Online Field Trips can be used by students in all grade level classrooms. It was easy to see what online teaching experiences the older grades (middle school and high school) could really connect with, learn from and do independently vs. the ones that a teacher would have to lead for lower elementary classrooms. One website that I bookmarked was called Tramline. It includes field trips that cover many different contents. Science topics, such as oceans, dinosaurs and deserts were published. Social Studies topics, such as American Presidents were also spotlighted. The examples that I looked at were wonderful! They are definitely resources that I would use in my classroom. They would be best presented as a large group. One field trip that stood out to me was on the Science topic of Volcanoes. The information was basic and simple to understand, while pictures were authentic and attention-grabbing. I am looking forward to exploring more websites that focus on online field trips…I know my students will love them!
WebQuests are another form of technology that I definitely see my students using. Since learning about this tool, I have come across many different WebQuests that not only cater to the grade level of my students but to the topics we cover throughout the year. The audience of technology seems to be an older group, so learning about WebQuests are definitely a bonus for my first graders! The specific WebQuest that I explored for our class assignment was dedicated to the topic of Insects. It is a fabulous resource that I will use when we come to that chapter in the school year. I love that the students have the opportunity to interact with each other, sharing ideas and working together. The teacher plays an important role, as she guides the students and helps when necessary, and the students have the opportunity to actively work with technology in a manner that is not overwhelming for them. Being able to move through the different Internet links allows the students to see authentic pictures, hear videos about the topic, read text and more! This type of interaction caters to all learners. It is important for the teacher to choose and/or create appropriate WebQuests for this age group, so they have positive experiences when working with the showcased technology tool.
As the class moves through the Online Field Trip or WebQuest as a group there are a multitude of pedagogical strategies that are employed. The instructor is using inductive teaching when using these technological tools. She is exposing the students to different concepts and giving them opportunities to learn. The students are taking in this newly learning information and processing it. Other pedagogical strategies that are employed partially depend on how the instructor decides to administer the lesson. The students will be building their vocabulary and giving feedback to the class regarding different open-ended questions that are proposed through the lessons. Nonlinguistic representations will be included as real photographs are used to capture the topic. The teacher may also require the students to be take notes during the WebQuest or Online Field Trip. Creating this active learning environment will be beneficial to the students as they will listen, talk, read and reflect on the material.
The online teaching experience that I feel would be hard to use with my students is Wikis. This is simply because of age. While lower elementary students are exposed to technology very early in life, they do not have enough experience to be able to compose, peer-edit and conduct discussions online. I would prefer to see them focus on the content of the material that they are writing and get their thoughts down on paper rather than taking up the time trying to find the “m” button on the keyboard. I think that Wikis are a great online learning tool for a teacher and older students (middle school/high school) or teacher/teacher collaboration. While the students in first grade may not be able to work with Wikis independently, an idea would be to work on one as a class. Another classroom could be involved and share the Wiki with our class. Showing the students how this tool works would be a great introduction for them to use it later on in school. I feel there are more important and beneficial online tools that the students should use at this age level.
