mail message than they are to see a piece of paper that is sent home with their kids. I have found that teenagers are not very good about taking notices home to Mom and Dad, but I will have hard copies of the weekly e-mails available for those who do not have internet access. The second modification that I am going to make is to really focus on getting my students to recognize quality resources from questionable ones on the internet. As Dr. Joyce Flory states, "information on the Net has an aura of credibility that it may not warrant..." (qtd. in Goldsborough 32). My students tend to take everything they read on the internet as the gospel truth. In the past, I have told them to look for credentials that give the author some authority on the subject, but they still try to use sites such as "Susie's Homepage" as resources for research papers. I always say to them, "Who's Susie?" Now, I'm going to spend classtime teaching them ways to evaluate sources on the internet and have them work through an exercise similar to the one we did on evaluating websites. I am also going to have them fill out the evaluation sheet that I made for this course for every site that they want to use. These exercise will help them get used to "apply(ing) critical thinking in evaluating the information they come across - critical thinking that will help them throughout their school years, career, and personal life" (Goldsborough 32). I will also direct them to credible sites such as Marcopolo and sites where they can talk to experts via e-mail, but as juniors and seniors, I want them to be able to conduct their own searches, too. In addition, I am also going to utilize some of the many online tools that I have become acquainted with during this class. For example, I will use tools such as ElectraGuide for students who are having trouble with the writing process. A student may be having trouble hammering out a thesis statement, for instance, and tools such as this can guide him/her in the right direction so that he/she can move on with the writing process. In the past, students had to wait for individual help as I made my rounds in the classroom. Even though they always had another assignment to work on, it sometimes led to off-task behavior. Now, with tools like ElectraGuide, students will not have to wait as long for individual help. I have six computers in my room, so seven students can get individual help at the same time (one with me and six on the computers). I definitely think using online tools to help with the writing process will ultimately increase time on task. Moreover, the things I have learned in EDUC 632 are going to greatly affect the types of lessons I create. For example, I have collaborated with teachers within my building, but I have never participated in a telecollaborative project. My students enjoy working with other classes within our school, and I think they would be excited about working with classes from around the world. It would broaden their horizons, especially the ones who have never been off of Delmarva. According to Harnessing the Web, telecollaborative projects will also improve literacy skills. For example, Margaret Riel and Moshe Cohen found that "when students write for a distant audience of their peers, they are more fluent,...better organized,...their content is more substantive and their thesis is better supported" (qtd in Finding Basic Collaborative Projects 1 of 3). In other words, when the students perceive the audience as real, their learning will have meaning and purpose (Finding Basic Collaborative Projects 2 of 3). For these reasons, I want to get my classes involved with one of these projects next year. Another type of project that I want to use with my students is the webquest. The webquests that I have looked at, seem to lend themselves to the integration of several subject areas, and they make good use of the student's time by providing a specific task. Furthermore, according to An Introduction to Webquests, "when used fully, webquests can promote reflection, collaboration, open minded thinking, multiculturalism, critical thinking, problem solving, and an interdisciplinary approach (2 of 5). In the past, I have given students project lists for the units that I teach. Even though, I made the topics and assignments very specific, I think the webquest may be a better option because it allows me to direct their research a bit more. As far as classroom management, for both the collaborative projects and the webquests, I can divide the students into groups and use the six computers in my room, or we can go to one of the three computer labs in our school. The library computer lab is also open after school four days a week so students that do not have internet access at home will be able to work on the assignments there. In conclusion, I am very excited about modifying my past practices and
implementing the tools I have discovered in EDUC 632 into my classroom.
These tools will help me increase the technological literacy of my students
and help me make my lessons more meaningful to them. In addition,
by creating a yahoogroup for my class, I will be able to maintain a better
line of communication with my students' parents, which is important if
we want the parents to be involved with what is going on in the school.
Works Cited An Introduction to WebQuests. Innovative teaching Concepts.
28 June 2001 http://www.twoteach.com/WebQuests.htm.
Harnessing the Web. The Lightspan Partnership, Inc. 20 June 2001. http://gsh.lightspan.com/web/pbl/find/index.htm. |
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