Dr. Vickie Iwamoto

Welcome to our course!

     I hope you will enjoy the course and find many valuable ideas that you will be bringing into your future classrooms.

    I will be running the course from my website to keep ownership of all my materials.  We will be using the Ecollege from time-to-time but the majority of the course will be right here.  I must admit that I do have some concerns about teaching this course online.  I usually demonstrate many teaching strategies and techniques in this class.  In this format I will not be able to do that. This is a concern.  In my research for this course I have found some video clips of important concepts that will help you visualize the ideas that you will be reading about in your textbook.  I hope you find them helpful and they are professionally done so I think you will approve. 

     The course is inquiry-based.  The modules are all done in the WebQuest method.  I will have a mini lecture and a question for you to ponder and write out.  Now don't worry, I will have online resources for you to click on.  I do not want you to spend your time trying to find the right website to complete your assignment. I want you to spend your time exploring websites that I have already reviewed and feel that you will enjoy.  Now you always can look for more, but let me do the research and you sit back.  You will already have enough to do.  I must tell you that we have a lot of work ahead of us.  This course, in my opinion, is very important to your future as a teacher.  You will be learning how to teach reading...wow...such an important topic!  I take my job seriously...I know you have entrusted me with that.  I will share my knowledge and hope you find the course challenging and fun.

                                                                                                   Fondly,

                                                                                                  Dr. Iwamoto

Week 1 - Sample

Introduction
I will be using WebQuests as a the basis of our course.  Now we will take time so that you know about this inquiry based instruction.  Web quests are units of study, or instructional modules, that incorporate information available on the web with a variety of other resources. Though a web quest is presented as a web page, much of what a student learns in the quest is learned by textbook reading, supplemental reading and independent activities related to the topic of the unit. These might include interviewing and reporting, observation and note taking,  and many other "real-life" experiences.

Web quests are grounded in problem-based learning. They create meaningful learning opportunities for students and teachers. The fundamental purpose of a web quest is to provide an open-ended problem for students to solve with the resources put at their disposal.
Please click here to explore the idea of web quests in some detail. "Some Thoughts about Web Quests" is by Bernie Dodge, the teacher who initiated this revolution in teaching and did much to make the web a viable tool for teaching.  I once saw him speak at a conference.  He is truly amazed at how much WebQuests have grown in popularity.  It is no wonder, since they are a valuable tool.

The Task
Follow the directions given at "The WebQuest about WebQuests," created by Bernie Dodge. Your task is to become familiar with web quests by examining and evaluating a number of examples. Every quest you look at will have been done by teachers like yourself, many for students like you teach. You will now have quite a few for your students to explore, I do hope you use them.  Through Web Quests you are able to provide students a safe structured way of exploring ideas on the web.  As a teacher, you have provided a safe environment to explore the web and you know your students will not get into trouble.

The task this module is to analyze several web quests from four different perspectives:
1) Is the exercise efficient in teaching what it teaches?
2) Does the exercise promote or require higher level thinking?
3) Does the quest make good use of the web, or does it look like a dressed-up worksheet?
4) Does the unit involve students in cooperative learning?
Explore as many as you wish but you may wish to write on just a couple.  If you visited WebQuests before, make sure you visit new sites.  You may also wish to visit the WebQuest sites that are mentioned in your textbook.
Complete these tasks only for yourself.  You do not have the write an essay.  This is only to explain to you what is a WebQuest.  You may want to use them in the future. (Hint...something for your portfolio.)

The Process
In this section I usually have the specific assignment here with instructions.  You are only to answer the questions for yourself and not write them out. 

Evaluation
You will receive credit for the work you submit, with feedback the week following submission of your work.  Please remember to cite as appropriate.