Webquest Workshop Richard Smyth Library Media Specialist Cathedral High School

Agenda Introduction to the Webquest (8:15-10:45) Break (10:45-10:55) Webquest Activity (10:55-12:15) Lunch (12:15-1:00) Conclusion/Overview (1:00-1:30)

Introduction to the Webquest (8:15-10:45)

Break (10:45-10:55)

Webquest Activity (10:55-12:15)

Lunch (12:15-1:00)

Conclusion/Overview (1:00-1:30)

Workshop Goals Participants will recognize pedagogical value of using webquests in 21 st century education become familiar with the range and variety of available webquests create own webquest, or modify/use a pre-existing webquest before year end

Participants will

recognize pedagogical value of using webquests in 21 st century education

become familiar with the range and variety of available webquests

create own webquest, or modify/use a pre-existing webquest before year end

I. Introduction to the Webquest

Webquests: Increasingly Popular Google results—comparison to other education terms (March 2005) lesson plan 1,340,000 WebQuest 664,000 standardized test 469,000 cooperative learning 427,000 multiple intelligence 402,000 problem-based learning 398,000 high-stakes testing 129,000 Bloom's Taxonomy 53,300

Google results—comparison to other education terms (March 2005)

lesson plan 1,340,000

WebQuest 664,000

standardized test 469,000

cooperative learning 427,000

multiple intelligence 402,000

problem-based learning 398,000

high-stakes testing 129,000

Bloom's Taxonomy 53,300

Webquests: Increasingly Popular Google results—comparison to pop culture terms (March 2005) David Letterman 773,000 WebQuest 664,000 Kleenex 476,000 Clark Kent 304,000

Google results—comparison to pop culture terms (March 2005)

David Letterman 773,000

WebQuest 664,000

Kleenex 476,000

Clark Kent 304,000

Webquest as Constructivist Practice WebQuests are based on the ideas of inquiry and constructivism. WebQuests also incorporate cooperative and collaborative learning, since students work on projects in groups. These concepts can play a role in teaching with WebQuests. WebQuests can also help students meet standards focused on critical-thinking and analysis skills, and may be particularly useful for social studies and science. -- “What is a Webquest?”

WebQuests are based on the ideas of inquiry and constructivism. WebQuests also incorporate cooperative and collaborative learning, since students work on projects in groups. These concepts can play a role in teaching with WebQuests.

WebQuests can also help students meet standards focused on critical-thinking and analysis skills, and may be particularly useful for social studies and science.

-- “What is a Webquest?”

Introduction to Webquest Agenda Share Summaries of Articles in Small groups Individual Review of Discipline-Specific Webquests Small group discussion about Webquest review Large group discussion of best Webquests Brainstorming Topics in Departments Conclusion

Share Summaries of Articles in Small groups

Individual Review of Discipline-Specific Webquests

Small group discussion about Webquest review

Large group discussion of best Webquests

Brainstorming Topics in Departments

Conclusion

II. Webquest Activity Go to http://webquest.sdsu.edu/ Click “Training Materials” Under “Overview and Underpinnings,” click A Webquest about Webquests MIDDLE AND SCHOOL (75 minutes) Create groups of four and follow instructions.

Go to http://webquest.sdsu.edu/

Click “Training Materials”

Under “Overview and Underpinnings,” click A Webquest about Webquests MIDDLE AND SCHOOL (75 minutes)

Create groups of four and follow instructions.

III. Conclusion/Overview

Students as Digital Natives “ Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach .” --Mark Prensky. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.

“ Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach .”

--Mark Prensky. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.

Digital Natives (cont.) “ It is now clear that as a result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors. These differences go far further and deeper than most educators suspect or realize.” --Mark Prensky. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.

“ It is now clear that as a result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors. These differences go far further and deeper than most educators suspect or realize.”

--Mark Prensky. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.

Digital Natives (cont.)

Digital Natives (cont.) --Howard Rheingold. “The Pedagogy of Civic Participation.” Lecture delivered in Second Life (www.secondlife.com)

Rheingold quote “ Constructivist theories of education that exhort teachers to guide active learning, to hands-on experimentation, are not new ideas. And neither is the notion that digital media can be used to help encourage this kind of learning. What is new is a population of digital natives who have learned how to learn new kinds of software before they started high school, who carry mobile phones, media players, game devices, and laptop computers and know how to use them, and for whom the internet is not a transformative, new technology but a feature of their lives that has always been there like running water and electricity. This population is both self-guided and in need of guidance. Although a willingness to learn new media by point & click exploration might come naturally to today’s student cohort, there’s nothing innate about knowing how to apply their skills to the processes of democracy.”

“ Constructivist theories of education that exhort teachers to guide active learning, to hands-on experimentation, are not new ideas. And neither is the notion that digital media can be used to help encourage this kind of learning. What is new is a population of digital natives who have learned how to learn new kinds of software before they started high school, who carry mobile phones, media players, game devices, and laptop computers and know how to use them, and for whom the internet is not a transformative, new technology but a feature of their lives that has always been there like running water and electricity. This population is both self-guided and in need of guidance. Although a willingness to learn new media by point & click exploration might come naturally to today’s student cohort, there’s nothing innate about knowing how to apply their skills to the processes of democracy.”

Brain/Neuroscience-Based Education “ Some have surmised that teenagers use different parts of their brain and think in different ways than adults when at the computer. We now know that it goes even further—their brains are almost certainly physiologically different . But these differences, most observers agree, are less a matter of kind than a difference of degree. For example as a result of repeated experiences, particular brain areas are larger and more highly developed, and others are less so.” --Mark Prensky. Do They Really Think Differently?

“ Some have surmised that teenagers use different parts of their brain and think in different ways than adults when at the computer. We now know that it goes even further—their brains are almost certainly physiologically different . But these differences, most observers agree, are less a matter of kind than a difference of degree. For example as a result of repeated experiences, particular brain areas are larger and more highly developed, and others are less so.”

--Mark Prensky. Do They Really Think Differently?

Changing Students/Changing Literacies

New Literacies Need to expand the definition of literacy Electronic environments place additional demands on and require different abilities of users “ Literacy. . . .may be thought of as a moving target” (Leu 11)

Need to expand the definition of literacy

Electronic environments place additional demands on and require different abilities of users

“ Literacy. . . .may be thought of as a moving target” (Leu 11)

New Literacies Critical Literacy need to evaluate websites Participatory Media Literacy blogs, myspace (“social software”), wikis Media Literacies critical literacy focused on new media (video, images) “ Electracy” (read about it at Wikipedia) electracy : digital media :: literacy : print media

Critical Literacy

need to evaluate websites

Participatory Media Literacy

blogs, myspace (“social software”), wikis

Media Literacies

critical literacy focused on new media (video, images)

“ Electracy” (read about it at Wikipedia)

electracy : digital media :: literacy : print media

New Literacies

New Literacies

New Literacies

New Literacies “… new literacies…almost always build on foundational literacies rather than replace them…In fact, it could be argued that they will become even more essential because reading and writing become more important in an information age. While foundational literacies become more important, they also will be insufficient if one is to fully utilize the Internet and other ICTs [information and communication technologies]” (Leu 16).

New Literacies

Sociomedia vs. Hypermedia --Edward Barrett. “Sociomedia: An Introduction.” The neologism sociomedia suggests “ that computer media exist for ‘social’ purposes.”

Engagement & Construction Engagement --> “interaction with people” Construction --> “students create a product from their collaboration” --Edward Barrett. “Sociomedia: An Introduction.”

What does this mean for us? Teaching to the Student Recognizing and responding to radical changes in Information & Communications Technologies Changing role for teachers Using New Media for Construction, Engagement and Civic Participation

Teaching to the Student

Recognizing and responding to radical changes in Information & Communications Technologies

Changing role for teachers

Using New Media for Construction, Engagement and Civic Participation

Changing Teacher Role Students know more about new literacies than most adults Teacher can orchestrate learning opportunities between/among students who know new literacies “ In a student-centered, social learning environment, this knowledge can be exchanged, ironically, in a classroom where the teacher may not know either of these skills as well as the students” (Leu 21).

Students know more about new literacies than most adults

Teacher can orchestrate learning opportunities between/among students who know new literacies

“ In a student-centered, social learning environment, this knowledge can be exchanged, ironically, in a classroom where the teacher may not know either of these skills as well as the students” (Leu 21).

Changing Teacher Role “ Increasingly, students are coming to school more literate in the new literacies of ICT than their teachers. This is a historic change. As a result, roles between students and teacher will sometimes be reversed . . . Instead of being the single source for all literacy knowledge, teachers will become orchestrators of literacy learning environments, where members of a classroom community exchange new literacies that each has discovered” (Leu 22).

“ Increasingly, students are coming to school more literate in the new literacies of ICT than their teachers. This is a historic change. As a result, roles between students and teacher will sometimes be reversed . . . Instead of being the single source for all literacy knowledge, teachers will become orchestrators of literacy learning environments, where members of a classroom community exchange new literacies that each has discovered” (Leu 22).

Changing Teacher Role "Schools should require teachers to do action research so that they constantly feel what it is like to learn , to be reminded that real learning is always frightening, frustrating, and able to cause self-doubt, regardless of age or talent. If the job and schedule make us think of ourselves as only teachers instead of also as model learners , we miss vital opportunities to make education more honest, invigorating, and self-correcting for everyone, adult and child" (320). --Wiggins & McTigue. Understanding by Design.

"Schools should require teachers to do action research so that they constantly feel what it is like to learn , to be reminded that real learning is always frightening, frustrating, and able to cause self-doubt, regardless of age or talent. If the job and schedule make us think of ourselves as only teachers instead of also as model learners , we miss vital opportunities to make education more honest, invigorating, and self-correcting for everyone, adult and child" (320).

--Wiggins & McTigue. Understanding by Design.

Changing Teacher Role “ Effective use of games and other new technologies is likely to be limited unless educational institutions are willing to consider significant changes in pedagogy and content, and rethink the role of teachers and other educational professionals” (6). --Federation of American Scientists. Harnessing the Power of Video Games for Learning.

“ Effective use of games and other new technologies is likely to be limited unless educational institutions are willing to consider significant changes in pedagogy and content, and rethink the role of teachers and other educational professionals” (6).

--Federation of American Scientists. Harnessing

the Power of Video Games for Learning.

Changing Students

Changing Students

Changing Students

“Just Do It” “ So if Digital Immigrant educators really want to reach Digital Natives – i.e. all their students – they will have to change. It’s high time for them to stop their grousing, and as the Nike motto of the Digital Native generation says, ‘Just do it!’” --Mark Prensky. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.

“ So if Digital Immigrant educators really want to reach Digital Natives – i.e. all their students – they will have to change. It’s high time for them to stop their grousing, and as the Nike motto of the Digital Native generation says, ‘Just do it!’”

--Mark Prensky. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.

References Barrett, Edward. “Sociomedia: An Introduction.” In Sociomedia: Multimedia, Hypermedia, and the Social Construction of Knowledge." Ed. Edward Barrett. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992. 1-10. Leu, Donald J. et al. “Toward a Theory of New Literacies Emerging from the Internet and Other Information and Communication Technologies.” Available at www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/leu/ . Federation of American Scientists. Harnessing the Power of Video Games for Learning. Available at http://fas.org/gamesummit/Resources/Summit%20on%20Educational%20Games.pdf. Prensky, Marc. “ Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.” On the Horizon 9.5 (October 2001): 1-8. Available at www.marcprensky.com/writing/ . Prensky, Marc. “Do They Really Think That Way?” On the Horizon 9.6 (December 2001): 1-9. Available at www. marcprensky .com/writing/ . Rheingold, Howard. “The Pedagogy of Civic Participation.” Lecture 21 October 2006. Second Life New Media Campus 5. Available http://media.nmc.org/sl/audio/rheingold-oct-21-2006.mp3 . “ What is a Webquest?” Thirteen Ed Online: Concept to Classroom Workshop. http://thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index_sub7.html. Wiggins, Grant and Jay Mctighe. Understanding by Design. 2 nd Edition. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2005.

Barrett, Edward. “Sociomedia: An Introduction.” In Sociomedia: Multimedia, Hypermedia, and the Social Construction of Knowledge." Ed. Edward Barrett. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992. 1-10. Leu, Donald J. et al. “Toward a Theory of New Literacies Emerging from the Internet and Other Information and Communication Technologies.” Available at www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/leu/ .

Federation of American Scientists. Harnessing the Power of Video Games for Learning. Available at

http://fas.org/gamesummit/Resources/Summit%20on%20Educational%20Games.pdf.

Prensky, Marc. “ Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.” On the Horizon 9.5 (October 2001): 1-8. Available at www.marcprensky.com/writing/ .

Prensky, Marc. “Do They Really Think That Way?” On the Horizon 9.6 (December 2001): 1-9. Available at www. marcprensky .com/writing/ .

Rheingold, Howard. “The Pedagogy of Civic Participation.” Lecture 21 October 2006. Second Life New Media Campus 5. Available http://media.nmc.org/sl/audio/rheingold-oct-21-2006.mp3 .

“ What is a Webquest?” Thirteen Ed Online: Concept to Classroom Workshop. http://thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index_sub7.html.

Wiggins, Grant and Jay Mctighe. Understanding by Design. 2 nd Edition. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2005.