Topic:	Reflection 5
Conf:	DED240 the internet in teaching and learning

 

Part A.

In my opinion, Webquest activity is rather similar to discovery-learning approach. The most significant difference I feel between a WebQuest and the traditional task presented by the teacher is the fact that WebQuest enables the pupils to embark on a little journey to the resource links provided. Pupils are thus, given a chance to make connections between the concepts that they had learnt and new knowledge.

 

I believe that WebQuest cannot simply be a sole instruction of learning as the children do need to know important concepts which pertains to the topic taught. In addition, with smaller children the teacher needs to guide the pupils through as they may have some problems in navigation or even search for the relevant information from the links provided.

 

I guess in order to incorporate WebQuest activity in the classroom, a teacher has to weigh the pros and the cons. She must consider several factors below:

Time Constraints- for both teacher and pupils

Availability of Resources

Ability level of the pupils in her class

Relevant topics for a WebQuest activity

Consider the appropriate juncture to incorporate such activities

 

The teacher needs to prepare a substantial amount of good and relevant information and construct an appealing Webquest page. It can be an arduous task for her especially without any support in school. I feel that Webquest activity must be a collaborative effort among teachers in the school.  For the pupils however, they need to scrutinise the given links and if the information may not be substantial for them to come out with an end-product, they may need end up taking a long time to complete the activity.

 

In addition, availability of information on the web may prohibit a teacher from embarking some WebQuest activity. While she can develop links from several websites, she may need to explore other avenues like preparing presentation slides or newspaper article.

 

While Webquest is good if it really enhance the concepts taught in class and promotes a kind of independent learning, I feel that I can cause a lot of problems to. Working with technology can at times be a challenging tasks. Workable links may not be so anymore or some transference of information may be disrupted.

 

Part B:

I knew I wanted to build a site with school kids, parents and teachers in mind as I am highly inspired by the Scholastic home page. However, building was a mind-boggling activity. As I wanted to cater to audience that would want to obtain materials for primary school kids, I had to make sure that my lesson plans and resources has to be relevant. I need to consider the simplicity navigating the links that I've provided as well as relevance to the topics taught in the primary classroom. In the end, I chose a catchy name- Rabita's School House and furnished it with lots of school icons to improve on the aesthetic appeal.

 

 I did not know that I had an allergy- I am allergic to Web Design. Earlier on, I had taken a FrontPage workshop organised by NIE. After 3 days, we had to make a simple Home Page. Unfortunately, I am a very impatient worker and so I had lots of problems with hyperlinks and missing graphics. When I was publishing my Home Page this time around it materialise again!

 

I am a very visual person and so I cannot have a really bland page as such after several attempts on the Page Builder, I grew rather bored myself. I wanted some animation and interesting fonts to spice up my page so I chose SWISH. It was a fantastic animation programme. However, like any software there are several hiccups as well. It was the first time that I was using it and so I lacked experience. That was not the worst of it! The most frustrating part is when I try to upload my webpages to Geocities. Missing graphics and hyperlinks problems appeared constantly. I almost gave up. Thus, I believe that while the creative process can be fun, the technicalities can cause several setbacks.

 

A little advice that I would give to aspiring Web builders is to construct the pages slowly and carefully one at a time. At times, a creative product cannot be materialised because of the lack of technical expertise to navigate software like Frontpage. Thus, it is good to collaborate with a close friend who can share your pains and your triumphs!