Chapter 6 Journal

What are WebQuests and virtual field trips? WebQuests and virtual field trip are online tools designed to get the student more involved and interested in learning. WebQuests are designed by students, students make their inquiries and then teachers guide them. In a WebQuest, students navigate through a web resource to gather and learn information on a topic. Once they've learned about a topic, they will then assess what they find or prepare a presentation based on their findings. There are many sites and resources teacher can use in order to create a successful WebQuest. In comparison to WebQuest, virtual field trips work in a similar way but differ because these are designed to take a student on a field trip anywhere in the world without ever having to leave their schools. Multiple computers are required for virtual field trips because students can explore museums and historical places anywhere. Virtual field trips are still new therefore, a lot of research is still being done but student so far have shown higher reading comprehension skills in a recent study done.

Tech Tools 6.3 An interactive online field trip: The Cave of Chauvet-Point-d'Arc This tech tool is all about online field trips. I explored this website and it quite interesting. This site takes you right to the source while adding the interesting facts and history behind the cave paintings. It also enhances the site by showing some amazing pictures. I think this is a great idea for students. I even enjoyed browsing through the website as an adult.

The following virtual field trip was provided by YouTube user IntegratingHabitats 

Chapter 6 Summary Teaching with Educational Websites and Other Online Resources This chapter introduces online resources, book marking, social book marking, and information alerts used for organizing. It provides information for managing information electronically and gathering the information to make your lesson fun and interesting. It provides bookmarking tools and provides education on how to use them appropriately like on Portaportal. It also gives the information needed on how to use social book marking as well.

One thing I found interesting in this chapter was how to create your own standards connector. A standards connector is an effective response to your demands as an educator mandated by the state and local curriculum. It's a collection on web resources that facilitate teaching required topics and allows the user to manage and store information for their curriculum.

Next, it talks about WebQuest and virtual field trips which I explained in the above. Also, it provides information on educational websites as teaching resources and how to utilize them. Using educational websites interactively to engage a student is extremely important because you want to be able to keep your students interested and you want them to absorb the information your teaching as an educator. This chapter explains how to do this in an effective manner.

Finally, it show educators how to use technology transformation on their lesson plans. I love technology. Therefore, learning how to incorporate technology in my everyday life as a teacher is very useful. This chapter provided many useful ways for me to do so.