WEEK 11: Web-based lessons and e-portfolios

1. Web-Based Lessons and E-Portfolio

A web based lesson is a common lesson plan that you have to design for your students in order to show them how and when they are going to be evaluated. Also, the scoring, the date and the objectives are reflected there. The only difference with tangible lessons is that web based lessons are completely digital or they can be a combination of traditional lesson plans with some online components.



2. Advantages of Web based lesson plans

A. A web-based lesson plan can be more dynamic and interactive than a traditional lesson plan because you can add it all the functions and tools that web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 can offer the user.
B. It also develops creativity in students. They love to work using programs, so they will feel motivated to do good works.
C. It also promotes critical thinking. They have to do research about a topic and then, on the Internet, they will compare their ideas with their partners. They have to check different authors too. They will find out that not all the information found on the Internet is good.
D. It promotes digital skills development. Nowadays young students are really good at using the Internet. They are called the native generation. But normally their ICT knowledge is related to social life and entertainment. With web-based lessons they can have knowledge of ICT focusing on educational purposes.
E. It improves teacher-student and student-students interaction. Some people say that technology creates a gap among people because they interact in a distant way. They don’t have physical contact and they can not show their real feeling. Sometimes they pretend to be a person they are not, for instance on Second Life (SL). That may be true, but technology also gets the two main participants in a classroom (student and teacher) get together. Students interact more efficiently in distance classes than in face to face classes because they do not feel intimidated with anyone or they know they have a lot of online resources available where they can get information in a faster and easier way.
F. It promotes collaboration. On the Internet students must work in group almost all the time. You can work individually, but there are some many platforms where you are frequently going to need help from others. Beginners are the one who need most of the help because they do not know what to do and they need a guide who leads the way.
G. You can use games in these lessons and this is something that students will be fascinated. That is what they like. That is the way they learn and share information with others. That is the way they make groups and interact with others. Believe it or not, they can improve their four skills using games on the Internet.

3. What does a web based lesson plan include?

This chart was taken from the class of web-based lesson plan of Professor Evelyn Izquierdo. As we can see in the chart above, we have to fill out the following information. It is the same thing that we do in a tangible lesson plan. The only difference is that you have different 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 platforms in it.





What are portfolios and e-portfolios?

A portfolio is a way to keep all your papers or research papers in a well-organized way where you can see the progress of your work from bottom to top (the bottom papers are the oldest and the top are the newest). That is the main purpose of traditional portfolio and e-portfolio. One of the advantages of the e-portfolio is that this information is always going to be presented in a neat way. Paper can get destroyed or damaged. I really like portfolio. I have made some traditional portfolios and just only one e-portfolio and I think it is a good way to keep your work and also to let your work known by others. E-portfolio is good for:

1. Integrating ICT into the traditional face to face classroom. Students can show what they do through an e-portfolio.

2. Developing tech skills. Students must write and read information first in order to add their personal information in their e-portfolio. They have to learn what a wiki is and all the tools that a wiki can have.

3. Promoting and developing group work. Students can create grupal e-portfolio.



What is the purpose of the e-portfolio?
It is important to clarify what your portfolio is about. The goals, objectives of your e-portfolio are also important topics to mention. It is said that reflections are the heart of a portfolio and it is true. That is the idea of it because in that way we know how much we are learning and we can also appreciate how we improve.

My Web-Based Lesson Plan

As it was mentioned before, a lesson plan must include different aspects in order to have a good class. That is to say, we need to know how our classes are going to be developed and in that way we can avoid improvisations. Also students can know what aspects of English they are going to study and being evaluated. My lesson plan contains:

Date: 27-07-11

Teacher: Adenis Raga

Class/Level: Administration students / English III / 25 students

Topic: Improving reading and writing through ICT for the students of Administration English III at The Maritime University of the Caribbean.
Aim: students will improve their reading and writing skills, especially, for ESP texts.

General Objective:

-To improve reading and writing through ICT for the students of English III of Administration at the Maritime University of the Caribbean. (UMC).

Specific Objectives:

- To teach reading strategies through some web 2.0 platforms for the students of English III of Administration at The Maritime University of The MUC.

- To teach writing strategies through some web 2.0 platforms for the students of English III of Administration at The Maritime University of The MUC.

Materials: Computer, internet connection (wideband) and headsets.

Description of the activities: students will be asked to access Internet in order to visit the wiki called improvingskills at home. There, they have to read the information related to reading and writing, watch the videos, do the exercises and follow the instructions assigned per week. They have to bring the exercises to their face to face classes.

Name of web side number 1: http://improvingskills.pbworks.com

Rationale for this site 1: There are two reasons why I chose to work with PB works. First, it is easy to use and students are familiarized with this web 2.0 platform. Second, this web site is my course wiki called improvingskills. This course wiki is going to be used by my students of Administration, English III at the Maritime University of the Caribbean and they will enjoy all the benefits of a wiki. They can be users and also participants. The can watch videos and do exercises and the most important is that they can be in contact with technology related to education and English inside and outside classes.

Name of web side number 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAkXTQty8-Q

Rationale for this site 2: I chose you tube for many reasons. First, students love YouTube. They always use them to watch commercial videos, singers, programs among many others Medias. That is why they know how to use this web site. Most of them already have a YouTube account. Second, I integrated the recorder audacity with the windows movie maker in order to create an authentic material for students to improve reading and writing inside and outside classes.