9440 - Learning with the Internet |
The Internet offers a distributed environment for communication and inquiry through collaborative activities, information seeking, research, authoring, and publishing. This course will explore the potential of the Internet to support learning for both students and teachers. Goals and strategies for learning with the Internet will be investigated. Learning theories and models of teaching/learning will be examined in relation to selected Internet activities for K-12 students. (3 credit hours)
While we did touch on using online surveys, podcasts and blogs as educational tools, our biggest focus was on WebQuests. I will admit that prior to this course, I thought of WebQuests as online scavenger hunts and/or worksheets. However, as we examined and evaluated existing WebQuests and eventually developed our own, I discovered what a valuable tool of higher order thinking a WebQuest can be. Their worth was even further reinforced in my mind as I used my WebQuest project from this course with my Computer Applications students during the past school year. I will admit that it was much more successful than I had anticipated. Being that the classes I teach focus largely on computer skills rather than concepts, using the WebQuest was a welcome opportunity to provide higher order learning opportunities for my students.