Really, I feel like I live in another world after each class for this
course(EDU 401). Every week I learn a new thing and a smart thing. I really
enjoy in this class.
I learned this class a new technology that I can use it with my student
when I become a teacher. It is Web Quest. The term Web
Quest has been defined as “Inquiry-oriented activities in which
most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web”(Mosaic
1993). The use of Web Quest in language teaching is better than using the
traditional ways of language learning and teaching.
It has
several advantages. One of these advantages could be that the use of Web Quest
improves the students’ critical thinking. They will be encountered with lots of
issues that they have to analyze and solve. They have to gather information,
analyze, decide the suitable one, ask questions and summarize what they find.
Using Web Quest as a teaching tool
in with language learners will make the students the main focus of the learning
process and make their learning needs the first priority. Though, it is
considered as a student-oriented activity in which the tasks are designed to
suit their needs.
The knowledge required in Web
Quest activities is based on enquiry-oriented language use. Producing
autonomous learners can be achieved by using Web Quest where involvement of
students in achieving the required task and giving them the whole
responsibility of their learning are main characteristics that can be noticed.
Web Quests promote collaboration when
students learn how to collaborate with their classmates, with students in other
classrooms, or with students halfway around the world. They can also contact
area experts by using e-mail, the Internet, and video conferencing.
Project-based learning (PBL), one of the
enduring approaches to education that supports the use of web quests, is
focused on the learner constructing meaning and knowledge from an assigned
activity. PBL gives a variety of learning styles and multiple forms of
intelligence have a real world authentic orientation. It allows students to
choice, encourages higher-order thinking, and uses hand-on experiences and
various modes of communication. It makes Students responsible for their own
learning and the teacher's role is that of a facilitator.
Finally, I will use web quest with my students to let them feel what I
am feeling now. To let them depend on their selves. To let them collaborate
with each other. To let them more improvement. To
explore the hobbies that they may have. To let them know how they search about
anything that they really need. To let them know how they can choose the right
informations from the web.