Reflection 2
Specifications:
Setting up a website using Weebly was surprisingly easy. The set formats
and options allowed enough individuality to customise the site without needing
to know anything other than how to drag and drop. After only a few hours of trial and error I
feel confident I could create a complex site as well as instructing others how
to do so.
In the general settings you can change the domain name (if it’s available)
and title, enable mobile optimisation (very important for students), set up
facebook sharing, email yourself archived copies of the site and unpublish.
Specific page settings allow you customise displayed images, format text,
change the structure and add content such as links, buttons to other pages,
forums, blogs, polls, YouTube clips and Google maps.
You have to sign in to edit the page and you can restrict certain pages
to members with the password. If you are using forums you need to upgrade to
use the members only functionality.
Learning outcomes/supported activities:
This ICT tool is easily accessible, interactive, flexible and creates a centralised
platform which you can store all the information you wish students to be able
to access.
The versatility of this easy to use website creation tool means that it
could potentially be used to support any activity. For instance you could
create a second page which all students have edit access to and link it to your
master site, or even a page per student. This enables you to keep control of
the content of the master host site while enabling full interactivity on the satellite
sites. Students could create a site filled with their own personal maths and
science interests and all students could benefit from their interest by viewing
information presented by their peers.
Using the forum tool, enables you to keep control of the site content
while enabling a safe place to ask questions and get answers from peers and
teacher alike.
This tool also provides the opportunity to extend students beyond the
curriculum, by providing extra information, links, challenging games and apps
to follow if a student is interested.
Application:
My discipline areas are Maths and Science so my biggest worry as a
teacher is not having enough time to answer the question why? Many concepts covered
in these areas are out of context because there is just not enough time to
start from first principals. For instance why are they called sine, cosine and
tangent? The answer is fascinating (if you are a nerd like me) and when I
finally found out (which I did using the internet as it wasn’t in ANY of my
text books) suddenly a whole lot of things made a lot more sense. It is
questions like these that I would use the website to answer.
I think the beauty of a website is it isn’t limited to one function and can
be used in conjunction with blogs and wikis to be adapted to meet student’s
needs.
Primarily the intent of my website would be a centralised location to
host information, games, videos, subject and class specific information for
students and parents, links to interesting websites and FAQ, interactive forums
and homework submissions all with the aim of scaffolding, extending and
inspiring students about maths and science so they never stop asking why!
The website could be set up into topics as well as each class having
their own page. The set up and design of the class page could be a class
project and be used to teach basic web design as well as cyber safety and
copyright, also used to identify the class needs and encourage ownership and
participation
SAMR Model
Substitution: Storage of
written information, instead of using textbooks information is available on the
website.
Augmentation: Videos, forums
and FAQ allow after school access and interactivity as well as a safe low
pressure environment where students can assimilate information at their own
time and pace. Website can be used to host blog posts in response to questions and
wikis to facilitate group work.
Modification: I have noticed
that a lot of children these days hate writing or do so very slowly, so I would
like to have apps on my website that allow you to solve equations etc and
submit homework via phones. The flexibility of the website and ease of use
allows the content to change to suit students needs in response to student feedback,
it also allows you to monitor traffic so you can tell if it is being viewed or
not.
Re-definition: Students can be
involved in the design and content on their own class site and take ownership of
their own learning. Since the site is mobile friendly, it could be used to set
students small research tasks if they have finished their set classroom tasks
and as a test of objectives they need to give the class a quick run-down on the
topic. I would love to find a Euclidean app
that allows you to try to prove and the postulates with using only a virtual
compass, and straight edge!
Evidence:
I have set up a website here with just some of the features that I would
eventually like to use.
Great to see you have answered a problem you had by using websites ( with not having enough time to answer a question ). The links you made between websites, blogs and wikis was interesting as i often forget they can all be utilised together. I liked that you gave an example of websites at each level of SAMR. Perhaps some visual models could be included to help demonstrate how to create a website, like screen shots.
ReplyDeleteThanks, great suggestion, as I mentioned on your blog I'm a text based person and I forget not everyone is. I also have a tendency to waffle, which is impossible with a diagram so I'm going to give some a go this week.
DeleteNow that you have covered websites and learnt so much, do you think you would use them in a classroom? At the beginning you mention it having taken hours, would the benefit outweigh that much time? (This is an issue I see arising from website use, in particular having one per class would mean days of set up for a teacher potentially.)
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I didn't realise there was a reason sine, cosine and tangent had those names. I am going internet hunting now! Thank you for piqueing my curiousity! :)
I would definitely use them in the classroom, if only for the sole purpose of being able to engage learners with digital tools in a safe environment.I was thinking that if the school had its own intranet I could set one up on their server which would alleviate some cyber safety issues and enable complete control of the content.
DeleteThe only reason it took so much time was that was the first attempt, my plan would be to have one and add to it over the years to become a more and more useful portfolio of information. The class one would be almost entirely set up by students, giving them ownership and relieving me of the need to do too much to it.
Obviously its only a half formulated plan, but I think the potential for engagement far outweighs the other concerns.
Thank you Jess, CUQBlogger and s0255231 - this post and the comments made make absolute sense, and have the potential to stimulate a valuable discussion!
ReplyDelete