Friday, February 7, 2014

Week 5 Webquests and Rubrics






Despite my delay on posting my thoughts regarding PBL (Project- Based Learning) and alternative assessment, I suppose I have caught up on what is happening on Nicenet, now.
We are half- way through this ten- week- long semi- marathon in Webskills. The actual marathon will be the implementation of a Technology- Based Learning Project in my teaching setting.
This week has taught me to lay other foundation stones to my teaching in an innovative way for two reasons: first, using a well- designed Webquest based on students' needs is self- rewarding to both students and teacher because the main objective of the two of them is actual learning; second, resorting to rubrics makes both students and teacher reassured about what are eventually expected in the learning process.
What I liked the most in this fifth week was creating a rubric with Rubistar, which facilitates the procedures of doing it. If you want to have a look at my simple rubric sample, the link is http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2405809&
The extra task on starting to create a Webquest for a particular class was a new learning experience for me although I found myself awkward following the different steps of it. Actually, it is a hands- on activity-- we learn by doing. I hope you will give your feedback on my quest that you can view at http://questgarden.com/q/pixD

Thanks for reading me.

4 comments:

  1. Hey Manda,

    Thank you very much for sharing your reflection week 5. I am very exited and grateful as you to attend this course. It really helps me a lot in how to combine technology into education. I created my webquest and I am amazed with it. I bet my students will love it as yours. I have a question, Have used the webquest with your students or not yet? How were their reaction?

    Thank you again and I really wish you the best,

    Salaah from Yemen

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    1. Hi Salaah,

      I want to thank you for your comments on this Week 5 blog post. To tell you the truth, I have not used my quest with any students, yet. With so many things going on, I have not had time for everything; but I hope I will manage to let my students try using that quest next term.

      Best,

      Manda

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  2. Hello, Manda. Great reflection here! I particularly liked the comparison with a marathon, as it is indeed a "marathon" of sorts to be here. We have to maintain the same effort throughout the whole process in order to reach the goal and we're not always capable of going on due to our other activities, but we will eventually complete our project and finish this great course!

    I didn't have the time to work on the WebQuest, and I'd like to know what problems you had while working on it and what advantages it might have for you and your students. I suppose the first time is always hard and we need to find our feet to work with these new technologies, so I'd like to hear from your experience.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Regards,

    Lupita.

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    1. Hi Lupita,

      Thanks for reading my week 5 blog post. You were asking me what problems I had while working on my quest and how it benefited both my students and me. The answers to your questions are:
      - I found it hard to be familiar with the quest's evaluation rubric because I could not find a ready- to- use one tat would suit my project. Therefore, I had to make a new one;
      - that Webquest would be advantageous to me because you work hard to make it, but will be rewarded by your no- teaching time while your students will be working on it on their own. For students, independent learning will be gained. Unfortunately, I have not use that quest in my class, yet; so I do not have many things to say for the moment.

      Thank you again.

      Best,

      Manda

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