3.3 Online & Blended Learning
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Artifact : WebQuest on my Teacher Website
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Candidates develop, model, and facilitate the use of online and blended learning, digital content, and learning networks to support and extend student learning and expand opportunities and choices for professional learning for teachers and administrators. (PSC 3.3/ISTE 3c)
The artifact that I matched up with this standard is, once again, the WebQuest (ITEC 7445) to engage student learning within the classroom, online, and home environments. The idea of the WebQuest sets up the student learner to work in all learning environments and requires collaboration between teacher to student along with student to student. As this WebQuest took three days to complete, students were able to participate in multiple learning opportunities within multiple learning environments.
The development of the WebQuest was possible by using the Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate (ADDIE) model. This five step design process ensured that I met specific requirements in the overall development of the WebQuest. During the development, I was able to combine my web design and education background to create an unique way to engage student learning through online (the WebQuest itself) and blended learning (teacher assistance within the classroom environment), digital content (lesson creation and multimedia enrichment), and learning networks (Google Apps for Education – used for collaboration and communication for teacher to student and student to student networking).
After the development of the WebQuest, I was able to model and facilitate a three day lesson to promote student learning and achievement.
Online Learning – The WebQuest engaged students in an inquiry-orientated lesson where most of the learning is obtained in some type of online format. I worked with the students through the online components of the WebQuest to maximize the learning potential.
Blended Learning – While students worked through the WebQuest, I was able to differentiate the WebQuest learning possibilities through direct assistance within student groups where accommodations and assistance were needed. Both online and classroom learning occurred concurrently.
Digital Content – Lessons were created by our teacher team to facilitate student learning through the WebQuest. Most of the content available from the WebQuest was teacher created or found by me from online sources, which were then included into the WebQuest.
Learning Network – By using the Google Apps for Education accounts, students could safely collaborate and communicate online to complete the tasks of the WebQuest. Without these accounts, students would not have been able to work from home and communicate within the tasks/project platforms. I engaged the students with comments within each groups’ tasks and projects to provide feedback as needed.
This artifact provided an opportunity, after the fact, for me to meet with teachers, and one of our four administrators, on why the creation of WebQuests by our staff members would be beneficial for our student learners. During the 8th grade planning time, I was able to meet with both the 8th grade Social Studies and English / Language Arts teams to discuss the WebQuest that I created and decide if we wanted to make another one for both subjects that combined multiple standards. One teacher in both subjects volunteered to be the lead WebQuest creator, for their subject matter. By the teachers choosing to learn more about WebQuests, we had multiple professional learning opportunities for the next few weeks for teachers as we built one large WebQuest that encompasses both subjects. This then morphed into 8th grade science wanting to make one as well, and they teamed up with 8th grade math to make another collaborative WebQuest for the 8th grade students. This was very rewarding for those teachers that enjoy the use of technology in the classroom, and the others that do not instruct with technology, they offered support through the gathering of content information and the creation of rubrics.
I learned that this artifact, from the beginning to the end, was very time consuming. The creation itself was not difficult, however, I was not prepared for how many hours were needed. This may be due to the fact that this was my first ever WebQuest creation, and in future WebQuest creations, it may not take as long. If there would have been something different to do during this creation, I would have included others to assist more with content creation and accumulation to include into the website. This would have saved many hours and helped other teachers on my team understand the overall purpose of this WebQuest creation – to engage students within the learning process using 21st century web tools.
The impact of the artifact impacted student learning and achievement as the test scores were impressive. As the students were engaged, and working together to acquire the content, knowledge was obtained and processed, which in turn, is stored for longer periods of time. The students asked for more WebQuests so the learning process itself was impactful as it excited the student learner and provided them with an opportunity to learn, as one student stated, the way we should always learn.
The development of the WebQuest was possible by using the Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate (ADDIE) model. This five step design process ensured that I met specific requirements in the overall development of the WebQuest. During the development, I was able to combine my web design and education background to create an unique way to engage student learning through online (the WebQuest itself) and blended learning (teacher assistance within the classroom environment), digital content (lesson creation and multimedia enrichment), and learning networks (Google Apps for Education – used for collaboration and communication for teacher to student and student to student networking).
After the development of the WebQuest, I was able to model and facilitate a three day lesson to promote student learning and achievement.
Online Learning – The WebQuest engaged students in an inquiry-orientated lesson where most of the learning is obtained in some type of online format. I worked with the students through the online components of the WebQuest to maximize the learning potential.
Blended Learning – While students worked through the WebQuest, I was able to differentiate the WebQuest learning possibilities through direct assistance within student groups where accommodations and assistance were needed. Both online and classroom learning occurred concurrently.
Digital Content – Lessons were created by our teacher team to facilitate student learning through the WebQuest. Most of the content available from the WebQuest was teacher created or found by me from online sources, which were then included into the WebQuest.
Learning Network – By using the Google Apps for Education accounts, students could safely collaborate and communicate online to complete the tasks of the WebQuest. Without these accounts, students would not have been able to work from home and communicate within the tasks/project platforms. I engaged the students with comments within each groups’ tasks and projects to provide feedback as needed.
This artifact provided an opportunity, after the fact, for me to meet with teachers, and one of our four administrators, on why the creation of WebQuests by our staff members would be beneficial for our student learners. During the 8th grade planning time, I was able to meet with both the 8th grade Social Studies and English / Language Arts teams to discuss the WebQuest that I created and decide if we wanted to make another one for both subjects that combined multiple standards. One teacher in both subjects volunteered to be the lead WebQuest creator, for their subject matter. By the teachers choosing to learn more about WebQuests, we had multiple professional learning opportunities for the next few weeks for teachers as we built one large WebQuest that encompasses both subjects. This then morphed into 8th grade science wanting to make one as well, and they teamed up with 8th grade math to make another collaborative WebQuest for the 8th grade students. This was very rewarding for those teachers that enjoy the use of technology in the classroom, and the others that do not instruct with technology, they offered support through the gathering of content information and the creation of rubrics.
I learned that this artifact, from the beginning to the end, was very time consuming. The creation itself was not difficult, however, I was not prepared for how many hours were needed. This may be due to the fact that this was my first ever WebQuest creation, and in future WebQuest creations, it may not take as long. If there would have been something different to do during this creation, I would have included others to assist more with content creation and accumulation to include into the website. This would have saved many hours and helped other teachers on my team understand the overall purpose of this WebQuest creation – to engage students within the learning process using 21st century web tools.
The impact of the artifact impacted student learning and achievement as the test scores were impressive. As the students were engaged, and working together to acquire the content, knowledge was obtained and processed, which in turn, is stored for longer periods of time. The students asked for more WebQuests so the learning process itself was impactful as it excited the student learner and provided them with an opportunity to learn, as one student stated, the way we should always learn.