Engaging Students In Learning Process Essay

Abstract technology plays a great social function in education. Students situate propel when technology base education is pr unmatched in the schoolroom. WebQuests withdraw question- base reading in which bookmans ar back up to attend in free radical. The mystify cast offup provides development virtually the expenditure of WebQuest as an educational technology. Various flavors of WebQuests atomic estimate 18 c everywhere in this base oft meters(prenominal) as definition of WebQuest, sections, use of WebQuest as a constructivist instrument, implementation of WebQuest and advantages and disadvantages of WebQuests. Recommendations be tending(p) at the end of the brand- bran- bran-newspaper publisher. The author in addition provides a self-made WebQuest for year 9-10 students attached to this paper. savory Students in Learning kneading victimisation WebQuestsIntroductionengineering has been use as a t several(prenominal)lying tool in schools since m some(prenominal) years. It is rattling eventful to endure the moods through which the technology tidy sum up be employed to bring smart opportunities to students to enkindle their skill abilities. engine room offers numerous benefits to students. Technology offers tools that tail assembly be utilize to enhance the acquire ability of a student. Thinking skills put forward likewise be enhance with the use of technology in education. Students receive a sorting of training activities ar au and thentic too. Students be back up for the regulation of their come uponing process depending on their abilities (Cho & Jonassen 2002).Despite numerous benefits, technology possesses well-nigh challenges too. Students ordinarily do non detainment to result proper guidelines from the instructor and they skip use technology in their classrooms immediately. then they wealthy person to face a colossal procedure of difficulties too.It is believed that the traditional mod ality to treasure the shake upance of students conductiness to be shifted from paper and pencil to technology base systems because a large-mouthed number of students in schools and colleges atomic number 18 nowadays apply technology such(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) as word processors and spreadsheets in doing their motion. frankincensely the traditional method seems to be failed as this method tolerate non beg off and assess what the students make water conditi championd from skillful government agency. The paper and pencil mode of estimate is left behind (Almeida, Vesu, and Ponte, 2003).A nonher rear let offed that technology based education is quite a promising because it can c atomic number 18 nurse the unveiling of communities and the removeers beejaculate adapted to bring nearly several problems such as learners bring more open opportunities to enhance the colloquy process in the classroom discussions among students and among stude nts and instructors may be back up and the let out is sh bed among students and instructor because the classroom is now more rich in resources (Brooks & Brooks, 1999).This paper provides culture somewhat the use of WebQuest as an educational technology used in the classroom.WebQuestDefinitionWebQuest can be be as a tool that is strong for learning in an online interrogative-oriented environment. This can be let offed as in this display case of learning, students ar back up for the evaluation and exploration of support information with the help of military personnel colossal Web in their classrooms (Chandler 2003). consort to turkey cock meet, Circa (2003)A WebQuest is a scaff obsolescented learning organize that uses links to essential resources on the World Wide Web and an authentic labor to set off students investigation of a telephone exchange, open-ended question, development of item-by-item expertise and employment in a final radical process that at tempts to transform newly acquired information into a more sophisticated understanding. The trump WebQuests do this in a way that inspires students to see richer thematic relationships, postulate haste a contrisolelyion to the accepted cosmea of learning and conjecture on their own meta-cognitive processes (p.1).WebQuests ar of varying lengths. Some ms they argon briefly luxuriant to cover just in one class period and some epochs they require a calendar month for closing. class buy the farm is usually encouraged in WebQuests as each member of the start convocation is assign proper(postnominal) t withdraws to everlasting(a). The instructor is responsible for the selection of the special resources antecedent the WebQuest use in the classroom. thence, students argon aban maked the season to use the information and they contain non to spend any time to eff along for the specific corpo solid ( dodge 1997). reservoir ( gobbler March, 2007).Components and Types of WebQuests There atomic number 18 half-dozen grave components of WebQuest. They argon named as Introduction In this section, background information is provided to the learners. Students atomic number 18 inclined specific t quests and roles to impress them. For subject You atomic number 18 a geologist hold offing for volcanoes. Students are provided with the overview in the beginning that tells them somewhat their goals they have to achieved in their learning process. Introduction is presented to the students in such a way that they desire to accomplish that use along with fun. Students are delegate the haves that are relevant to their introductory assures, students, coming(prenominal) plans or ideas. When students receive go fors of their interests, they get pertain easy in them. Thus it is the briny purpose of the entree section of each WebQuest to motivate each student by exciting and engaging them.When the WebQuest is based on a intermin subject period such as over a month then the introduction is tending(p) over chance(a) to the students to refresh their memory and to let them abide by the most appropriate material for their ramble. In long WebQuest, real world components such as print media and guest lectures are disposed to the students along their online investigation.The addition of real world components is very definitive for long-term WebQuests because if students are allowed to rely only on the online investigations then they may consider the meanings of the lesson as something unreal. Thus, in a long-term WebQuest catchs, introduction is given daily to the students to keep them street smart with all the information and essential material for they motivation (Dodge 2001). TaskTask is the gage component of a WebQuest. The purpose of this component is to inform the students about the lessons to be in condition(p) till the end of the project. Initially, the instructors have to look for the specific information that i s required in a specific project. Then they externalize the activity that requires the information gathered from online resources. Students are given the task that is to be actualizeed by waiting the information online. The task is going in a way to make it do up to(p), means that each task must(prenominal) has to be accomplished. The most difficult expound in the knowledgeableness of a WebQuest project is the development of the main research question. This division is quite creative and shoots a certain amount of time to search whether the question can be answered. Students can be asked to do a variety of tasks such as they may pick up to circulate the information they gathered on the website, they may be asked to proceeding in collaborationism with other(a) online institution to perform specific research for the completion of a project and they may be asked to explain their research by using multimedia. The students are encouraged to complete their task in an intere sting, appealing, visual and important manner. Students should be given an example of a completed project. This given an idea to them how their project leave look like after the completion. They be add up able to see the complete picture of the project in the beginning. They too pick out to know how they should perform to accomplish their task. It is great to level the students run for of introductory students.Teachers may also meet the similar projects online done antecedently by other students as an example to show to their students. A large number of sample projects available for the students motivate them by showing them the efforts and achievements of other students. Students keep in nous the necessary foot step they have to take to perform a specific task efficiently. The teacher can use any successful project several times in contrastive semesters and varied classes. The project specifications can be modify each time. Students can be motivated by showing them the resembling project and challenge them to show a mitigate project than the previous one (Jonassen & Rohrer-Murphy 1999). Process Process is the third component of a WebQuest. In this component, the students are informed about all the steps that the students need to take for the completion of a project. Each step is surrounded by a number of links.It is advised for projects of longer duration that the teacher or one or dickens students demonstrate each step. Demonstration helps the students learn each step in a better manner and they call on able to understand the written directions more easily (Kennedy 2004). Resources This is the fourth component of a WebQuest. In this component, a list of all the necessary resources that involve printed material and online resources are given to the students for the accomplishment of a specific task. A separate section was allocated in the old WebQuests for the resources but now in the juvenile WebQuests, the resources are attached with the instructions in the Process section. The students can access those resources when they are to perform that step. though online resource are very important but it is also a particular that non-Web resources are not less important. Resources should be of variety and hence the quality of WebQuests can be enhanced by the use of online and non-Web resources. Non-Web resources can be of contrasting fictitious characters such as models, sound cassettes, field trips, maps, sculptures, books etc. to motivate the students (Lara 2003). military rating Evaluation is the fifth component of a WebQuest. Three types of student examples can be pointed out when the introduction of a WebQuest is presented. The collar examples of students include exemplary, acceptable and unacceptable.During the introduction, students are clear shown what is meant by an excellent lap. They are given examples of exemplary and acceptable work therefrom clearing the vision of the students and to motivate them to w ork hard to achieve the excellence. Examples of unacceptable work are given to students to show them what type of work cannot be accepted and thusly enabling the students to know about the stripped standards required to accomplish a task (Lipscomb 2003). Conclusion This is the last component of a WebQuest. In this component, the students are asked to present their contemplateions about their work and the teachers are required to sum up the project. Students are given time to discuss their project thus by-line the constructivist approach that though learning is achieved by doing but learning can be enhanced by discussion of what has been done. Teachers usually encourage their students during the conclusion section to explain if they come up with more better ship canal to perform the same project (March 2000).WebQuest as a Constructivist Tool The constructivism label explains how learning is achieved by performing a study that involves scientific method and observation. Accordi ng to the constructivist conjecture, plurality learn and understand different aspects of world by their own experiences and by showing their take a hopions on their experiences. When people image something new, they usually try to bring the new information with their previous experiences.Sometimes, they set out the new thing more informative and thus discard the older one and sometimes they describe the new information on the whole irrelevant and thus rely on their previous experiences. In each of the cases, people have to find out by themselves which one is flush and to find that they ask different questions, seek the resources and then come to a conclusion (Milson 2002). When constructivist approach is apply in the classroom, different types of training ways are explained that can enhance the learning process. The most common of the teaching way is to motivate the students to utilize effective techniques such as real-world examples to gather the information, then to refl ect what they have come up with and then conclude what they have done. Students explain how the new idea has changed their previous understanding. It is very important for a teacher to be awake of the previous understandings of the students. Then the teacher guides the students to perform the activity that is based on their previous conceptions. When teachers utilize constructivist approach, they always motivate their students to find out the role of the new activity in their learning process. Students usually get the position of expert learners in a constructivist classroom because they are to ask questions themselves. This type of learning broadens their learning process and they come to know how they have to learn (Molebash & Dodge 2003). When students are constantly encouraged to reflect on their experiences then they seem to suck power. Strong abilities seem to build up in the students that motivate them for the integration of any new idea or information. Thus it can be said that the one of the most important role of teacher in the constructivist classroom is to motivate the students to experience by themselves and then learn from those experiences by reflecting on them. Conservative and traditional teachers usually criticize that the role of the teacher is fired in the learning. But constructivism encourages teachers to play their role more efficiently and their knowledge is extremely valued. In constructivist approach, the teachers are required to motivate the students for the whirl of the knowledge by themselves kind of of finding out the facts that have been antecedently observed and noted.In a constructivist classroom, the students are encouraged to use problem work out skills and they are involved in inquiry-based learning. These activities make the students able sufficient to test their ideas, reflect on their experience and present the conclusions. A constructivist classroom transforms students from passive recipients that receive informat ion just by sitting in the classroom and listening to their teachers to active participants that not only listen to their teacher but they also get involved in searching information by using interesting methods (Ngeow & Kong 2001). There is a misconception about the constructivist theory that it forces the students to reject the older ideas and to substitute them with new one such as they are asked to reinvent the wind. But the fact is the constructivist theory does not ask the students for the reinvention of the wheel but with the help of this theory the students come to know how to use the wheel. Real world examples are given to the students that clear their ideas about how the wheels can be used in their daily lives. Thus they learn from their experience, present reflections on their experience and then come up to a conclusion that is based on their experiences. Constructivist theory is very different from other traditional ideas of education and learning. The snap is put on s tudents rather the teachers in a constructivist classroom. The students are no longer passive students that sit in the classroom and ingest the knowledge provided by their teacher only. They are encouraged in the constructivist classroom how they should struggle to search for information. The role of the teacher now changes to facilitator who is involved in percentage the students rather them forcing them to understand what the teacher says.Constructivist theory can be easily implemented in the WebQuest. Constructivist teachers ask students to initiate a WebQuest project. Students are asked different questions and they are encouraged to find the answers. Students are guided in a way to let them find the answers of the questions independently.Different types of teaching techniques can be used in a constructivist classroom using WebQuest projects. The techniques involve students are encouraged for the formulation of the questions by themselves. Thus they are encouraged to enquiry-bas ed learning. They are given the independence to express their learning in sextuple meaningful ways. Group work is super encouraged and each student in a group performs a specific task (Peterson & Caverly 2003).Students are given exemption to find out new things for themselves. Students are given free hand to do the experiments, they can ask questions, and they can do the things that are often considered as things not working. Teachers play different roles such as roles of moderators, coaches and they can also give suggestions to students to facilitate their learning process. In guild to enhance the learning process of students, they should be able to participate fully in activities such as hands-on experiments. An important part of using WebQuest as a constructivist tool lies in the fact that students are given permission to give their reflections what they have done and then discuss on the conclusions.Students gravel experts as they are given complete opportunity to control th eir learning process. They remove their own path that is solely based on their reflections about their experiences. Teachers play a great role in the creation of an environment where the students are free to ask questions and give their reflections about their experiences.This can break in private or in the form of group discussions. Teachers are also responsible for the creation of activities in a way that after performing those activities students draw able to reflect their previous experiences. It is very important for the students to know what they have learned and how the learning process took place (Savery & Duffy 1995).As constructivism and WebQuest are based on the same theory, the main activity that is performed in a WebQuest classroom is to find the solution of the problems. dubiousness method is used to ask questions. A topic is investigated and then a large number of different types of resources is utilized to find out the solution of the questions. After exploring a certain topics, the students become able to conclude. When students explore questions again and again, new questions come to their mind.Students are encouraged in a WebQuest classroom to have new ideas and do experiments to prove that later shows that their ideas were not correct or valid. But this cannot be considered as a failure because the students have put their steps in the process of knowledge integration. Students are encouraged to work in collaboration with peers. The main reason to include group learning in constructivism is that students learn from the experiences from other students working in the same group besides learning from their own experiences (Vidoni & Maddux 2002). carrying out of WebQuest in SchoolWebQuest can be implemented in schools. In nightspot to implement WebQuest easily and successfully in a school by tutelage in mind the following principlesThe view level of a WebQuest must be higher. The information must be transferred from one domain to another domain. A WebQuest must be intentional in such as a way that does not load the students with heavy burden of questions that make the students only surfing the internet or that involve calculations only. A good WebQuest allow for lead the students to gain information and be the students able to transform that information with the help of their own problem solving skills.Though the creation of WebQuest lessons require a plentifulness of time but it is also a fact that once the teachers have created a lesson plan, they do not have to botheration about the preparation of other lesson plans opus the students are busy with their work. After the completion of a year, every thing will be all set. The teachers may need some amendments in the WebQuests that had been created in the previous year but it would not take much time and things will go smoothly.Learning through WebQuest is a new way for students as well as it is a new teaching method for teachers. The teachers must keep in mind that students cannot perform a task unless they are familiar with it. Students cannot be expected to perform every task in the correct manner in their first attempt. They need time to practice and the teachers need to have patience.in evidence to implement a WebQuest successfully, it is necessary to check all the six essential components that have been described in this paper earlier (Scardamalia & Bereiter 1999).Advantages of WebQuestsThough the creation of WebQuests requires a large amount of time but once the WebQuests have been created they can be used over and over with some minor changes. The teachers get rid of the daily worries for the lesson planning. Now they get enough time to act as facilitators and coaches to swear out the students in their learning process.Tom March has explained the benefits of WebQuests as quoted belowWebQuests will motivate your studentsStudents confront a complex and debatable real-world issueStudents grapple with a central question that truly needs replyStudents utilize real world, up-to-date resources on the Web (from experts, current reporting, and/or ornament groups)Students assume roles and must develop expertiseResults of student work can be posted or sent to real people for feedback and evaluation.WebQuests are rooted in learning theory and good teaching practiceBased upon elements of cognitive psychological science and constructivism.You provide guidance on the thought process you want your students to follow. (Prompting or Scaffolding)Students are exposed to a broad concatenation of information, examples, and opinions they construct their own meaning which connects with their prior knowledge and experiences. (Constructivism)Contain concrete instructional objectives and tasks.Students must transform information in some way, exercising higher order thinking skills like error analysis, comparison, and synthesis.Students work in cooperative learning groups which mirror real-life situations.By taking on roles, st udents become experts on a specific aspect of a large and complex topic.The students work in groups to solve problems, utilizing their different areas of expertise. (Similar to work situations in real life.)The work of individual students is important, as it adds to the quality of the groups solution (What are the benefits, p. 1)Disadvantages of WebQuestsWebQuests cannot be used for the learning of simple-minded definitions, simple procedures. They are also not the best way that could be used for teaching factual recall. As some parts of the curriculums are based on such simple things, they cannot be included in the pattern of a WebQuest.The biggest hurdle in the conception of a WebQuest is the availability of time. It is very important to learn about the new tools. more teachers do not get enough time to spend in learning about the new tools for the creation of a WebQuest (VanFossen 2004).Students should be able to read to a certain level in order to work on WebQuests. So it c an be said that the creation of WebQuests is much easier for third regularize and onwards than the young grades because their reading abilities are limited at that stage. This type of disadvantage can be over come if a WebQuest is designed very carefully by using more visual sites with less or no words in it for the subaltern students with limited reading proficiency (Tomlinson 2000).RecommendationsWebQuests come forth to be highly effective in facilitating the learning process of students. Students tend to learn more in when technology is corporal in education and WebQuests seem to be the best way. It is strongly recommended that all the schools should incorporate WebQuests in their standard curricula. At the time of implementation there is a need to consider all the six components that are essential for a successful WebQuest.ReferencesAlmeida, C. Vesu, F. and Ponte, J.P. (2003). WebQuest construction and implementation by mathematics student teacher The case of a WebQuest to learn isometries. In A.M.Vilas, J.A.M.Gonzlez and J.M. 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