tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086552090707298293.post7484657966164597394..comments2017-09-25T09:03:29.725+01:00Comments on Teaching English with Technology: WebQuests - the best way to foster critical thinking, social skills and problem-solving?Philip Saxonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14788946344866888304noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086552090707298293.post-26315423238379382172014-05-01T11:42:44.658+01:002014-05-01T11:42:44.658+01:00Torn, thank you for a most intelligent response!
...Torn, thank you for a most intelligent response!<br /><br />I'd agree with you that web quests ought not to be a big deal in pedagogic terms. "Good teaching, using the web" to my mind represents a natural migration of inquiry-based learning to the tools now available to us as educators and learners.<br /><br />I probably ought to do a separate post on Puentedura's SAMR model, but if we use this as our paradigm I think web quests may not often transform learning but certainly can enhance it. A truly transformational learning experience is one that cannot happen without the use of technology, such as an e-twinning project.<br /><br />You are right to warn about the potential narrowness of a purely utilitarian approach towards teaching and learning. One encounters such attitudes from time to time in a business school environment, but a teacher can still do their bit to challenge people to look at life from alternative perspectives. <br /><br />For example, getting people to consider the "tragedy of the commons" and what, if anything, can be done about it is a much better way to get learners thinking about the impact of capitalism on the environment than a conventional question about curtailing pollution: it forces learners to look inside themselves and not simply treat global issues as a decision makers' problem.<br /><br />Your commentary on the women in combat web quest is very interesting, and it suggests it would be a good example of material trainee teachers could be asked to evaluate. I don't know if you've previously read Thoms, Gillis & Callestrali's "Using WebQuests in the Social Studies Classroom: A Culturally Responsive Approach" (2008), but I think there are good examples of lesson ideas here that really do challenge learners to think and to take into account minority perspectives. Moving people in an entirely different direction to the one they had before may be a bit much to hope for, but we educators can certainly do our bit to promote more enlightened thinking amongst learners.Philip Saxonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14788946344866888304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6086552090707298293.post-37452890360053904462014-05-01T08:09:22.880+01:002014-05-01T08:09:22.880+01:001. There is a way of talking about web quests that...1. There is a way of talking about web quests that makes them sound as if they were something completely new. Of course they are just a variation on a tried and tested theme - very similar to the sort of thing we were doing in the days before the internet, when teachers would queue up at the photocopying machine before a lesson. The internet allows teachers to cut down on the amount of photocopying, and makes it easier to do things like include clips of videos or music. No big deal really. <br /><br />2. You highlight the "practical application of information". Obviously in life, especially in the sort of utility-orientated society we live in, this is very important. But some of us would argue that teachers need to avoid making this the priority. Perhaps part of the issue here concerns constructivism, which might imply that as long as people are kept busy constructing the world everything is okay. But there are ways of constructing the world that are distinctly myopic - distinctly closed off to what, for some of us, really matters. <br /><br />Had a look at one of the e-consultants' quests about peace (women in combat). That asks students to imagine they are on a committee that must make a decision about policy. A nice life-like situation to put students in. Useful. And it gives them something to do that will bring them in contact with new language and enable them to practise using language they already know. But we also need to see that some students might also be in a different situation, one in which they are not yet inspired by English and have not yet been touched by the issue of war - people for whom this is just another hypothetical situation in which a hypothetical solution must be found. Instead of being directed only to useful info, they might also be directed to outstanding writing or speaking in English about war, where the tremendous power of language might open a few students up to something new - something that might move them - something that might then point their busy constructivist lifestyles in a different direction. <br /><br />Torn Halveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18179353922087887957noreply@blogger.com