When I initially considered the purpose of creating a website, I was thinking. "how could this benefit a learner in my classroom?". I suppose this could have been because I was a little naive. Now that I have explored both blogging and wikis, I have come to be able to tell them apart and identify their purpose in an educational environment.
So what makes a website different from a blog or a wiki? Well, I have come to discover in my research that the major difference is that a website is created and protected by one person (or group), and is unable to be editted by added to by any other user. So what does this mean for a teacher if they wanted to create a website for their classroom? Below is a PMI chart with my response.
Today I created my own website using a program called Weebly. This program provided scaffolding for me to create a website with easy to follow tutorials. I was able to name the website, create a style for display and add any multimedia I desired. After I created the basics, I started to consider what I would create a website about. I started to brainstorm a list on things.
Using the concept map, I further clarified the information for myself. I can now imagine a variety of ways in which I could create and use a website effectively in my classroom. On the other hand, all of the ideas I imagined above were very teacher structured. I imagine that in early primary especially, that would be the sole purpose when using a website in a classroom. As the students matured, as in upper primary, I would probably consider the opportunity of using a website as a key assessment where the students would use a program, such as weebly, to create a website as way of sharing research or information.
What are your thoughts on using websites, that are deliberately created, as a classroom tool?
Hi Emma,
ReplyDeleteI really like the information that you have posted about the internet. It is very comprehensive and explanatory. I think that websites are a fantastic classroom resource. With a properly designed website, I believe that students can engage in a range of different modes and increase their technological literacy. What are your thoughts on this?
Hi Jasmine,
ReplyDeleteI think that by using tools, like a website, it can engage a whole range of learners because it can cater for a variety of learning styles. It appears that as the 21st is amoung us, students are using websites and computers from a very young age, at day care or at home. By effectively creating websites, or web quests, I believe it allows for students to work at a self regulated pace and provides scaffolding for their learning in a way that might be more responsive for some learners.
I like how you also said about it providing information in a range of modes. I agree with this, and as learning manager, and the creators of such sites, we should be trying to capture students and submerge them into as many modes of literacy as possible. I think it is important to use lots of images (even as hyperlinks) that allow the learners to use their skills to interact with the content.