WEB BASED PROJECTS
Hotlist (Curriculum Pages)
The first step in using the power of the Internet for learning is linking to the sites that
you find most useful. Doing this will save your learners hours of aimless searching (not an efficient use of class time). When you create a hotlist, your learners will be saved hours of aimless surfing.
Sometimes you might choose to have learners search their own sites on the Internet.
Good examples of this is are when students do independent study projects or you have groups studying different aspects of a larger topic (an example would be 20th Century American history with separate student groups choosing a particular decade to study and present to the class). Then it makes sense to have students search - and shouldn't they be able to post what they have found on the Web via their own hotlist? Annotations should be included to make the list more effective.
Examples
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/China/hotlist.html
Scrapbook
If learners already have a general understanding of the subject they are studying (i.e., they've done some preliminary learning in class or with traditional resources), you might want their first Web-based activity to be the exploration of a Multimedia Scrapbook. Here learners dig through a collection of Internet sites organized around specific categories such as, photographs, maps, stories, facts, quotations, sound clips, videos, virtual reality tours, etc. Learners use the Scrapbook to find aspects of the broader topic that they feel are important. They then download or copy and paste these scraps into a variety of formats: newsletter, desktop slide presentation, collage, or Web page. By allowing students to "find themselves" in their interests (sparked by the Web resources they encounter), the Multimedia Scrapbook offers a more open, student-centered approach that allows construction of some mental schema and that affective connection and buy-in that's often so rewarding.
Example
Exploring
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/China/scrapbook.html
Treasure Hunt
The basic strategy here is to find Web pages that hold information (text, graphic, sound, video, etc.) that you feel is essential to understanding the given topic. Maybe you gather 10 - 15 links (and remember, these are the exact pages you want the students to go to for information, not the top page of a huge Website and expect them to find the needle in a cyberstack). After you've gathered these links, to pose one key question for each Web resource you've linked to. Finally, by including a culminating "Big Question," students can synthesize what they have learned and shape it into a broader understanding of the big picture.
Examples
Black History Past to Present
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/BHM/hunt.html
The Treasures of
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/China/chinahunt.html
Subject Sampler
In a Subject Sampler learners are presented with a smaller number (maybe half a dozen) of intriguing Web sites organized around a main topic. What makes this a particularly effective way to engage student buy-in is that first off, you've chosen Web sites themselves that offer something interesting to do, read, or see. Second, students are asked to respond to the Web-based activities from a personal perspective. Rather than uncover hard knowledge (as they do in a Treasure Hunt), students are asked about their perspectives on topics, comparisons to experiences they have had, interpretations of artworks or data, etc. Thus, more important than the right answer is that students are invited to join the community of learners surrounding the topic, for students to see that their views are valued in this context. Use a Subject Sampler when you are wanting students to feel connected to the topic and to feel that the subject matter matters.
Example - Exploring Chinese Culture
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/China/sampler.html
Introductory WebQuest
An inquiry-based activity that prompts higher-order thinking and collaboration.
Example:
Does the Tiger Eat Its Cub?
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/China/childquest.html
Full WebQuest
A culminating, unit-length activity. Logistically, all students begin by learning some common background knowledge, then divide into groups. In the groups each student or pair of students have a particular role, task, or perspective to master. They effectively become experts on one aspect of a topic. When the roles come together, students must synthesize their learning by completing a summarizing act such as e-mailing congressional representatives or presenting their interpretation to real world experts on the topic.
Examples
Look Who's Paying the Bill!
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/democracy/debtquest.html
Searching for
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/China/ChinaQuest.html
Virtual Field Trips
They are just like regular field trips except that students don't get on a bus, pack a lunch and miss school. Rather, virtual field trips use the internet to take students to places into the past and around the world and to enjoy experiences they wouldn't otherwise be able to have.
Examples:
A Virtual Geological Field Trip
http://www.casdn.neu.edu/~geology/department/staff/colgan/iceland/welcome.htm
http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/fieldtrips2.cgi?core_area_id=0
Collaborative Projects
Thisis the original
clearinghouse for collaborative projects from across the globe - projects
hosted by the Global SchoolNet Foundation, other reputable organizations, and outstanding
partner projects conducted by teachers worldwide! Whether you choose to join an existing project or
announce one of your own, GSN's Projects Registry promises to save you time!
Teaching Styles and Web Pages
The links on this page connect to sample web pages and templates that you can use to design your own course website. Each template is based on the rhythms of one of four teaching styles
http://web.indstate.edu/ctl/styles/webtemplates.html
Foreign Language Activities
http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/DIS/OHSICS/forlang/spanish/08_lessn.htm
TUTORIALS
Can be created by
students to explain or demonstrate a process.
http://www.ehow.com/how_1560_change-air-filter.html
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm#process
FAQS
Students can create
a FAQS (frequently asked questions) page about a topic they are studying.
http://web.skatefaq.com:81/general.html
http://www.marrow.org/FAQS/cord_blood_faqs.html
http://www.geocaching.com/faq/
MORE
EXAMPLES OF WEB-BASED PROJECTS
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/