Chapter 6 was interesting in that as a class we were going back to different ways in which to use the Internet. The first one I read about that peaked my interest was virtual field trips. I love this idea!!! First off, any student could partake in something like this. What is also great is a teacher could make a lesson out of something like this and use it for students to find information and enjoy doing it at the same time. Just putting the words 'field trip' into the day's lesson would have students so excited to work on something like this.
The next topic that caught my attention was skills practice websites. I recently found one of these for my students that is for math, and they love it. Funbrain is the website, and I used to do this when I was in school. My children love it as they practice math skills and can do them anytime, anywhere.
The last topic that I truly enjoyed reading about was the exploration and discovery websites. I think in a way this correlates with the virtual field trips. For example, in science I can use National Geographic as a website to better facilitate that day. Yet, it is an exploration for the students to find facts about animals or a certain group of people.
References
Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Field trip does seem to create an aura of excitement among students - virtual ones don't have all of the same elements but the learning can come close to the real thing. The variety and depth of many available makes it important to consider for learning plans. With relative ease you can take your students to the art museums in Europe or the depth of the oceans on the Jason project. Then you add tools like Skype to interact with an 'expert' and you really feel like you are there - SO much learning going on! :) Fun cartoon, too! :)
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