Let's embark on a Webquest!

This application is really awesome, and I had never heard of it until now. A webquest is an internet based lesson plan designed by the teacher. The idea is that the lesson is web-centered, and not traditional. Teachers can take a traditional lesson and "beef it up" with webquest, by adding links and activities for the students to do. The 'quest' in webquest has to do with the fact that webquests are usually interactive, exploratory activities which involve internet browsing. It seems to be a good way to keep students motivated and excited to learn.

Sneaky, sneaky WIKI

A wiki is a website that is easily edited by any of its users. "Wikipedia.com" is probably the best example of one of these. One of the things I found to be very interesting is that there are so many possible uses for a wiki, because it is a knowledge sharing tool. Many wikis are unrestricted, which means you don't even have to be registered to edit content. This can create issues of credibility, and wikipedia.com is often cited as a poor source for school projects. However, there are site management systems that monitor the editing or addition of information, so that's nice. Even though online web pages can be useful sources of info, I'm a strong believer in using a wide variety of information sources on a project. The concept of wikis is nice for administration in schools, because they can set up their own knowledge sharing forums and pass ideas around without having to meet and discuss them.

D2L Course Management Systems

As a student at St. Cloud State University, I use the university course management system, D2l. There are similar versions of this software available to educators and professionals. Using desire 2 learn can make grading and schedule management significantly easier for the teacher. The thing I like most about SCSU's D2l is the grading system, which allows you to access your grade without having to go to the teacher, which can be beneficial for both student and educator. Putting up assignments on D2l is nice, because students can keep track of what's due, especially if they don't have a planner or forget to write the assignment down. It's a solid program, and I enjoy using our version of it.