When mentoring our pre-service and in-service teachers we need to describe
and model both research-based and clinically tested best practices, and
demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in the real (i.e. physical)
and virtual (i.e. online) classroom for both teaching and teacher training. The
combination of face to face instruction in a physical setting and online
learning is called blended learning. In this section of the blog we will
describe how the internet can serve as a supplemental resource for instruction
and the mentoring of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators. In this post
we will begin our discussion on how the Web Quest, an online authentic learning
instructional strategy, can be used for Judaic instruction and the
mentoring/teaching of pre-service and in-service Jewish educators.
Assumption: The teacher or mentor teacher has an interactive white board (i.e. SMART
Board, Promethean, etc.), a Tablet PC (also called a Slate or Blade), a
computer presenter or computer with internet access attached to an LCD
projector in the classroom. It would be ideal if students or mentees had access
to their own laptop computers or Ipads. Given parental and school
approval, and the development of specific guidelines, smartphones can be used
to enhance instruction as well.
Note: Although the Web Quest can be applied in the
Judaic Studies blended learning classroom, it can be also be used for training
pre-service and in-service Jewish educators for professional or staff
development. It is our hope that Jewish educators around the globe will form an
online community of
practice, a CoP, a group of people who share an interest, a craft,
and/or a profession, to enhance the delivery of instruction and training of
Jewish educators. For example, here is
a CoP you might want to join.
As a review, here is our definition of authentic
learning:
Authentic learning:
additional explanations
Click on these links to
find more elaborate definitions of authentic learning:
What is a Web Quest?
Here is the definition of the web quest according to Web Quest.org:
A web quest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all
the information that learners work with comes from the web. The model was
developed by Bernie Dodge at
San Diego State University in February, 1995 with early input from SDSU/Pacific
Bell Fellow Tom March, the Educational Technology staff at San
Diego Unified School District, and waves of participants each summer at the Teach the Teachers Consortium.
In this blog we had previously discussed the web quest as an
web-based inquiry tool or online authentic learning activity. You will find
those blog posts by clicking on the links below:
- http://richarddsolomonsblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/introduction-to-web-quest-web-based.html
- http://richarddsolomonsblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-web-quest-can-be-used-to-promote.html
- http://richarddsolomonsblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/sample-web-quests-that-have-judaic.html
On the next post we will share specific web quests that focus on Judaic content.
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