Ok, so I put together my first ever webquest last night during the E-course. It ticked all the boxes in terms of the criteria we needed to meet, but it wasnt quite finished, as I wanted to trial it in a lesson today. So, I came home, had some dinner, and then got back to it. Both the draft and the final piece that was given out in class today are linked to this blog.
Here are my thoughts about its effectiveness now that I have delivered the lesson and am sitting in the comfort of my own home again:
Reasons I like it and want to use it again:
1) Obviously, I am able to manipulate the content that the students look at, in a way that it is possible to filter out some of the irrelevant bits of information that they might normally have to trawl through
2) Due to this control factor, I can also work out very easily if students have understood, and actually summarised the information into their own words, which,
3) Helps to control any potential plagiarism, cutting down on the hours of trawling internet sites that I might normally do.
4) Crucially, it allows the students to hone their skills of deduction/summarising/reading text and understanding it in a slightly manipulated (and therefore, hopefully more productive) environment.
Reasons why it made my day a bit/lot more frustrating and I want to forget about WebQuesting forever:
1) After my first use of it I have realised that because this isn't a task they are accustomed to, I still need to 'hold their hand' with it a little bit. I assumed I would give them the webquest sheet, and that they would get straight down to business, and be finished in a matter of minutes. 2 hours (yes, 120 minutes) later, I was still trying to explain to some of the class that if they looked at the webquest sheet it would actually tell them EXACTLY what to do. And, in fairness, it was a very straightforward sheet - i.e click this, read that, answer in the box provided. I am often too harsh on myself and very critical about lessons that went wrong, and how it was my fault, but I''m not taking the credit for that today in terms of ease of use of the sheet! 100 other things were wrong, but the instructions on the sheet itself was OK
2) However, what is very evident is that my students have been used to being directed in a certain way ("google it"), and it will take them (and me) a while to get used to this new method. I think I may have expected too much in terms of them applying themselves fully to the task (how I expected them to all of a sudden not want to go on Youtube and Facebook anymore, I will never quite understand. What a moron!)
3) Facebook is still the bane of my working day! I thought this task might cut down on Facebook use, but alas, not so much. I reckon this may be due to the fact that I included too many tasks for them to complete. Or rather, the fact that I didn't break the tasks down into small chunks, which made the whole thing seem quite daunting and unmanageable (even though there was actually about 45 minutes worth of work there). This, I put down to my overenthusiasm for a new method, coupled with my blind faith that the method itself would work the miracle. Due to this, I lost sight of some of the 'Teaching 101' rules that should be followed in every lesson, whether one has an exciting new tool to try or not! I still definitely don't have the answer to this little problem, but I'm now thinking about tactics I normally apply, and how they could relate in this scenario. For example, they LOVE to be in competition with each other. If I had used the countdown timer from classtools.net I could have set each individual task with a short turn around time. The tasks would have been possible in this short turn around, because I had already 'vetted' and approved the information they were going to be reading. This would have focused them a lot more, and would have resulted, ultimately, in me getting home in time to do my big Tesco shop!
4) This is no great surprise to me, but there is A LOT of rubbish on the internet. Even when I found relevant webpages, often I couldn't find all the information I needed for an answer on one website. To try and link lots of websites to the WQ just for them to answer one question would have been very confusing, and time consuming. Of course, all this actually highlights is that sometimes a Powerpoint (or something more exciting, Martin?!) can be of better use, and that not all methods are suitable for all learning circumstances.
In summary, I enjoyed learning about WebQuesting, I enjoyed putting a WebQuest together, and call me sadistic, but I have actually enjoyed trialling it, despite it being a total fiasco. I guess all the best lessons (for me as a teacher) come from reflecting upon a slight disaster! I will be using WebQuesting again, but I will just be better at it.....
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
Monday, 28 January 2013
Digital technology to improve learning...?
Just before Christmas I had a conversation with a fellow Sports Science lecturer about the lack of 'learning' that we felt was taking place in our lessons. It went something like this:
Me: Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Every time I allow them to use a computer to research, they end up wasting the rest of the lesson on youtube, or Facebook, and we get nothing done.
Collegue: Well, either that, or you end up with a piece of writing that has been directly copied and pasted from Wikipedia, or some such website.
Me: Ive been seriously thinking about rolling out a scheme with one of my classes, whereby we go a whole term without using computers at all, in order to see what impact that has on the learning....
Collegue: Yeah, thats not a bad idea, I might trial a similar thing.
Whaaaaaaat?!!!!! After a few soul searching moments, a bit of reading, and the willingness to throw myself head long into this evening class, I have a prediction about what would happen to the learning in the class (thankfully, I had the good sense not to actually trial this). It would grind to a slow and painful halt! I would then probably do a bit of blaming - well, if they cant bloody well read a book and understand it, then theyve got no hope in life, full stop - and then I might have the good sense to rethink said teaching method.
Atwell (2007) states that schools are in danger of becoming irrelevant to the day to day social life of young people. I believe this to be true of every generation. While my grandparents were accustomed to drawing letters in a box of sand, and standing with their back to the room donning a dunces hat, this was not an acceptable form of education for my parents, and therefore, education rather than students, had to adapt and move forward. Similarly, the regular canings that may have been acceptable to my parents generation were seen as an unnecessary tool for learning when I went to school (1980's and 1990's), and abolished.
Although I dont consider my school education to have been a million years ago, the fact is that the internet was not a daily part of lessons (I think the library may have had internet access, which was occasionally 'dialled up' as a party piece). I acquired my first mobile phone at the tender age of 18. Clearly, times have changed. And we must change with them.
My earlier statement about wanting to ban computers in my lessons, comes directly from my experience as a student at school. However, I use digital media, computers, internet, a smart phone, tablets etc in my social life now. I enjoy them, and consider them a relevant and necessary part of my social life. Therefore, where do I get off judging this generation of students, and deciding that this isnt an acceptible medium for learning?! Actually, as a teacher in the digital age, I am in the priviledged position of having a ready audience, eager to feed off the information I can provide. It is just the simple matter of packaging it in a relevant format.
So, where am I at right now? Well, I am susceptible to this change. I have come to the depressing conclusion that it is me that needs to adapt, and keep up with the moving times. I must work hard to find a way of building digital technology into my lessons in a way that enhances the educational experience of the learner. While I currently experience frustration while watching my pupils tab away from Facebook as I near them, I should try to channel this into finding a way of incorporating this (and other such social media) into my lessons. Using it in a way that makes the learner feel that I am assessing their needs, and keeping things relevant to THEM, while information that I feel is relevant flashes before their eyes - trickery, if you will. Educational slight of hand. Now all I need is for someone to bring me into the magic circle, and show me how......
Monday, 21 January 2013
And so it begins.....
So, I was gently pursuaded by my boss to sign up to a night school course on E learning. In true form I turned up 10 minutes late with a Pret bag of sandwiches.....nice start. And, to add insult to injury, it has quickly become clear that my facebooking and youtubing habits (the current extent of my computer usage) have in no way prepared me for the hours of animating and google jockeying ahead!
Hold on tight, theres some learning to be done...................
Hold on tight, theres some learning to be done...................
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