Reflection #9

This week in media we discovered Web Quests and how great they are to use in the classroom, and for both students and teachers. It's a fun new way to learn, and explore new topics. Web Quests will help me communicate with my students through discovery and allowing them to do assignments at home. This way of learning could be my way of communicating to some of my students if this is their way of learning. It is also a way to communicate to them specific things I want them to know, or to explore. (If I created my own for them). Web Quests are also a great way for the teacher to communicate with the parents with what they should be learning and know. It is a great way for parents to help their children learn at home, and help them understand the material. It is also a great way to communicate to the parents what is being taught to their children in class. I can also collaborate with my colleagues through a web quest by sharing some web quests I have created on my own that I taught to my class, and worked. It would also be a great project to do as teachers to create one together for the grade being taught. It's also a great idea to communicate to the other colleagues different and fun web quests they used to help them also better their lessons. Web Quests I think will be very popular for my students when I start teacher, because it's a student-directed lesson. There are allowed to learn and discover on their own. There are so many great lessons and information on the web, and it's a chance for them to utilize it. Students also love technology, and it's a great way to get them introduced to the technology out there, and new ways of learning. Web Quests are just learning from a lecture, paper and pencil. It's a whole new concept and any kind of change with learning or within the classroom, helps the students get re-motivated to learn. Not only are they popular for just the students but also my colleagues. Web Quests aren't only fun for the students but teachers can also have a lot of fun doing them, or making them. It's a new way of learning and teaching, which is always great to have new ideas. It is a very effective way of teaching, that doesn't allow the teacher to just stand in front of the classroom and lecture. They also enjoy creating them, to help better direct their lessons and encourage learning. In order to achieve classroom objectives in the classroom by using Web Quests is to first search the right topic, allow student discovery, and be there for questions or assistance. Web Quests allow students to be independent learners, and also allows teachers to teach the objective also, plus some. Most Web Quests are also very specific in their directions to help guide the students to correct information, which also is helpful. The students are having fun and learning at the same time, and that is a very important or should be a very important objective in the classroom. As the children are learning facts they are also learning objectives about technology. Some pros of a Web Quest is the the chance students get to use technology in school more than just writing papers in the computer lab. It also gives them a chance to use it at home to also help get their parents familiar with the technology also. It allows independence, self discovery, exploration, a new concept of learning, fun and interactive, student directed learning, and there are many other great things this way of learning can help students. It is also great for the teacher to explore also and direct lessons in a new way. Web Quests can also be done at home which is very beneficial if the students doesn't complete ttheir assignment or is absent. Some cons of a Web Quests is the technology if the students don't have access to a computer, or the internet at home. It may also take some students more time and may be harder to understand. It may also be a longer learning process for some students, and a different concept that may be hard to catch on to if they haven't done much with computers or the web. There may not be enough time in the computer lab to complete the quest, so they may have to take their work home. Video Surface Computing This new computer, surface computing is so interesting. I love how they keep coming up with such great ideas of new technologies. This computer would be great for sharing things to large groups of people, such as doing a presentatin on a certain topic, photo sharing, or designing somehting together. They have the ability to do hangs on things that they normally would sitting at a table, but just not on paper. It is great how you can manipulate more than one thing at a time, which is great for different occupations. It is amazing to me how they could take a picture and place the camera on the surface computer and the picture pops right up, which can then be placed on another device such as a cell phone. It is so quick and easy. It will be exciting to see where these types of computers will end up.