The writeboard is a modern tool that can be used in a collaborative way in order to edit texts (stories, articles, essays, ads). It can be fully integrated in the activities that happen in the classroom or can be used by itself in a productive way. It has three main features: the text can be shared among the group, the text can be edited and the versions can be compared by the user.
The safe editing feature shows and saves past edits of the same document. The comparison mode feature allows the teacher or the students who use it to compare two revisions, with deletions in grey and new changes in green. Another advantage is the fact that it is free to use. So, the teacher asks the students to use it in order to improve their English writing. They save there the projects or the homework they work for and they are proud about.
Furthermore, the writeboard is a nice tool to use among students when they have to work on a project together or when they have to write a composition or essay with a given topic. They continuously can enter the proper page in order to modify, to express opinions, to come up with other interesting ideas.
The writeboard is a very good way to give homework to the students. If the teacher forget to give them the homework in class or if he/she announced the students that they will receive an electronic homework, then he/she can post the exercises on the writeboard and he/she can send them through an email to his/her students. In this way, the students can work at home without any stress. Here I posted the four vocabulary exercises that I proposed to my students from the 12th grade as homework – 123.writeboard.com/en0h738i96zshc9mx01vlnf1.
The disadvantage of this tool is that for each topic the teacher has to create a new writeboard on the same site: 123.writeboard.com/new
The webquest is an inquiry-oriented activity where the students post information taken from the internet. It can be for short term or for long term.
In case of a short-term webquest, the teacher is interested in knowledge acquisition and integration. At the end of the period, the students will have studied everything they supposed to. This type of webquest has to be completed in maximum three hours.
In case of a long term webquests the instructional goal is to extend and reinforce knowledge. After finishing the period, the students would have analysed knowledge seriously, made comments about it, understood it and used it in other situations. This type of webquest will take place between one week and one month.
Generally speaking, the short-term or the long-term webquest is designed to be advantageous for students, to help them in the process of learning a language and to use their time efficiently. The page also gives guidance in order to organize the information acquired.
The webquest is created for students to cooperate in order to accomplish their mini projects. It can be for a single discipline (English, for example) or it can be interdisciplinary (including English and probably Arts, Literature, History).
To create a web quest is not complicated. The teacher has to search for a free webquest and has to create one with a clear title and a clear aim. I created such a webquest (on the website zunal.com/) named “Absolute Power” having in mind a lesson (unit 2) from Prospects Advanced – Absolute Power .
At this address – zunal.com/webquest.php?w=182812 – the students post information about important personalities that has made a powerful contribution to people’s life. They are free to choose the person that impressed them the most.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Udrea, Georgeta-Gabriela, Integrating Technology in Teaching English, Casa Corpului Didactic, Bacau, 2018;
www.elc.edu/english-courses/english-teaching-methods/;
www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/how-to-teach-english-to-children/.