Week 9 - How will WebQuest help me communicate with my students and their parents?

In class today we learned about WebQuests. In my understanding, a WebQuest is a safe site that students can go to learn about different topics assigned by the teacher. The creator of the WebQuest has already searched the web for reliable and safe sites and compiled it together into a WebQuest where parents can feel safe that their child is able to use as a tool to search the Web. In addition to the student links (which could include assignments, reviews, assessments, games, etc...), the WebQuest would also have a section for teachers, where they would be able to find lesson plans, other links and fun ideas to use to supplement the unit. Each page of the WebQuest all link back to its home page.

I believe that this will be a valuable resource for students and their parents because it will allow a safe environment for the students to research the Internet. It will also be a great place for teachers to outline the assignment in a format that will communicate to the parents what is expected of their child. The student will be able to know what is expected of them in order to complete the assignment. All they have to do is go to the WebQuest and they'll be able to find everything that is required and will also find a Rubric with how they will be graded for completing their assignment.

I look forward to learning how to create one of these WebQuests as I work together with my pod. I hope that I will be able to fully learn how to create one of these tools and will feel comfortable creating one of my own in the future.

VIDEO REFLECTION:
I wasn't able to link to this weeks video through the class website on week 9. However, I found a few different video's on YouTube that had this name on them that I watched. They talked about how Microsoft has invented a touch screen tabletop computer that is able to know when devices (such as a camera, telephone, video camera, credit cards, etc...) have been placed on it and will be able to detect the information that is on it without plugging anything into the tabletop computer. They mentioned that this computer is being introduced to large corporate businesses and casino's for now, but they anticipate a day when everyone will have one of these in their homes. I'm continually amazed at the technologies that are being invented and how they will change the world. I look forward to seeing this new idea as well as the many other new inventions coming our way.