Using the Internet
The
Internet is a valuable educational tool in at
least four important ways. First, it permits you
and your students to gain access to enormous amounts
of information that was simply not easily available
in the past. Your students no longer need to depend
upon just their textbook or your personal knowledge
for information.
Second,
the Internet allows you and your students to communicate
with others to answer project-related questions.
Students can ask experts in the field, collect
information from other students or adults around
the world, design and administer questionnaires
or surveys or obtain oral histories of adults
who live or once lived in the country being studied.
Some tools that can be used are ePals
and Skype.
See the CultureQuest Teachers' Guide for descriptions
and links.
Third,
the Internet allows your class to "publish"
their work, and provides audiences for that work
making that work more authentic and more important.
Fourth,
the Internet provides a whole range of resources
that enhance descriptions and reporting of results
including graphics, animation, sound, and even
video. All can be incorporated in the final projects
and provide more interesting and more effective
communication of the results of students' work.
In
addition to efficient searching of the web, students
need to learn how to cite
web resources, how to evaluate
web sites, how
to get permission for using web materials,
and the legal
and ethical use of the web. See the CultureQuest
Teachers' Guide. Students will also learn to use
"Filamentality"
to collect web sites found during their research.
Their list of links placed on a free web site
provides them with a "hotlist" which
they can refer to from time to time and use to
create their " webliography", which
will be posted on the project web site.
Finally,
it is critically important to have each small
group report periodically to the entire class
on what they are learning in their small group
so that the other students in the class learn
about cultural aspects other than the one they
are studying. This will enable students to get
a full sense of the culture they are studying
as well as a chance to provide useful feedback
to their peers.
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