Week 5: Reflections

Week 5 is special to me. Much work and more hands-on workshop. The activities focused on two major things: Project-based learning and WebQuest. The reading materials have given me clear ideas about what these mean and how effective they are in teaching English language. Enhanced PBL with technology improves the students' creativity, critical thinking, problem solving skills and other competencies.

On Nicenet, three major threads of discussion have been taking place: “Technology-enhanced projects or WebQues”, “Describe a potential change” and “Project-based learning and WebQuest”. As usual, these along with our blogs have been fertile lands for new ideas, creativity and sharing. I have learned discovered some weaknesses I have in my proposals and participated in fruitful discussions. These discussions are my favourites. Much collaboration and exchange of ideas take place in mutual respect and responsibility.

Another interesting thing I have done this week is creating my first English Speaking Countries WebQuest for my students. This is my first trial. It has been so demanding, but I managed to create one.

Using WebQuest in project-based task makes the activity more fruitful. It’s motivating. and enhances the learners' autonomy The learners learn to use the internet properly while learning and building skills they’d need in their future lives.

Happy PBL and Webquest activities to all.

My First WebQuest:

Hello everyone,

Creating a WebQuest has been the most demanding task in the course so far. I have spent long hours to make one for my students. But the outcome is satisfactory as this is my first trial with the tool.

My first WebQuest focuses on discovering English speaking countries around the world. There are four tasks each of which is interested in knowing countries where English is considered as an official language. The learners will also discover other information about these countries; location, capital cities, flags…

I do confess that some finalisation is still needed, but I think that I have done the most important thing. Here is the link. Do visit my English Speaking Countries WebQuest please and leave me a comment.

Title of the project : English Speaking Countries.

Target students: 3r grade junior high school students. (Elementary students)

ABCD Objective: Using a WebQuest, elementary students will explore certain links to learn about English speaking countries around the world to do a problem-based project related to the topic.

I think the project and the WebQuest even though my students are beginners, because they don’t need to be Excellent at English to perform the activity. The tasks are as simple as giving names of countries, continents, capital cities… Still, the benefits are great. They will learn about countries and English around the world. They will observe, explore, classify… They need to invest a lot of thinking to solve problems and carry on the tasks. Moreover, it is a good opportunity to them to get exposed more to English language outside the classroom.

Change brought by technology.

I have different technological tools to integrate in my classes. I strongly believe in the facilities Moodle gives as it offers a set of facilities which you’d need many tools to get. But since I have to try something I haven’t done, it’s a good opportunity then to try class blog and yahoogroup to bring change to my classes.

I have chosen these tools because I think they are free to use and would complement each other. My objectives behind using them are first to maximize the time my students get exposed to English, second to provide or guide them to authentic resource and materials and finally to motivate them.

My third grade students in junior high school study English for the first time. I see them twice a week. Two hours a week of English is not satisfactory for me. Beside giving them ordinary homework, I thinking of giving them extra motivating tasks that would make them use the internet at home but for educational purpose. I think they would like watching videos, read simple materials, do projects and WebQuests… and then do tasks or participate in discussions or give presentations.

Because we suffer from the absence of English materials and resources in our school, the internet numerical resources would suffice. Both the blog and yahoogroup would help me do the job perfectly through uploading audios, videos, ebooks, documents or simple posting links. Of course not everything found on the net is worth using, but with a little help and orientation from the teacher, the learners would use them reasonably.

My learners would be more motivated. I would like first to tell you that I am lucky because my students have a very positive attitude towards English. Their attitude and motivation would be enhanced through using activities they like. The selection of activities is very important because if you use an activity they don’t like, they wouldn’t be attracted though you use their favourite tool. Therefore, I am thinking of implementing light activities and using funny materials such as funny videos, games, puzzles…

Why blog and yahoogroup? Students are excellent is blogging. I wouldn’t find much trouble in using it. This helps me focus on the content rather than technical issues. However, they don’t use yahoogroup at all, but it is not a difficult one. An orientation session would then be necessary at the beginning.

I have an idea and I don’t know if it would work or not. What do you think about what I would call “the invisible participant” trick. At the beginning of the school year I would ask my students to choose a nickname for them to use online. They have to stick on using it in their posts and activities and they are free if they want to make their nicknames public or not. I would keep a list of personal information of all the students including those nicknames. Using nicknames instead of real names has two benefits. This would help the shy and the poor ones participate without the fear of losing face because of mistakes. Secondly, the teacher would also have a nickname or nicknames that would make him/her invisible among the students. The students wouldn’t recognise him. The objective behind this to encourage the students and provoke discussions… I hope my idea is clear. What do you think about it?

PBL & Webquest: What relation?

Problem-based learning (PBL)

Project-Based Learning's philosophy to learning is to involve the learners into real-life experiences rather than learning sets of rules. It aims at making students "work in groups to solve challenging problems that are authentic, curriculum-based, and often interdisciplinary" (McGrath, 2003) and a good PBL activity is the one that targets different learning styles. Many scholars have stressed that it boasts learning and a variety of “skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking and cooperative learning” (ATESL).

Sun Associates states that a classic PBL activity involves four elements:

· an extended time frame

· collaboration

· inquiry, investigation, and research

· the construction of an artifact or performance of a consequential task.

In reflection on her experience, Susan Gaer deduces that there are three major helping factors to PBL activity success:

· The project must be geared to the population.

· The students must see value in a project.

· Flexible timeliness is necessary.

Stoller (1997) and Sheppard and Stoller (1995) suggest that the implementation of a PBL should follow the following steps:

1. the students and instructor agree on a theme for the project,

2. the students and instructor determine the final outcome of the project,

3. the students and instructor structure the project,

4. the instructor prepares students for the demands of information gathering,

5. the students gather information,

6. the instructor prepares students for the demands of compiling and analyzing data,

7. the students compile and analyze information,

8. the instructor prepares students for the language demands of conducting the activity,

9. the students present the final product, and

10. the students evaluate the project.

webQuest

WebQuest is defined by Professor Bernie Dodge of San Diego State University as “an inquiry-oriented activity that uses resources on the World Wide Web. WebQuests pull together the most effective instructional practices into one integrated student activity. These Web-based projects use World Wide Web sites to help students develop problem-solving and decision-making skills.” It is considered as being motivating to both teachers and students. As problem-based learning does, it boasts critical thinking, problem solving and creativity skills. Prof. Bernie Dodge differentiates between two kinds of webQuests: short term and long term each of which has particular characteristics. He also states that there are six components for every webquest: 1. introduction, 2. task,3. process,4. evaluation, 5. conclusion and 6. teacher page. Thirteen ed online has also set six components as former ones, but with a slight difference.

To convince teachers, Prof. Bernie Dodge explains that webquests deserve the trouble. He highlights its benefits as a teaching tool and suggests practical techniques to integrate it teaching effectively.

Therefore, joining Project-Based Learning and WebQuest is not done at random. Both of them aim at developing the same skills: problem solving, creativity and critical thinking. Moreover, webquest would be one great resource to do a problem-based activity. In my context where we suffer from the scarcity of resource materials, for instance, it would be ideal source of information for students and teachers all together to rely on while doing a project.

PBL: Students autonomy & teacher-student rapport

Project-Based Learning including webQuests help students gain and develop their autonomy effectively. It prepares them for the future by getting them exposed to situations and experiences in which they train themselves in problem solving, critical thinking, decision making and creativity. While performing their projects, the learners have to look for specific information and evaluate its relevance to their topics. WebQuests is an interesting source of authentic information that is for free or at low costs. They have to use the information, techniques and methods and so on to carry their projects successfully. A project-based activity should set clear objectives and tasks for the students to perform. The role of the teacher should be limited to orientation and guidance. All the work should be done by the students individually or collaboratively depending on the nature of the task. Facing problems with a limited interference of the teacher help the learners build competencies and skills that would enable them lead successful lives.

Project-Based Learning affects the teacher-student relationship positively. PBL activities are motivational for both teachers and students. This makes both of them work cooperatively and collaboratively in a relaxed and encouraging atmosphere. The learners would admire their teacher because he/she involves them in decision making especially in choosing topics, forming groups and suggesting ways to perform tasks. PBL is an excellent method that helps the teachers respond to their students needs and make them the centre of the whole activity. The learners would appreciate their teachers work and method and feel proud seeing their final products being done and finalised by them. The teacher would also be happy to see the good outcomes of his students efforts, because it has always been proven that learners learn a lot and do well in PBL acticities.