QUICK RESOURCE SHEET #62
Internet-based classroom projects
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Some of the changes occurring to education as a result of new technologies include:
1. A shift from classroom lectures to computer networked access to educational resources (enabled with hypermedia and the WWW).
2. A shift from student as a passive recipient of education to a self-directed student learning.
3. A shift from individual learning to team learning and group discussion.
4. A shift from homogenous and stable educational content to fast-changing content presented in a wide range of formats.
---from http://www.isoc.org/inet96/proceedings/c1/c1_4.htm
Through the use of Internet-based educational applications, students learned how to use technology to apply real world learning to solve authentic problems… many students who had never touched a computer before actively participated in robust online collaborative projects by, for example, testing water quality and then comparing their results with other students from around the world. Students also accessed and downloaded real-time earthquake data directly from the Internet to investigate plate tectonics and used live-web cams and satellite images to study weather phenomena from around the world.
---from http://www.ciberaprendiz.org/en/intro.html
While students and teachers all over the world use the Internet to search for information as well as to make quick – even real-time - contact with friends and family, there are many classrooms where something much more exciting is happening online.
In those classrooms, students are using the Internet to participate in projects with themes as diverse as the imagination allows. The links below will give you some information on the rationale for using Internet-based projects with your students, connect you with a wide variety of existing projects in which your class can participate, and give you ideas on how you can design your own projects.
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/edu/RSE/RSEviolet/RSEviolet.html
“This document is written by a library media specialist for the 6-12 teacher interested in using the Internet for student research. It will spell out steps that a teacher might take in conjunction with his or her library media specialist to develop a resource-based project requiring students to use the Internet to access textual and visual information, find examples of presentation formats, and interact with local and world-wide experts.”
http://www.som2.gmu.edu/cramton/crossingdivide.PDF
“This paper reports the results of a study which examined the use of the Internet as the means by which international business students who were engaged in a collaborative learning project could conduct their interactions at distances of many thousands of miles.
The students were surveyed after completion of the project. The difficulties… are reported, as are the positive aspects, which were identified. The survey also identified key areas of suggested improvement for future Internet-based collaborative projects.”
http://www.useekufind.com/tproject.htm
http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Student_Projects/
http://www.wfi.fr/volterre/inetpro.html
These four links will lead you to hundreds of different Internet-based projects around the world. Join in, or use these ideas as the inspiration for your own new project.
Previous editions of the QUICK RESOURCE SHEET
#1 – Creating quizzes (and more) online
#2 – Vocabulary builders
#3 – Online discussion groups for English teachers
#4 – Grammar headaches – and how to cure them
#5 – Resources for new teachers
#6 – International Education Week
#7 – Mentoring programs
#8 – Education publications online
#9 – Applied Linguistics
#10 – English for Young Learners
#11 – World AIDS Day
#12 – Online writing guides
#13 – E-mail exchanges
#14 – Free online English courses
#15 – Effective e-mail communication
#16 – Libraries online
#17 – American Studies
#18 – Teaching methodologies
#19 – Internet tutorials
#20 – Using the newspaper – Part I
#21 – Making books
#22 - Using the newspaper – Part II
#23 – Human rights in language teaching
#24 – Blogging
#25 – Poetry and language teaching
#26 – The communicative approach
#27 - Idioms
#28 – Earth Day
#29 – Alternative assessment
#30 – Peer assessment
#31 – Self-assessment
#32 – Portfolio assessment – Part I
#33 - Portfolio assessment - Part II (Online Portfolios)
#34 – Intercultural communication
#35 – Teaching Adults
#36 – Learning disorders / Special needs
#37 – Using computers in reading instruction
#38 – Use of authentic materials
#39 – English for Medical Purposes
#40 – Sources for authentic materials
#41 – Education and technology
#42 – Academic writing
#43 – Teaching and stress
#44 – Back to school
#45 – Motivating students
#46 – Action research
#47 – Internet terminology
#48 – Fluency
#49 – Curriculum design
#50 – Pragmatics
#51 - Podcasting for English teachers
#52 – Critical reading
#53 – Learner autonomy
#54 – Scaffolding
#55 – Holidays
#56 – English for Academic Purposes
#57 – Mixed-level classes
#58 – The brain and language learning
#59 – Book clubs/Readers’ groups
#60 – Teachers and technology
#61 – Using video in the language classroom