Web 2.0 in a Middle School Classroom???

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Permalink Reply by Marielle Lange on November 14, 2007 at 3:43am

In case this is any useeful: e-tivities by name, webquest. A few links given to webquets examples or pages containing information on how to set up webquests.

But if you guys enjoy both wikis and webquests, could I have you consider providing me some useful info to add on this wiki page ;-)

The idea is really to provide some guide on how to use the web 2.0 to design efficient classroom activities. What I am trying to do is provide a catalogue of activities, either on the net or within a classroom with some basic information attached to them.

These are:

• Name – single word or short phrase that refers to the pattern. This allows for rapid association and retrieval.
• Problem – definition of a problem, including its intent or a desired outcome, and symptoms that would indicate that this problem exists.
• Context – preconditions which must exist in order for that problem to occur, this is often a situation. When forces conflict, the resolutions of those conflicts is often implied by the context.
• Forces – description of forces or constraints and how they interact, some of the forces may be contradictory, such as being thorough often conflicts with time or money constraints.
• Solution – instructions, possibly including variants, may encompass pictures, pictures, diagrams, prose, or other media
• Examples – sample applications and solutions, analogies, visual examples, and known uses can be especially helpful, help user understand the context
• Resulting Context – result after the pattern has been applied, including postconditions and side effects. It might also include new problems that might result from solving the original problem.
• Rationale – the thought processes that would go into selecting this pattern, The rationale includes an explanation of why this pattern works, how forces and constraints are resolved to construct a desired outcome.
• Related Patterns – differences and relationships with other patterns, possibly predecessor, antecedents, or alternatives that solve similar problems.

These information are inspired by some very useful classification framework called design patterns. This has been used for a few years in many areas but not exploited much yet in the area of education. There is an entry on pedagogical patterns in wikipedia that contains a bit of extra information.

So, what would be the advantages of using a webquest?

Any disadvantages?

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Permalink Reply by Emma on November 14, 2007 at 10:24am

I really like your webquest. I plan to use it with my kids.

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Permalink Reply by Randy Rivers on November 14, 2007 at 4:26pm

I'm experimenting with a middle school class this year called 21st Century Skills. I've attached my first draft course syllabus. It's going well to this point...just had to slow the pace down a bit. The kids are really starting to catch on to the idea of being responsible for their own learning...good luck!

Attachments:

• 21stCenturySkillsSyllabus.doc, 95 KB

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Permalink Reply by Erin McGuyer on November 15, 2007 at 5:27am

WOW! I teach 7th grade technology courses without a set curriculum guide. I would love to be able to share this with my administration. I am currently involved in a 21st Century project with teachers around the state of Alabama with Sheryl Nussbaum Beach and this is exactly what I need to give me more focus. I may try to implement some of this after Christmas. Do you have a website with further information?

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Permalink Reply by Randy Rivers on November 16, 2007 at 11:26am

Not yet Erin...I'm piloting the course this year...feel free to use the ideas, freely, though...RR

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Permalink Reply by mr. f on October 5, 2008 at 6:30pm

Hi Randy,

I had a few emails back and forth with you earlier this year. Here is my syllabus/outline for my learning.21st class.

Please share your ideas.

Thanks. Ben

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Permalink Reply by mr. f on January 15, 2009 at 7:39am

Hi Randy,

I recently presented the results of my learning.21st course. Here is a link with all my resources. http://sites.google.com/site/learning21st/

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Permalink Reply by Randy Rivers on January 15, 2009 at 4:59pm

Hey Mr. F.
Looks like you're course is really taking shape! Great stuff to help kids understand the new social and moral boundaries we need to help them shape. I changed gigs...back to full time superintendency...but keep dabbling in staff development for tech integration. Keep up the great work and have a super weekend.

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Permalink Reply by Brad Davis on November 14, 2007 at 5:35pm

I am a middle school administrator and our school has been really using some great technology over the past couple of years. We have many teachers using wikis and blogs in their classrooms. A couple teachers have even gotten into using things like Skype for video conferencing and Voicethread for digital storytelling. These tools have really given our student a taste of the skills they wil need to hone in the future. They are really understanding what it means to write for an authentic audience. Understanding that there is a whole world beyond our walls and that we have the technology to connect to it has been a wonderful experience.

We are also trying to use Web 2.0 to revamp professional development and boring things like faculty meetings.

good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Sue Palmer on November 14, 2007 at 8:34pm

I am a high school teacher in a rural district as well and I started with podcasting. I started to create them simply with Audacity which is a free downlad program and very easy to use. We then started using the web to find other educational podcasts. We moved from there to blogging which is also a really big hit. We started with the blog feature on the school site and recently launched our own site!

We are hooked. You will be too!

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Permalink Reply by David Truss on November 14, 2007 at 9:25pm

Hi David,
I did this for 2 Grade 8 Science classes last year:
http://sciencealive.wikispaces.com/

The first page is my agenda with the older dates at the bottom of the page, so you can literally visit my class and see what I did almost a year later.
I blogged about the experience here: (Below is cut and pasted from My Web2.0)

• My Blog (and Wiki) Rules (Post): Based on Respect, Inclusion, Learning and Safety.
  
• My Science Alive! Wiki Project: Intro-(Post), Pedagogical issues-(Post), Reflection-(Post)

If you were to pick just one of the blog posts to read after looking at the wiki, then I would suggest the reflection. It has some good advice for those venturing into something like this for the first time... hope this helps you:-)
Dave

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Permalink Reply by Sue Palmer on November 15, 2007 at 2:15pm

It looks interesting. Thanks for sharing the syllabus.

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