Webquest Evaluation - Digital Camera Selection

This week I will be evaluating a WebQuest, which is a research activity designed for students to collect information mainly from the Internet. There are several WebQuests available to teachers here. When you go to this site, on the left hand side click 'Find WebQuests', and from there you can do a search. The center gray part I thought was the best way to search. There, I clicked on 'Business/Economics' as my title, and 'Adults' as my age group. It was really hard for me to decide on one of them, because several looked interesting. After browsing a few, I settled on this one, Digital Camera Selection.

The first thing I noticed, as always, was the design and layout of the page. It's very simple and easy to read and follow. These traits are very important, and often underrated by many developers. I like how the creator, Andrew Goreff, put links to the components of the WebQuest on the side of the page. This is pretty standard. But, I also like how he provided a link at the bottom, for example "Your task begins HERE." This gives a nice, logical flow to the page to guide you on your quest. The author also provides his email address, so you can contact him with any questions you may have about the application. The only thing I think needs some attention is the formatting. The alignment of the text needs to be tightened up in some areas. But, overall, good job.

Next, I would like to talk about each of the components of the quest, starting with the introduction. The introduction is very short and sweet. It tells you what you need to do. But, I don't think it will really draw anyone in or get students particularly motivated. I would have liked to have seen a little more background information. Some of the other WebQuests that I looked at, like this one, had some really inviting introductions that made the project sound exciting. Bottom like is, it gets the job done, but that's about it.

The next section is the task. I like the task. Again, it's very short, but it's clear. As a student looking at this, I would know what is expected of me and how to go about it. After the task is the process. The purpose of the process is to guide you in the direction of accomplishing your task. I think his process is again, easy to follow and effective. The 5 steps in the process work towards accomplishing the task of the WebQuest. Included is a resource that gives you an introduction to buying a digital camera. This is particularly useful for students who have no knowledge of this. Next, there is a site to compare prices of several cameras. After looking at this site, the students are to choose 3 that fit the requirements. Then, they should build a spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel. While the author of the site provides an example spreadsheet, there is no resource to show students how to use Excel or how to make a spreadsheet. This is definitely needed in my opinion. It can't be assumed that students have done this before. Anyway, after the spreadsheet is completed, the students are to write a purchasing recommendation. The resource link provided for this part of the process needs to be looked at. First of all, the page has been moved. Second, the content is less than ideal. I'm sure there are more relevant links out there. Overall, I think the task and process are sufficient. I think there are a few small holes that need to be taken care of.

Next is the resource page, which is just a list of all the sites and files that were used in the process above. Nothing fancy here, and not much to talk about. After that is the evaluation, which is an important part of any WebQuest. I think this one is thorough. Seems like he has covered all the bases and there are not any gaps that would lead to misunderstandings.

And, the final parts of the WebQuest are the conclusion and the credits. I like the conclusion here. He ties in this activity to future purchases the students might make, like a house or a car. I think that some of the same processes can be used, and that's a valuable lesson for the students to learn. And, the credits are nothing more than a list of references that the creator used to develop this WebQuest.

Overall, I liked the simple design. It flowed well and I think it taught the students an important process that they can use over and over in their lives. I would have liked to have seen a little more motivation in the beginning. And, I think with this topic, it's not that difficult to set up. But, I think the rest of the project is well done. I am getting excited about putting one of these WebQuests together. Evaluating this quest and looking at several others has given me an idea of where to start. It is a daunting task and will require a lot of work. But, I love this stuff, so that will make it a little easier.

Leaner's Autonomy

The topic this week in our CALL class is autonomy, specifically in language learning. Autonomy is another one of those teaching 'buzz words' that I hear all the time from my colleagues. But, until now, I never really knew what it meant, even though I have incorporated it several times in my classes over the years. So, what does it mean? It means giving the learner more freedom to choose certain aspects of their learning. This could be the content, the pace at which they learn, the time and place, or the process. So, from now on, when I design a lesson that is learner centered, I can brag to my fellow teachers and tell them that I am deciding to give my student's more autonomy. I will sound so smart.

The article that we read this week is called "Theory and Research: Autonomy in Language Learning", and it is by Deborah Healey. I think Healey has done a good job of thoroughly explaining this kind of teaching method. Here is a chart that she has come up with to describe some of the most common settings to create more of a learner centered approach.

(Healey, 1999)

This chart shows four possible scenarios on how to manage the content and the source of the structure in your classes. Looking at this chart, I don't know if any of these would be feasible in my classes. In all of these cases, it looks like the student has control of the pace of the class. I have a rigid schedule right now, and I must stick to that. I would like to try some of these in the future, maybe in an elective class. But now, I am teaching only general conversation classes.

I think in this CALL class, we are given a good amount of autonomy in regards to the time and the content. The content is given to us, it's out there, but there are several different ways we can interpret the content and use it. An example is this blog site here. Dan, our teacher, directed us to this site to make a blog. But, after that, it was up to us on the design, appearance, and the time and effort we put into the upkeep of it. Also, the time is up to the students. I can do this assignment now, tomorrow, or on Saturday. Whenever I am free, I can do this. The pace is decided by Dan for the most part. There are deadlines on when we have to turn in assignments. But, there are no restrictions on working ahead. So, we are in control of the pace in that regard.

Overall, I liked the article. Compared to some topics we have studied in the past, I am more interested in this and learning more about it. I think giving student's more autonomy can be risky, but it can be very motivating if used in the right setting. I believe this style will be more and more common in classrooms in the future, and I want to be a part of that.

Website Evaluation - Using Wiki in Education

This evaluation is an extension of the search engine assignment. Using three search engines that were new to me (Hotbot, Clusty, and Dogpile), I typed in the keywords 'wiki education.' From there, my job is to evaluate one of the sites that appeared in my Top 5 results from the search. So, I will be talking about the site Using Wiki in Education, which is a blog and wiki based book by Stewart Mader.
The first thing I want to talk about is the design. This is almost always the first thing I notice and discuss when I evaluate websites. I think the overall appearance is one of its strong points. It's very clean and simple, and is generally appealing to the eye. But, I don't think the author places enough emphasis on his posts. They don't really stand out, and therefore the information might not even be viewed by someone who comes across this site. And, as a blogger, I think this is what you want.
Next, the content. The posts made by the author are very interesting and informative for educators. I especially like the fact that podcasts of the material are available and easy to use. So, if you subscribe to the feed, new posts will be delivered to you and you can take it with you.
Overall, a nice site with some good information. I would keep the design basically the way it is, just somehow make the posts stand out more. For example, the most recents posts are given the same amount of focus as the blogs that he reads. This just shouldn't be, in my opinion.

Search Engine Fun

Our task this week was to evaulate three search engines based on the quality of search results. The Big 3 - Google, Yahoo!, and MSN were off limits. We had to find three more obscure search engines to judge. I chose the three that I thought had the most interesting names: Dogpile, Clusty, and Hotbot. Doesn't sound like a collection of search engines, does it? Well, let's give them all a test drive. The key words that I searched for were 'wikis education.'

1. Dogpile - The first thing I noticed is that when you click on one of the result links, your page pops up in a separate window. Some people might like that. I am not used to it, as the search engine that I normally use, Yahoo!, doesn't do that. I was not too impressed with the results of the search. Some of the links it provided were farther down the list than I would have thought, and vice versa. For example, Create a Free Wiki was number 3, which is too high. And, Wiki in Education, which contains both of the keywords, was number 11. Conclusion: Cool name, not so cool results. Let's continue.
2. Clusty - I liked this site right away, because the links didn't open in a new browser. I like that for some reason. The results of the search on this engine were more of what I was expecting. All of the Top5 searches at least contained the keywords in the title of the link. I saw some of the same links that I did on Dogpile, but they were farther down the list on Clusty, and rightly so in my opinion. Overall, I like this one much more that Dogpile. Well, let's see what the Hotbot has to offer.
3. Hotbot - Similar to Clusty the Clown, the links didn't open in a new browser, which I liked. I also liked the overall clean appearance of this site. The results appeared at first to be better than Dogpile, but not as good as Clusty. But, one of the links in the Top 5 didn't even work. That is not a good sign for a search engine.

Based on this one keyword search, I would say that Clusty was by far the best search engine. It's definitely the only one that I would possibly consider using in the future. There are so many resources available on the web these days, that if something doesn't work well one time, I tend not to go back there. In this case, Dogpile and Hotbot did not perform well, so that is the last time I will go there.

By the way, the highest ranking site that I got was EDUCAUSE REVIEW. It was #2 on Dogpile, #8 on Clusty, and #1 on Hotbot. What about you guys?

Learning Styles - Individualization

This week in CALL, we took a look at learning styles, or individualization. What this basically means is that students learn in many different ways. It is our job as teachers to help them discover the most effective ways for them to learn. Also, we need to develop lessons that fit these different kinds of styles.
I have never studied this topic before, so I really learned a lot from the article and our classroom discussions. The article, by Karen Ngeow, was called "Classroom Practice: Enhancing and Extending Learning Styles Through Computers." The article showed examples of how we can use technology in our classrooms to meet and enhance the various learning styles of our students. I have always tried to use a good amount of technology in my classes. This article gave me several new ideas that I might try. Most importantly, it got me thinking about using a combination of software on one task. By doing this, the students can each contribute and use their individual talents for the success of the group. I think I will incorporate this into many of the activities that I plan in the future.
The classroom discussion focused mainly on MIs, or multiple intelligences. I sat back and listened to the discussion for a while, as more experienced teachers in the class, like Victoria and Stefanie, gave me my first lesson on this. After I looked at their input and tried to digest it, I was able to contribute a bit to the discussion. I discovered that I am mostly a Linguistic, Musical, and Logical learner. I guess that's no real surprise to people who know me. My lowest learning styles came in Interpersonal and Naturalistic, which again is no surprise.
If anyone is interested in finding out more about your learning styles, go to this website, which Victoria found. It's very interesting and you might find out something about yourself.
Well, that's all for me this week. See you next time!