so, you're hooked up to the Internet and you're ready to roll....what do you do now?

Design your own
Web-based activities!

Define the Learning Target.

What knowledge or skills should students be able to demonstrate?

Locate "good" Web content.

Where can students find the content needed to meet the learning target?

Determine the level of technology integration.

What technology skills will you ask students to demonstrate to successfully complete the activity?

Develop the Web-based learning activity.

What will the students do to show that they have achieved the learning target?

Ready to begin? Let's go:

Defining the Learning Target
What knowledge or skills should students be able to demonstrate?

1. Picture clearly in your mind what skills students need to know and be able to do, and center everything that you will be planning around that objective.

~ Use a Target Diagram to help you narrow your purpose. (This is a PDF file, you may need to download Adobe Acrobat to view it.)

2. Begin with your content area standards and your analysis of where your students are at academically, and where you want to take them.

~ Use a KWL Chart (PDF file) to analyze what your students already know, want to know, and - when the activity is completed - have learned.

3. Use Bloom's Taxonomy to help you fine-tune the level of understanding you would like your students to achieve.

~ Review Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Objectives
~ You may want to print a copy of Bloom's Ladder of Skills (PDF file) or Bloom's Taxonomy of Thinking Processes (PDF file) .

 
 

1. Start Browsing! Spend some time just surfing through quality subject indexes. This will give you a general idea of what is out there. (Remember - you haven't created an activity yet - you're just BROWSING!

Try NOT to use the keyword search. Just click through the subject categories.

~ Yahooligans - Fantastic collections of great Web sites for students of all ages.

~ Yahoo - Similar to Yahooligans, but not especially designed for kids. (This one came first, of course.)

~ Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators - Compiled by Kathy Schrock, media specialist extraordinaire.

~ Education World - One of the very best educator sites on the Web!

~ KidsClick! - A wonderful index of great sites compiled by librarians.

~ Awesome Library - Enter as a student, teacher or parent and browse.

2. Try some Keyword Searches! If your subject area is really specific and you aren't having any success at the sites listed above, go ahead - type in your topic into one of the following search engines.

~ Google - Just go ahead and type, it's easy!

~ Dogpile - Kid recommended, teacher approved.

~ AskJeeves - Type in a natural question. It just doesn't have to be words. You can try AskJeeves for Kids, too.

~ AltaVista - One of the largest databases of URL's on the Web.

3. Focus on the several "good" Web sites you found that present the content needed to meet your learning target. Bookmark them so you don't lose them! You may want to Evaluate the content of the sites you gathered. The following sites can help you analyze Web site content:

~ Kathy Schrock's Critical Evaluation Information - One of the most often cited resources for evaluating Web content.

~ The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - My personal favorite. I especially like the examples provided.

~ The Five W's of Web Site Evaluation - In this resource I propose a different way of looking at Web site evaluation, using the Five W's.

~ Fact or Folly - A wonderful resource provided by the Media Awareness Network. Realistic issues and a realistic approach to evaluating Web content.

1. Ask yourself - What technology skills do my students already have?

~ Internet Browsing

~ Internet Searching

~ Downloading images from the Web

~ Word Processing

~ Slide Show Presentations (i.e, PowerPoint, HyperStudio)

~ Data Processing (i.e., spreadsheets, databases, etc.)

~ Web Page Authoring

~ E-mail

~ Anything else?

2. Ask yourself - What technology skills do I have?

~ See Above!

3. Ask yourself - Is this a good time for me to learn more technology skills?

~ Do you have the time?

~ Do you have the equipment?

~ Do you have the assistance?

~ Do you have the motivation?

4. Ask yourself - Is this a good time for me to teach new technology skills to my students?

~ Do you have the time to fit it in to your curriculum?

~ Do you have the equipment, facilities, or physical plant needed?

~ Do you have assistance from others who can help?

~ Do you have the motivation to tackle this right now?

Developing the Web-Based Learning Activity
What will students do to show they have achieved the learning target?

1. Go back and visit the Web sites you would like to use in the activity. Start thinking about the best way to utilize this information in a learning activity. How can students use this information to achieve their learning target?

2. You may want to view some examples of Web-based activities to help you get started. In the chart below I have used Bloom's Taxonomy to help delineate a variety of Web-based activities. Also, I have divided each category into three lessons depending upon the level of technology integration you feel comfortable with.

Bloom's Taxonomy	Beginner Technology	Intermediate Technology	Advanced Technology
Evaluation	Teach your students the rudiments of critical evaluation issues with regards to Web-based content. Use the Five W's of Web Site Evaluation as a resource. Follow your teaching by prompting students to complete the Fact or Opinion Activity where they will be asked to visit and evaluate five different Web sites.	You are a citizen of the Seaside community. It has just been determined that a group of residents have requested authorities to build a nuclear power plant in your town. Should there be Nuclear Power in Seaside? (WebQuest) Invite your students to use the power of the Internet to gather information that will help them make this very important decision. Visit more WebQuests and/or learn how to create them at The WebQuest Page.	Facilitate your students' exploration of a career choice that interests them from sites like Career Paths Online or JobProfiles. Have your students find an expert in their chosen field to correspond with over a period of time in order to evaluate this particular career path. Use resources like Ask An Expert to get you started. Encourage students to further critique this chosen career path and decide whether it should be a viable future option for them.
Synthesis	Instruct your students to explore the Life in Ancient Egypt Web site with the purpose of understanding the Ancient Egyptian culture. After an in depth visit back in time, encourage your students to propose a totally new invention that would have improved the standard of living for the Ancient Egyptians. Request that each student support his opinions with the information gathered from their online investigation.	Choose a current event topic and have your students investigate the issues at hand from the perspectives of each stakeholder involved in the situation. They could browse various news sites like PencilNews, USA Today, or CNN. Encourage your students to organize the positions held by each of the various stakeholders They could use an idea processor like Inspiration to do this, or any other word processing application that allows them to create a graphic organizer. Have each student predict an outcome to the issue and support their opinions with the data their collected.	Each student has just graduated with a high school diploma. Assign realistic jobs to students according to the educational plan each has been following. Inform the student of his monthly salary. Have your students go online to research apartments, automobile and other essential purchases. Use spreadsheets to create a budget and allow students to manage their money for several weeks. Be sure to throw them a "life" card each day to simulate reality. Life cards could indicate having to buy an interview suit, a washing machine, paying for a night on the town, etc.
Analysis	Tell your students to visit "Who Needs a Fairy Godmother Anyway?" This math-based WebQuest is designed for students in grades 1-2 all around a Cinderella theme. Facilitate their progress through these wonderful online activities. Encourage students work together collaboratively.	Find several sites where your students can research Japanese and Chinese cultures and Bookmark them to the computers. KidsWeb Japan and Visions of China are good examples of content-rich cultural sites. I highly recommend using Yahooligans' Country Index as a resource Have your students go to specified sites collecting information to adequately compare and contrast the two cultures. Your students may want to present their information with the aid of an electronic slide show like PowerPoint or HyperStudio.	Allow your class to select several controversial issues. Randomly put students into "pro" and "con" groups. Facilitate your students' use of the Internet to research their assigned positions on the controversial issues. Use various video or digital equipment to assist your students' creations of persuasive commercials. Or, hold a class debate or political rally on the topic using information gleaned from the Internet.
Application	Your students have just finished a novel and are focusing on symbolism. Ask them to think about the symbols within the novel they just read. Conduct a keyword search for those items at Ditto.com, a powerful image search engine. Copy and paste the images onto a document. Allow students to create a collage of the various symbols mentioned in the book. Let them collect additional pictures to symbolize the theme of the novel to be placed in the collage as well.	Prepare a list of Web sites for your students to gather information about a particular state they are studying. You may want to include trip to 50 States and Yahooligans' State Index. Tell your students to collect images from the Internet during their research activities. Have your students compile the information and images into a professional-looking travel brochure.	It's the end of the year and there's not enough money to go on a field trip :( Oh no! Put your students into groups and tell them they can choose anywhere in the world to visit. Each has $3,000 to travel, lodge, eat and entertain themselves to the max! Ask them to collect memorabilia (image and sounds) along the way. Have your students document their spending with a spreadsheet and present their virtual field trip with an electronic presentation tool like PowerPoint or HyperStudio. Perhaps they could even create their own Web Page!
Comprehension	Tell your students to visit Time for Kids or CNN News and choose a news article to read. Ask your students to type a one paragraph summary of that article, restating it in their own words.	Have your students visit the National Women's Hall of Fame. Tell them to explore the life of one of the inductees. Ask you students to write a biographical report on the woman's life, and her accomplishments, summarizing what they learned from the Web. Allow students to download images or other clip art from the Internet to enhance their report.	Invite your students to research the Internet about the planet of their choice. They may want to visit sites like: Nine Planets or Nine Planets for Kids. They could also visit online encyclopedias like Britannica and Encyclopedia.com Have your students collect images from the Web along the way. Ask your students to create a multimedia report using HyperStudio, PowerPoint, or another electronic slide show application.
Knowledge	Create a worksheet that corresponds to a content area Web site like Explore Monet's World. Ask students to skim and scan the content of the pages to identify specific bits of information found in the site, i.e, date of birth, famous paintings, and so forth.	Create a directed scavenger hunt activity that corresponds to answering several knowledge-based questions from several different Web sites. Be sure to list the Web addresses in the worksheet. A good example is this Black History Month Treasure Hunt created by the folks at Education World.	Create an open-ended scavenger hunt with knowledge-based questions. Let your students use their own Internet searching skills to find the answers to the questions. A good example is a Constitutional Scavenger Hunt created by a high school teacher.

3. Now go out and create your own!!!
(or borrow somebody else's lesson:)

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This Web page was designed by Diane Lauer, Thompson School District, for the Centennial BOCES, Regional Technology Assistance Center, 2000. It was last updated January 15, 2001.

Permission is granted to use for educational purposes.