Online Learning Possibilities

     Wow! Once again I am feeling excited and overwhelmed about the endless possibilities of online learning.  As I look through the charts at the following link Online Experience Guideline , I see several possibilities to try with my language arts students.
     One online tool I am interested in using further is WebQuests.  I have already talked about how I plan to use the fables Webquest I found. We will be reading The Cay this spring.  It takes place near Curacao in the Caribbean during World War II.  We usually research this area and time period in the media center during this unit.  We could definitely use WebQuests to do this. I like the idea of WebQuests because the students can do them independently and on their own time.  I worry about a couple of students not having internet access creating having an unfair disadvantage when it comes to time for working on them. To solve this, I will have to make sure that I give them plenty of opportunities during school time to complete the WebQuests.  Luckily, I have one desktop and seven mininotebooks in my room for students to use. 
     As for pedagogical strategies, we will do our first WebQuest as a class so I can model the correct ways to use them.  Students tend to rush through things, so I want to show the importance of fully exploring all links and pages in the WebQuest.  Next, I will out the students into groups and have them complete a short one together in class for cooperative learning experience.  Last, I will create lists of possible WebQuests dealing with the Caribbean and World War II for them to choose from to complete independently.  An option for advanced learners would be assigning them the task of creating a WebQuest or maybe a Wiki as a group on a topic we are studying. 
     The technologies I think might be harder for my students are podcasts.  I have not looked into them thoroughly, but they seem time consuming.  It is difficult with the short amount of time I have my students per day, 56 minutes.  Also, the amount of students I have, 115 total, makes it hard to organize for materials.  I suppose I could pilot the use of podcasts in one class.  I bet I would learn that they are easier than I think as well as become more comfortable with them. 
     I will continue to explore all of these tools.  Blogging sounds like a good way for students to journal, discuss, and reflect on topics and assignments.  Wikis would be a great way to gather resources for a project or unit.  I love the idea of students saving work and monitoring their own improvement and growth in Electric Portfolios.  There is so much to sift through and so little time to do so!