Webskills Online Course – Week 5

The passing Week 5 was very challenging for me. There were more readings to be read and a number of Websites to be surfed.

“Live and learn during your whole lifetime”,  this really refers to me. After having read the articles about rubrics, project-based learning (PBL) and WebQuests I am now facing with the dilemma – What have I been doing without all these learning opportunities for my 35 years-long teaching experience?

Of course, I am sure all these new kinds of learning opportunities offered by the Internet and it`s technologies encourage the Ss to become more autonomous language learners.

I have known a lot about the PBL, before I used to think that it is a busywork only. But it turns out to be a real-life meaningful process with elaborate sets of tasks and where the benefits of project work are maximized because students are actively engaged in information gathering, processing and reporting, and as a result, students experience increased motivation, autonomy, engagement, and a more positive attitude towards English.

As far as the word “rubric” is concerned, there is another translation in my Russian-English dictionary and it means ”heading, title, designation, category” or moreover “red” and there is a sentence “a rubric nose”. But then, after having tried the “RubiStar” http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ with a “step by step” assistance of Donna`s RubiStar Instructions, I have come to the conclusion that “Rubrics” means “Criterion of Estimation” into my Russian interpretation.

I have been trying many times to make my first Webquest. I liked Zunal.com and first of all I wanted to make my quest in Zunal, but after first trial it didn`t work for me. So, I had to make the quest here in Questgarden. I have “stolen” some parts of my quest from several other Webquests but it worth it because it is too complicated to make any Webquest throug my slow, insecure and interrupted Internet connection. The main thing is I caught the idea and this long process of amking the Webquest is really eye-opening for me!

Thanks a lot Donna and my peer course-participants for your support and for your so brilliantly made Webquests !!! I have gained much in Webquesting!