Blogs, Wikis, and Web Research Tools

VHS Catalog 12-13

Course Title:	Blogs, Wikis, and Web Research Tools
Course Code:	talforma
MA NCES Code:	10008
Discipline:	Language Arts, Technology/Tech Ed.
Grade Level:	09, 10, 11, 12
Level:	Standard
Offering:	Repeated Semester (Fall: 25 Seats; Spring: 25 Seats; )
Duration:	15 weeks
Prerequisites:	An interest in research and how technology affects you and your world
Additional Requirements:
Accredited by:	Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools; Northwest Accreditation Commission
Course Requires a Media Kit to be Shipped to Students: No
Course Requires a Media Kit to be Purchased by Course Sponsor (see additional details below): No
Description: In "Blogs, Wikis, and Web Tools: Research in a Digital Age" you will collaborate with other students to conduct research around a chosen topic of interest. You will get suggestions from your classmates and work closely with your teacher, as your subject of interest comes to life. In this course you will become an effective researcher, as you explore the web-based resources available on your topic. All students will work in teams to define their topic, conduct preliminary searches, develop their research question, gather information from a variety of online resources, organize and synthesize their findings, and create a final project that contributes to the body of knowledge about their chosen topic. If you have ever wanted to find out more about a topic that interests you while working closely with students who share common interests and using Web 2.0 tools, "Blogs, Wikis, and Web Tools: Research in a Digital Age" is the course for you!

MediaKit Contents:

Syllabus:
Week 1: Who Are You & Why Are We Here?
Create your homepage as an introduction for your fellow classmates to view.
Learn what is meant by the term "Information Literacy".

Week 2: Meet Your Peers and Get to Know Each Other Better.
Read and learn more about each other by communicating with your fellow classmates.
Develop a working definition of "research" in this course.

Week 3: Let's Get Some Ideas for Research Topics.
Engage in a brainstorming activity to generate possible topics for investigation.

Week 4: Time to Form Your Research Teams!
Choose some of the topics that interest you and the classmates you might like to work with on a research team.
Read an overview for the project to better understand the research process and criteria for the final product.

Week 5: Is Your Team Ready?
Understand about plagiarism and the requirement for the use and format of citations in this course.
Contribute your first annotated bibliography to your team.

Week 6: Is your Topic Worthy?
Read an overview for the project to better understand the research process and criteria for the final product.
Begin your research to help you define your topic.
Create annotated bibliographies with citations for each resource.

Week 7: Getting Down to Business.
Plan your research approach, assign roles for each team member, and begin gathering information about your topic using online databases.

Week 8: Getting the Best from the "Net"!
Learn strategies for searching the web and tools to evaluate websites.
Continue gathering information through internet searching.
Critically evaluate the authority of all sources.

Week 9: Putting It All Together.
Find out how to search the "invisible" web and use directories for research.
Begin to analyze, sort, sift, reflect, and organize the information you have gathered by creating a working outline.

Week 10: What Does It All Mean?
This is the time to "put it all together" and educate other teams in the class about your research by writing a summary of your findings and a Works Cited page.

Week 11: What's Next?
Provide constructive feedback to each team in the course and edit your work based on peer review.

Week 12: What Does Your Team Want to Do?
Strategize how you will accomplish putting the presentation together by determining your strengths and the responsibilities of each team member for the final product.

Week 13: How Much Should We Publish?
Review and select the presentation components you want to include.

Week 14: Team Presentations.
Present your final project to the class and assess your research project presentation

Week 15: Wrapping It Up!
Evaluate each other’s reseach project presentations and reflect on your work within your team and in the class.

Course Objectives:
To learn about and be involved in the research process
To conduct authentic research
To engage in creative thinking and problem solving
To collaborate with fellow students
To organize and share tasks effectively
To make decisions in groups
To effectively communicate results of research
To contribute to a body of knowledge about a topic

This catalog description was last modified on 02/25/2013