LedsomeWebQuest

Criteria	Accomplished (3)	Developing (2)	Beginning (1)	Score & Comments
Introduction	Engagingly describes a compelling question or problem.	A question or problem is described.	The purpose of the WebQuest is unclear.	3 – This is very good.  It grabs your attention and seems like it would be a really project to do.
Task	Task is doable and engaging, and is connected to learning in the real world. It elicits thinking that goes beyond rote comprehension.	The task is doable and elicits higher order thinking but is not relevant to students lives.	Task requires simply comprehending or retelling of information found on web pages and answering factual questions.	3 – Very doable.  I like how it’s very much a group project sort of thing, with roles and such shared among the members.  Giving them a budget also seems like a great idea to me, seeing as in real life they will not have an unlimited amount of money.  Very nice.
Process Checklist	Every step is clearly stated. Most students would know exactly where they are at each step of the process and know what to do next.	Some directions are given, but there is missing information. Students might be confused.	Every step is clearly stated. Most students would know exactly where they are at each step of the process and know what to do next.	3 – I really like how you’ve set this up with the different colors and such.  It makes it very easy to follow.
Resources	There is a clear and meaningful connection between all the resources and the information needed for students to accomplish the task.	There is some connection between the resources and the information needed for students to accomplish the task. Some resources don't add anything new.	Resources provided are not sufficient for students to accomplish the task.	3 – Your resources are really great and I think they will help out the students a lot.
Formative Assessment	Webquest begins with a formative assessment that assess student understanding of content outlined in CSO.	Formative assessment comes close in assessing student understanding of content outlined in CSO.	Formative assessment does not directly assess student understanding of content outlined in CSO.	3 – Looks good.  I think you’ve covered all of these CSOs in your WebQuest.
Evaluation	Criteria for success are clearly stated in the form of a rubric. Criteria include qualitative as well as quantitative descriptors.	Criteria for success are clearly stated in the form of a rubric. Criteria include qualitative as well as quantitative descriptors.	Criteria for success are not described.	2- I think you have a good starting place with your rubric.  Since cooperation is included in your evaluation listed below that, I think you should probably include that in there as well.  I think you should probably also do a little more with the math and measurements in your rubric since you have it counting for 50%.
Visual Appeal	Appropriate and thematic graphic elements are used to make visual connections that contribute to the understanding of concepts, ideas and relationships.	Graphic elements sometimes, but not always, contribute to the understanding of concepts, ideas and relationships.	Color is garish and/or typographic variations are overused and legibility suffers. Background interferes with the readability.	1 – I only do this because of your font colors.  I like that you use different ones, but the ones that you used are really, really bright.  They don’t really flow well with the blue and white font colors that are used for the headings and main text.
Navigation	Navigation is seamless. It is always clear to the learner what all the pieces are and how to get to them.	There are a few places where the learner can get lost and not know where to go next.	There are more than 5 broken links, misplaced or missing images, badly sized tables, misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	3 – I see nothing wrong at all with your navigation.

WebQuest Worksheet

The Affiliator

WebQuest	Strengths	Weaknesses
Gorillas	Students have to work together to determine what problems are causing gorillas to become extinct and then to discuss as a class and in groups how best to save these animals.  There is a lot of collaboration.	The beginning research could potentially be done individually.
Shakespeare	Everything is decided as a group.  This project requires the members to work together a great deal.	Research is done individually.
Earthquake	There is a lot of group work here and the group must work well together to get everything done.	I don’t see any.
Foreign Country	There is competition here, other than that not really a whole lot of collaboration.	This project sounds like an individual research and PowerPoint presentation.  There is no group work whatsoever.
Waves & Sounds	I don’t see any.	It’s not very clear what is being asked in this project.  It seems to me, though, that there isn’t all that much collaboration here.

The Top Ten Video

coming soon.

Sharing: The Moral Imperative

coming soon.

Wikipedia: Friend of Foe

The article and class activity didn’t really change my opinion on the value of Wikipedia to society and education.  I’ve always thought that it could be used as a valuable source if used with caution.  I think that Wikipedia can be very useful to give students a good idea on topics that they might be studied and maybe lead them on a search to discover whether or not information is factual and can be used in a paper or in a project.  It can also be a good way to educate the public and to give them a chance to possibly see two sides of a story that they otherwise might not get from watching biased news reports or reading the paper.

I would have my students use Wikipedia as a source to gain a basic level of knowledge on an assignment and to use it for the numerous sources that it could possibly provide for them to explore the information deeper.  I would advise them to never take the information for truth until they've found other sources confirming the information.  I would encourage them to use Wikipedia, but I would also caution them to be aware that not everything they find should be taken at face value.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is "a multilingual, Web-based encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit organization."

I think that the source can be very valuable even if it can be edited.  As long as the information is checked and found to be true.  Information is always changing, and those well-versed in a subject would know well enough, I think, to find information and share it with others who also know the subject or are enthusiastic about it.

They trust the population of people who visit the site to weed out misinformation.  Those that have knowledge or have found sources that prove otherwise.

Larry Sanger left Wikipedia because he felt that more authority should be given to experts on the site.  He created his own site after leaving that did just that.

I have no idea what abuse or vandalism would look like on a Wikipedia page.  The article says nothing about it.

The statistics offered in the third paragraph of the article reveal that Wikipedia is quite a popular site with a good bit of information to be found.

I think Wikipedia is so successful because it provides a place to get a good bit of information on a topic.  Even when doing a project, though you shouldn't credit Wikipedia it is a great place to get a good idea about what it is you are researching and several sources that could potentially be used.

I would say that the founders would not want to accept advertising because the people and corporations that advertise on the site would likely bias some of the information found there.  They may want something to adhere more to their views than to let the people who visit see both sides of a situation.

Wikiscanner gives people a way to see who is updating information and how reliable they may or may not be.  It also makes people responsible for their actions and what they say or do on Wikipedia.

Think Aloud

Thinkaloud

View more presentations from brittmorgan9.

Web Page Evaluation

The site I'm evaluating is http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/.

The domain name of this website is zapatopi.net. I feel that this domain name lessons the credibility of this website because .net is one of the many different names that are available for anyone to buy and create websites one.

There is no clear author stated.  There is a message at the bottom that says:  "This site is not associated with any school or educational organization, other than the Kelvinic University branch of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society."  So I suppose that the possible author could be someone from the branch of the Wild Haggis Conservation Society from Kelvinic University.  There is also a link that says:  "Address concerns to Lyle Zapato."  So she could be another potential author.

When I look up Kelvinic University, I am taken to a site with the same domain name as the website I am trying to validate.  The page for this "uuniversity" is just an extinction of the page I'm already on, which tells me that the "corporation" is not a credible sourcee for information.  The page does tell of the school and its goals and purposes.  It does have a mailing address.  There are, however, no actual names given at any time.  No links to pages for facility or anything.  I don't believe there are any biases, either.  Overall, no, I would say the organization should not be giving information on this topic because he organization itself does not exist.

The purpose of this web page is clearly stated.  The purpose is to help save the endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus from extinction.  In a way this page wants to both inform and persuade the reader.  There is a lot of information given on the Tree Octopus, but at the same time they want you to get involved in helping to save this endangered species.  There aren't any advertisements on this page.  There is a sidebar with news, a support thing, and a gift shop, but that's all.  So I would say that its not distracting at all and helps to contribute to the message the page is trying to get out.

I would say the intended target of the page is everyone.  This organization wants to get as many people as possible to take an interest in their cause.  There are several scientific terms within the text that I don't understand, and it uses a bigger vocabulary than maybe younger children wouldn't understand, so I suppose this "matches my needs."\

The information on this page was created on March 8, 1998 and was last updated on March 28, 2011.  There is a tab given that has sightings of the tree octopus and they have recent dates on them.  This site seems to have been probably maintained and not neglected at all.

I don't believe this content is peer-reviewed, authenticated by experts, or subject to some sort of editorial scrutiny.  There is no indication of this anywhere.  There are no awards or links to favorable site reviews from reliable sources.  Based on what I've seen, I would say that this source is not reliable at all.

I would not recommend this site to anyone, because the corporation that is in charge of this website does not even exist.  So I have to doubt the claims that this Tree Octopus is actually a real thing.

Survey Results

Survey

Would you ever give your passwords to friends?

No, I wouldn't.  I wouldn't give my password out to anyone.  If someone has your password, they can access anything that you use that password for.  Say its the password to your email account.  If a friend has that, they can log on to your email account and send emails to people or do things in your name.  There's also the chance that they could accidentally tell someone what it is.  The safest thing is to keep your password to yourself and not to tell anyone else what it is.  This way your password won't get out there and everything will be safe and secure from others.

My Learning Style

After taking the test, I discovered that I am a Kinesthetic learner, which means that I learn by doing.

Some things suggested to help me learn are to use real life examples.  Talking my notes out with someone that learns the same way as me is another suggestion.  Writing things out is also somewhat recommended.  Things like labs and field trips are also beneficial learning experiences for me.

I think this test is very accurate.  Many of the things suggested to help me learn, like talking out my notes and writing things are things that I already do.  I learn best by doing things and finding ways that they apply to me.  When I feel that something I'm learning doesn't relate or isn't relevant, I tend to ignore it or forget.  So yes, I think this is very accurate.

I just made a new Voki. See it here:

Edmodo Survey

The number one reason the fifth grade students liked using Edmodo to publish their writing was that they liked that people could see what they wrote.  Of the activities that we did, the fifth grade students liked the collaborative story writing the best.  I think the Edmodo project is great.  It gave the kids a chance to communicate with others from a different school and hopefully they learned something from us here at Fairmont State.  I don't really know what I could possibly do with a site like Edmodo in the future, but after using it and seeing how it works I think that I will definitely use it.  I think its a great way to share ideas.

Picture Comparison

I think that in this picture, President Obama looks both concerned and in control.  His facial expression is one of the reasons that I have formed this opinion.  The way his eyebrows are furrowed says that he feels concern.  On the other hand, there is also something about his expression that says he's in control.  It looks like he possibly has a handle on the situation and is looking for ways to address the problem.  His body language and the background of the photograph also give off this impression.  There are a number of books in the background, which makes it seem like some sort of plan to solve the problem may be in place.  There is also a clear distinction between this picture and the one below.  The one below does not tell me he is concerned or in control because he's smiling and almost looks like he's just another one of the guys.  He doesn't really feel like a leader in it.

This picture makes me confidant in the President's ability to respond to disasters.  In this picture it looks he's right there on the scene of the incident and attempting to help in some way.  This photo gives the impression that the President will respond immediately and be there on the scene.  He seems confidant and at east, too, which provides reassurance that the problem can be handled.

Literay Skills

Media literacy skills require a wide variety of different techniques than traditional literacy skills.  The most notable difference in these two is that when it comes to media literacy skills the student has to validate information and make sure that the information they are getting is truthful.  With traditional literacy, that doesn't happen.  For both of these literacy types, research skills are valuable, which is something they both share in common.  The ability to find the information is different, media literacy requiring the use of search engines on the internet.  These two means to finding and evaluating information, however, are very useful to students.

My Teacher of the Year Magazine Cover

My Digital Story

Digital Stories

I think that digital stories have the ability to promote the same kind of learning as writing an essay or research paper do.  When doing a digital story, the student has to look up the same information as they do when writing a research paper.  Not only that, but they get to show their knowledge in a creative way that might be just a little more interesting to them.  I think what I like most about a digital story is that the student can display his or her knowledge without worrying about word counts or page limits.  The information is giving to the best of the students ability, and in the end I believe its probably the same amount of information.  The benefit would also be that there's no filler, as is typically the case with essays and research papers because a student is trying to reach the word limit given to him or her.

Learning Without A Textbook

I read five comments from the article "No Books, No Problem:  Teaching Without A Text."  The main argument I gathered from what people thought about the article were rather positive, falling more in favor with not using a textbook than using one.  One argument given was that textbooks are often not to state standards.  I don't know if I really agree with this.  In my classes throughout school my teachers were able to use the textbooks to accomplish their objectives and seemed to have no trouble in doing so.  Another argument made is that there is more information contained in textbooks than can be taught in the year.  I do agree with this.  I don't think I've ever once made it the entire way through a textbook in school.  There was a lot of information given and my teachers often commented that there was no way they'd be able to cover everything.  The argument was also made the textbooks limit teachers, which I suppose I can understand because textbooks give one version of the information, or in the case of history, the story.  It was also suggested that textbooks limit the teacher and that they cannot always be adjusted to the needs of the students, and I suppose I can agree with this as well.  There was also a comment about using projects that relate to the students to teach information instead of the textbook.  In some subjects I can see this working better than teaching from the textbook.  For history, though, it might be rather difficult to do this when teaching certain things.  Overall, I agree with the statements made by these people to the article and I think they made some very valid points.

Introduction

Hello, my name is Brittany Morgan and I'm from Preston County, West Virginia.  I am currently a student at Fairmont State University, and this is my blog for my EDUC 2201 Instrustional Technology Class.  I am a Secondary Education Major and my focus is in Social Studies and History.  I love everything about history, though my favorite time would have to be Tudor England.  I have a slight obsession with King Henry VIII.  When I graduate, I hope to teach either middle school or high school.  I haven't really figured out which I would prefer yet, but I think as long as I'm teaching history the grade level won't matter.  I believe that children learn in many different ways.  I think the best way to learn, though, is to be involved.  When one is actively engaged and doing something hands on, he or she is more likely to learn.  I also think that teaching others is a helpful way to learn, and so students in my classroom may be engaged in activites like group projects and presentations where they can learn with others and have a chance to share what they know.