SLAV Publications and Journals



	fyi : back issues Spring 2004 - Co-operate, collaborate, innovate
	Online learning: What does it mean? Lisa Hayman Since participating in a four day professional development program with Tom March in 2001, I have had the opportunity to reflect on and utilise what I consider to be online learning. Through the initial training I was introduced to a range of new learning and teaching strategies that are all online. Three years later, hotlists, knowledge hunts, subject samplers and WebQuests have become essential elements of my Teacher Toolkit. Making effective use of the web and all that it has to offer is the key element of these formats. Accessing online newspapers, encyclopaedias, movies and images, to name a few, allows us to develop rich learning experiences. Hotlists Hotlists enable teachers to provide students with a list of the sites they wish students to refer to on a topic or unit of work. Rather than students spending time in searching the internet they are provided with one page that has links to sites that the teacher wants them to use. It’s a bit like bringing a tub of library books into your classroom! These sites are then placed in categories for easy access. e.g. ‘The Russian Revolution’ http://www.web-and-flow.com/members/lhayman/russia/hotlist.htm I utilised the Revolution hotlist because it was easy to negotiate, and it was helpful in providing another way of explaining an event which I may not have previously understood. It was also useful for studying at home when I had forgotten my text book, as it was easy to access. VCE student, Bendigo Senior Secondary College. Knowledge hunts A knowledge hunt is where the learning and teaching is introduced in a formal sense. Teachers are able to select the sites they wish students to refer to and then develop a series of appropriate questions. These may be lower level questions such as ‘Who, What, When, Where?’ or may develop higher order thinking with effective use of Bloom’s Taxonomy. e.g. ‘The Philosophes’ http://www.web-and-flow.com/members/lhayman/philosophes/hunt.htm Subject sampler A subject sampler is used to develop the student’s personal interest in a topic. This is achieved through developing questions that have a focus on the use of the word ‘you’. There are no right or wrong responses, only what the student thinks. e.g. ‘Up Close and Personal - The Western Front’ http://www.web-and-flow.com/members/lhayman/nationaldays/sampler.htm Web-based activities help to assist us with document analysis, and essays, thus supporting our learning, because the activities we do on the web are clear, understandable, and easy to access. VCE student, Bendigo Senior Secondary College. WebQuests WebQuests involve the development of student-centred problem-solving activities. Students work together on a question and take on roles. They use the internet as one of many resources, and then come together to share what they have learned and to develop a group response to the initial question. Earlier this year I participated in an online course called BestWebQuest University, which resulted in a WebQuest on Globalisation developed for a Year 11 Industry and Enterprise class. e.g. ‘Globalisation – What does it mean for Me,Australia and the World?’ http://www.web-and-flow.com/members/lhayman/globalization/webquest.htm In the development of this WebQuest I took care to address the key elements that are needed for a BestWebQuest as outlined below. Scaffolding as a support for student learning has been included as a key element of this WebQuest. Making use of de Bono tools such as the Six Thinking Hats or a PMI chart leads to furthering students’ knowledge and understanding of the topic and as such develops their ability to use the information gained in a real world sense. Making online learning work The strength of these online learning and teaching formats is the strong pedagogical framework in which they lie. Each has a clear learning and teaching goal for their use in the classroom. As a teacher of VCE History of Revolutions I have made use of hotlists and knowledge hunts on a number of occasions but have not found it appropriate to have the students participating in a WebQuest. However, my intention is to look at developing a short WebQuest that meets the revised Study Design for 2005. During this year I have worked towards developing additional online activities that support student learning. I have adapted the notion of the Insight Reflector, which is provided through www.web-and-flow.com, and have developed a scaffolded format that supports students completing a document or graphic analysis. This tool can be found at: http://www.bssc.edu.au/public/learning_teaching/pd/hotlists_webquests/reflector/analysis1.htm. As a result of working with teachers in the devel-opment of online curriculum I have developed a web-site called ‘Hotlists to WebQuests’. This site is located at: http://www.bssc.edu.au/public/learning_teaching/pd/hotlists_webquests/index.shtml These resources have been helpful in saving time looking for good web sites to find relevant Revs stuff. The essay planner also helped break up key points in the Russian revolution and made it a lot easier to understand. VCE student, Bendigo Senior Secondary College. Online learning activities provide us with the opportunity to engage students in learning through making effective use of the internet, which provides us with a rich range of materials previously unavailable in the classroom. By making use of the quality formats available via the web we are able to ensure that we provide our students with a classroom environment that is interesting, exciting and leads to improved outcomes. Tom March’s website can be found at: www.ozline.com. Lisa Hayman is Professional Development Co-ordinator atBendigo Senior Secondary College.