Journal Number Seven

“WebQuest in Wonderland”
Paul Aldridge

Paul Aldridge addresses the multimillion-dollar technology program that has been implemented in his school, Pine Crest School. This program requires all students to own a laptop and bring it to school daily. For this campaign to be successful all of the staff needed to be technologically prepared so they could teach their own students who would be looking to them for guidance. All of the faculty, some more reluctantly than others, began taking courses to become proficient in technology and they all became knowledgeable in the area. The school held daily faculty meetings that allowed all staff to be in contact with each other continually for support—this also allowed for collaboration across multiple subjects. What eventually came about at this school were WebQuests that were to be created and completed by students each year. These WebQuests are web based activities created on a topic chosen by the students themselves and approved by their teacher. The WebQuests are continually added to an academic electronic portfolio that isn’t completed until graduation.

1. What are some projects similar to WebQuests that I can do with my students?
A great program that would allow my students to projects similar to the WebQuests addressed in this article is the Filamentality website by AT&T. This site allows students and teachers to create an interactive website on a topic that can be accessed by anyone from a computer. With Filamentality, students would create a list of sites related to the topic they are covering that would teach the person using their site about the subject.

2. Is a technology program, like the one implemented at Pine Crest, practical?
I believe a technology program could, and should, be implemented at every school; however, the program doesn’t need to be on as grand a scale as that of Pine Crest School. A technology program is limited by the amount of resources available to any given school or district. Schools in areas with lower socio-economic status will be more limited in their resources than those schools in more affluent areas. This being said, all students need to have the opportunity to become technologically proficient to survive in our society.