Friday, October 28, 2011

Week 5: Assessment, Rubrics, PBL, and WebQuest

After working this whole week on the different given task, there is the final reflection on what has been done. This week has been as productive as the others; I feel I have learned a lot and had the chance to be introduced to different tools I did not even know existed.
Rubrics are an important part of the learning process because they evaluate and highlight the strengths of the students and make us aware of the aspects that need to be reinforced. What is more, students are aware of what we expect them to do. Moreover, they can evaluate themselves as well as their peers in a more objective way. RubiStar resembles a magic wand in this magic world of Building Teacher Skills though the Interactive Web. I have been touring different sites and tools since the first week of this course, and this one is just great.
Assessment is the perfect complement to project-based learning (PBL). If students work on activities that are appealing to them, they will not only learn but they will also enjoy the activity because that will be meaningful to them.
Narrowing my students’ needs and trying to focus on one did not seem an easy thing to do. However, considering that my class studies English as a Foreign Language, and they are exposed to the language for a very short amount of time, one of the most important needs they have is to have outside classroom activities to enhance their listening skills. Considering this, there are some sites I have considered to be used as guided activities, and I intend to use them first as homework and then for further discussion in classes.
I think WebQuests are also a wonderful tool to work with. It is a tool to be considered for some activities such as PBL, especially with young learners and adults.
A productive week again, but as our discussion goes on and tasks come, we are getting ready for hands-on our projects. We are on the way to fulfill this course’s goals which is to understand and use appropriate technology to enhance our students learning environments and outcomes for our students. https://sites.google.com/site/webskillsuo/

2 comments:

  1. Hi Genny
    I agree, the "fun" part starts now. This is what our class is truly all about. Good luck with your project!
    Robert

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  2. Hi Genny,
    Indeed, it was a very productive week! We all learned many new things, especially, rubrics and webquests! Just like you, it took me some time to understand and develop my own rubric and webquest. It was a real challenge!
    Regards
    Maryam

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