Originally developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in February, 1995, a WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. Teachers pre-select online resources for students to use during the inquiry process, and students are assigned particular roles to support student collaboration. Student typcially use both online and print resoruces to accomplish the tasks associated with the project.

(student faces are blurred for privacy reasons)

Phishing scams, issues of authenticity and duplicity, inappropriate private information on public spaces, trolls, flames and cyberbullies are all very real threats online. Students and teachers alike have unfortunately fallen afoul of these threats, and the only real solution to creating safe and healthy digital citizens in schools and the world at large comes from addressing the challenges with learning solutions.

The Smokescreen site provides an opportunity to educate digital citizens of all ages about potential threats and best practices for maintaining an online presence. Presented as a series of discovery games designed for a teen audience, Smokescreen offers a series of interactive modules that help users explore threats and learn safeguards for their activities on the web.

Share Smokescreen with your own social network, online or in the classroom.

• Using a PowerPoint Template: Each student worked from the same basic PowerPoint, so the focus could be placed on content.  So that the students wouldn’t have to navigate to save  their projects, a copy of the Ocean Report (.ppt) was put into each student’s folder on the server.  This also prevents the original from being overwritten.  To prevent overwriting, you could also just save one copy in a main folder as a template (.pot) so when it is opened a new file is created.
• Student Checklist: A checklist (.pdf) was created so that anyone who was helping the student would know which part of the process he/she still needed to complete.  The students did a fantastic job of becoming experts and teaching classmates techniques they had learned. (i.e. inserting action buttons) If you would like a copy of the checklist as a word document, so you can revise it, please leave a comment and I can email you one.
• Finding Pictures/Images: A word document was created (by an adult) with available pictures (about 10) and links so the students could copy and paste the picture and the source into their reports.   This took less time that having students finding their own images on the web, but still allowed them choice since not all of the pictures needed to be used.  The word documents were named by animal and placed in a Pictures folder on the server.
• Presenting the Projects: Because the projects were stored on the server, it was easy to bring them up on the presentation station when it was the student’s turn to present.  Not only did the student use the handheld mic but we were also able to connect the USB cable (the document camera end goes in the projector) from the computer to the projector (it’s on a table) so the projector remote could be used to advance the slides.  They looked so official!
• Student Reflection/Rubric: The student reflection (.pdf) focused on their presentation skills, not just their product.
• Publishing to the Web: A letter was sent home to parents describing this particular project and  publishing it to the web.   If the letter wasn’t returned, then the project wasn’t published.   Since the students  had a copy of the original PowerPoint in their folders each project was renamed with the student’s first name.  Publishing the PowerPoints was a little tricky.    If a PowerPoint is saved as an html page, it doesn’t always appear the same in different web browsers.  So, sometimes the pictures wouldn’t show or the animation wouldn’t work.  I tried some of the various online slideshow/sharing sites, but they also stripped the animation/interactivity from the PowerPoints or were blocked on student machines.  The solution I found was to turn the PowerPoints into Flash movies.  I ended up using a nifty free application called iSpring to convert all of the projects.  Then we just had to give them to the school’s webmaster to publish on their school site.  I was also able to use iSpring to post the 3 example PowerPoints directly to SlideBoom (blocked on student machines) to be able to embed them on this blog.

Here is a  PowerPoint designed for a high school music class to be used on the presentation station.  The PowerPoint demonstrates how to combine the videos of your choosing, Delicious, and PowerPoint 2007.
youtubesymphony.ppt

The presentation gives an overview of the YouTube Symphony so that all of the students view the selected videos and have a chance to participate in a class discussion. This gives them all a base of common knowledge that will help them as they work on their assignments.

After viewing the PowerPoint, students are given a study packet designed using the PowerPoint notes feature. Assignments outlined on each slide page with instructions. You print these out from the slides by going to the Office Button > Print.
A pop up menu appears.
Go down to Print What: > Select Notes Pages and Click OK.
Using these pages, students are able to work from any computer at school, at home, or at a public library to access the Delicious resources and complete their assignments as scheduled by the teacher. Using resources in this way allows for whole class and individualized learning.

Notice that the PowerPoint is saved as a .ppt not as a .pptx in order to place it in a file share for students to take home to their own computers. The .ppt will work on a Mac or a PC with older versions of Office installed. By using the file share at your school you also have the ability to give the presentation to students who were absent.

A couple of West Seattle High School students have shown remarkable zeal in addressing the problem, and built a solution that provides a “digital locker” for students that allows easy access to their work whether at school, home, or anywhere else in the world with an Internet connection. SlashDrive.net is a cloud-computing solution created by students Jacob Miller and Brendan Peterson to help make learning mobile. Originally called upmypaper.com, this web application has evolved into a powerful resource that allows students to register and create an account that provides each user with server space to store digital artifacts. Brendan and Jacob demonstrated exceptional digital citizenship in recognizing the need students have for mobile school work, but balanced this need against the districts responsibility for providing a secure network. Sensitive to the challenges the district faces in protecting the information integrity of the network, Brendan and Jacob restrict file types to prevent students from bringing inappropriate or malicious content into the district network. With currently over 300 users, this handiwork of two exceptional students is clearly helping fill a need and demonstrates that the students themselves share a commitment to their own learning and are willing to take responsibility for it.

Project Purpose: to create a “sense of place” about a country in North Africa or Southwest Asia. See her project handout for details about student expectations. This project was part of a larger unit that included a UNESCO essay designed to use a research gathering tool which prompted students to gather background information about an assigned country (essay handout).

Key Resources: UNESCO website, eLibrary (great resources for pictures & maps), Photostory3 handout (QRD)

Timeline:

• Day 1: Project overiew and discussion about UNESCO (1 period = 50 min)
• Day 2: UNESCO fact collection/research in library & homework (1 period)
• Days 3: Demo examples, including inspirational video about Matt Dancing around the world (click on Matt’s Place)
• Days 4 & 5: Student work days (4 periods in library – block schedule)
  ** There was no formal instruction about Photostory3, the demo and QRD (Quick Reference Document) was sufficient to support student use.
• Day 6 & 7: Student presentations

Step 1: Teacher, librarian and IT specialist met to explore Photostory3. Mrs. Beers used the QRD to guide her development of 2 model projects, 1 modeling what not to do, and another providing a positive exmple.

Step 2: Mrs. Beers create 2 demos at home, showing both a strong and weak example of a multimedia project. She focused on limiting text and photo selection. Creating a project gave her a better understanding of how student might use the tool.

Step 3: Class project days

Step 4: Student presentations – samples Omar| Jordan

Important Technical Issues:

1. Save both the Phtostory project files (.wp3) and the final rendered videos (.wmv) in either student folders on the server or in a virtual teacher drop-box
2. If projects will be available on the web, be sure to discuss copyright issues associated with using music from a file or CD. The customized music option in Photostory makes copyright compliance much easier to manage.

Nathan Hale science teachers Matt Hinkley and Karl Englert are always searching for useful technology tools for their classrooms. One of their favorites is Google Tools for Educators. Google Docs is one component of the Google Tools suite (Sites, Calendar, RSS Reader, Picasa Photos, Maps and more). Specifically, Google Docs contains a word processor, presentation, and spreadsheet application. All 3 of these are stand-a-lone applications but also integrate well with Microsoft Office. Also in Google Docs is Forms, an easy-to-use survey tool. In addition, they use Google Calendar. All of these are available with a free Google account.

Here are a few descriptions of how these teachers are using Google Docs in their classrooms…

Google Tools: Google Forms and Spreadsheet:

1) During a 12th grade Environmental Science lab on organisms, Mr. Hinkley created a Google Form (a survey that puts the data in a spreadsheet and creates a graph) for students to collect and record the number of organisms in agricultural and natural areas they were studying. Students entered their lab data into the survey. Mr. Hinkley used the graphing feature in Forms to share the “collective” results with the class from his presentation station. As the students continue to add data Hinkley was able to update the graph to reflect the changes.

2) Mr. Englert uses Google Forms for students to complete an online Current Event assignment. Englert inputs the information and selects the type of questions required (multiple choice, open response, etc.). Once the assignment is ready, he embeds the Form/Survey (see picture below) on his Source class page for student access. As the students complete and submit their assignments, this work is compiled in a spreadsheet.

Click to view the sample images.

Google Tools: Google Documents (Word Processor):

1) Both Hinkely and Englert use Google Documents for students to collaborate on research projects. While working at their homes, at school, or in a library, students can work in collaborative groups to write and edit projects, like a “virtual meeting.” Using their telephones and or the build-in chat, students are able to have multiple people working on the same document at the same time. Also, because the students share their documents with Mr. Hinkley he is able monitor the progress of their work.

Google Tools: Google Calendar:

1) Karl Englert embeds a Google Calendar on his Source Class page to post assignments details, quizzes, tests, and other important class dates .

Notes:

1) Click here for more information about Google Tools for Educators.

2) Once students create a Google Account at home they can work on Google Docs from home or at school on student computers.

3) The instructions for finding and embedding the HTML code is on the Google Docs site.

Lori Leberer, art and multimedia teacher, and Chuck Meding, technology teacher, have involved SBOC students in the Adobe Youth Voices program for the last two years. This program works with schools worldwide using the Adobe Premier products to achieve Adobe’s goal to help students create with purpose. The theme for SBOC student projects is, “I Am From…” Chuck Meding says, “Our goal is to demystify the power of the computer and to help our students communicate their stories to others. Digital story telling is powerful when simply done with pictures and student voices. Lots of our students are scared and lost when they come here, and getting their feelings out in video helps them tell all of us their story without worrying about language. It empowers them.”  You can see that in the three student videos featured here.

Students stay with the SBOC from one to four semesters transitioning through three literacy levels and five math levels. Their greatest impediment is communicating in English. Telling their stories helps them grow in English communication skills as they work with teachers, volunteers and other students to get their stories to publication.

The Adobe Youth Voices program is designed to be finished in an academic year, but at the SBOC the projects must be finished in a semester (20 weeks), because the students who qualify to work with the Youth Voices program are the ones who will be transitioning out to other schools at semester breaks. This is a steep learning curve for students as they strive to tell their stories through pictures, sound and narration.

Here are three of their stories.
Rolando:

Claudia:

Jeong:

Okay, but what is Twitter? The following video from the nice people at Commoncraft can get you started in understanding this service a little better:

So now maybe you have a better understanding of how Twitter lets you send quick sms messages of 140 characters or less, but you may still wonder what’s the point and what relevance does this service have for Education and learning?Apart from the seemingly trivial updates that in aggregate might serve to flesh out our lives to others interested in daily minutiae, it is pretty easy to ask what’s the point? However Twitter is better understood as a technology tool; it does not have a clear purpose, but rather uses. Twitter as a communication tool has been applied for Red Cross updates, news reporting, and professional knowledge sharing.

In Education, Twitter can be used to provide quick updates where information sharing is integral to a collaborative process. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Twitter is that it is based on SMS or text-messaging, and not dependent on computer and Internet access. In most school settings, one-to-one access is unavailable, and yet increasingly students have mobile phones with SMS capabilities. Thus far most schools have tried to draw a line at the schoolyard gate and hold ground against the entertainment aspects of student technologies that “distract and disrupt” learning.  However, it may be the case that schools and educators need to learn to leverage the technologies students themselves bring into the classroom to help students responsibly understand how to apply tools like mobile phones and Twitter to increase their productivity and learning.