Digital Badge #L

Virtual field trips take students to places all over the world without leaving the classroom (Maloy, 140). The benefit of having virtual field trips is that it’s a flexible teaching approach. Some students could go on these field trips, while other students could work with the teacher or other projects. GoogleEarth has a variety of virtual tours, from all around the world. I like the idea of the virtual field trips because students get to visit places that they probably wouldn’t be able to visit on an actual field trip. I also think that virtual field trips help those schools that can’t afford field trips. Their students have the benefit of using these online trips and tours. It’s a creative, fun way to get students to learn and be engaged. Some virtual field trips and tours that are online: National gallery of art, Palace of Versailles, and Great Wall of China. Below is what a virtual trip looks like.

                                        video credit to googleEarth

There are six types of educational websites for teachers and students to use for academic learning (Maloy, 145). Two that I liked were skills practice websites and exploration and discovery websites. Skills/practice websites offer subject-specific activities for students at any grade level (Maloy,147). A lot of teachers use these websites as teaching tools and I find it useful. Students can use these sites during class while in small groups. I think that having skills and practice websites expands students learning more, along with what the teacher has already taught them. Khanacademy.org is a great skills and practice website for any grade level. It offers a lot of short videos that reviews basic concepts; math, science, history. Below is an example of what videos are like on khan academy.

                                       video credit to youtube

Exploration and discovery websites are for students to engage in online explorations. Students are using these sites for interactive learning activities. I like these sites because they provide a lot of information that a student could be looking for. Some exploration and discovery sites are good when doing projects. One that was mentioned in the book was BioKids: Kids’ inquiry of Diverse Species. I thought that this website was a good one because it offered online resources about animal lives and habitats, and ways for kids to create their own web-based biodiversity maps (Maloy, 148). I find that using educational websites increases a student’s knowledge about a topic. I also think that they offer a different, way of learning. 

references:

Earth. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://www.google.com/earth/explore/showcase/3dimagery.html#tab=los-angeles

 Maloy, R. W. (2014). Transforming learning with new technologies (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Multiplying Fractions. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTKMK1ZGLuk