Kimberly Klein
EdPsy490NET
PURPOSE:
The purpose of my project was to request a virtual postcard and a brief e-mail description from people all over the world. With this information my students would plot the responses on a classroom map. This activity would assist with geography, language arts and social studies.
PARTICIPANTS:
Due to the fact that I posted my
project proposal rather late I only received 4 participants. The participants were all from the CTER program. They were Marita Child, Kery Strysick, Kathy Schlappi, and Brian Pasero. (Thank you to everyone that had the time to participate. I really do appreciate it.)PROJECT ACTIVITIES:
My "job" was to enlist as many participants as possible. When conducting this activity in a classroom I would have my students send out e-mail to as many people as they know. Participants were asked to send a brief e-mail and a virtual postcard describing the area in which they reside. It would then be my students responsibility to chart the responses on a classroom map. As a class we would update the Virtual Travel webpage with the new postings.
LESSONS LEARNED:
Wow! I learned that it is not as easy to coordinate a network based project as I thought. Things didn't really go according to my original plan. First of all I didn't post the project proposal until later in the term because I had such a difficult time figuring out exactly what I wanted to do! Once I posted the proposal I got a few responses, but not as many as I expected. I assume that this is because of the short time frame that people had to complete the project. The project responses didn't contain much variation. They were all from some part of Illinois. Again, I think this is because of the brief time frame and the last minute request for participants. I think this project would run a little differently throughout the school year. Students would be e-mailing people from all over the country and the world.
THINGS TO CHANGE NEXT TIME:
The biggest problem I had was that most people didn't send the virtual postcard component of the project. After thinking about it, I realized that I didn't really include specific direction of how to do this. I assumed that people would automatically know how to do this. I guess I was wrong. The next time I launch this project I will be more specific and give detailed instructions.
CONCLUSION:
Overall, I am pleased with the Virtual Travel project. I think students would be eager and excited to participate in this project over the course of the school year. I think it is a valuable activity that will help students learn about geography, language arts and social studies. I think participants had fun time trying to find just the right virtual postcard to submit to the project. I think they will also enjoy seeing the different results posted on the Virtual Travel site. I would measure the impact of this project based on the responses of my students. If they showed enthusiasm for receiving responses and charting them on the map I would get the sense that they are actively involved and learning. If charting the responses became a chore I would think that the project was not being very effective.