The Internet offers a distributed environment for communication and inquiry through collaborative activities, information-seeking, research, authoring, and publishing. This course will explore the potential of the Internet to support learning for both students and teachers. Goals and strategies for learning with the Internet will be investigated. Learning theories and models of teaching/learning will be examined in relation to selected Internet activities for K-12 students.

Reflection:

Looking back on this course, I am struck by how well the concept of “collaborative” work and the constructivist learning model work together.  As we explored the Internet as a learning resource, the intersection of these two ideas came into clear focus for me. There was a quote I cited on a discussion board that was pulled from our text: “Humans naturally work in learning and knowledge-building communities…humans naturally seek out others to help them to solve problems and perform tasks…why do educators insist that learners work independently all the time?”  (Jonassen, David H., Jane Howland, Joi Moore, Rose M. Marra. Learning to Solve Problems with Technology. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill Prentice Hall, 2003. pp. 8-9.) I am in total agreement with this statement, and feel strongly that it succintly summarizes one root of our educational woes. This idea is intrinsic to the work we do as learning-leaders. We must find ways to help learners collaborate, using technology.

The most meaningful work for me in this course was the WebQuest evaluation and constructing a WebQuest. Applying so practically the techniques and principles we were learning was exciting. I spend a great deal of time locating and recommending Internet resources to teachers, and the process of creating a WebQuest brought me many new insights into what makes a technological implementation effective or useful.

Working in teams throughout this program always provides new insights and understanding. The team project for this course, to evaluate an existing WebQuest, was one of the better team efforts I have experienced.  It was rewarding to collaborate, over a distance, with that much success. Our success was not merely in the product, but also in the process.

I enjoyed this class very much, I think because it closely integrated the practical with the theoretical.  I was able to collaborate with my colleagues and construct some of my own learning. What a great testament to the theories we were learning.

Artifacts and Standards:

Team WebQuest Evaluation | IIB | IIC
Frontier WebQuest | IIA | IIIA | IIIB | IIIC | IIID | IVC
Discussion Board Entry: Collaboration | IB