Blog #10

To be honest, I was absent last Monday and did not know that we were not going to have class on Wednesday. Therefore, I have no idea what to write about this week since we are supposed to write about what we learned. I believe the class was introduced to Filamentality. From the PowerPoint presentation, Filamentality helps combine "filaments" of webs with a learning "mentality". From what I understand, Filamentality is a website that helps users create WebQuests. Filamentality guides users through picking topics, searching the web for good websites, and turning web resources into learning modules. The assignment this week involves Filamentality. We are supposed to create a "usable" classroom activity containing the following 3 components: 1) Filamentality project, 2)a teacher information sheet, and 3) a worksheet for students. The activity should take approximately 30-45 minutes for students to complete. To be honest, I have not started the assignment. I did not understand the assignment at first having not been to class on Monday, but I guess I understand the assignment more after reading the WebQuest articles and looking at assignments done by other students.
I thought the readings on WebQuest were interesting to read. WebQuests are designed for learners to focus on using information better than looking for it. There are are 5 rules to creating a great WebQuest, which can be described with the word FOCUS. The rules are as follows: Find great sites, Orchestrate your learners and resources, Challenge learners to think, Use the medium, and Scaffold high expectations. According to "A Productive & Thought Provoking Use of the Internet" by Maureen Brown,WebQuests help students learn problem solving and decision making skills. WebQuests should be relevant to curriculum, interesting, and motivating. A well designed WebQuest considers what the teacher wants the students to learn and is based on the interest of the students. Elements of a good WebQuest include the following: introduction, task, process, resources, evaluation, and conclusion. Introduction may include bringing contemporary world problems in the classroom, evaluating history, creating products, dealing with life's realities, and sparking students' imagination.