kidcyberQuests are student assignments which pose a task for students, requiring them to follow links to find resources and do research. The value of such online assignments is that students are encouraged to use the Internet for research, but are guided to links and information pages that are in accessible language, removing the frustration of often fruitless searches which are time-consuming and too often result in students resorting to 'copy and paste' of information they do not understand. Their research is guided and much of the information required by the task is provided for them.

In classrooms where each student has a laptop computer, or where there is a good student :computer ratio, this sort of assignment poses no problem.

However, in classrooms where resources are stretched, it is not so easy. Teachers in classrooms such as these can try various options in order to use kidcyberQuests, depending on what resources are at their disposal:

Student computer time can be timetabled across however many computers are available, including those in the school library. To maximise the efficacy of their limited computer time, students should prepare in advance for their computer session so that they know exactly what they want to research beforehand. All relevant websites should be bookmarked by the teacher.

Students who have computers at home should be encouraged to do some of their research as homework tasks. Parents should be provided with guidelines of what is expected of students, i.e making notes rather than 'copy and paste', bibliographic details, etc. Parents should also be provided with the www.kidcyber.com.au website and other relevant sites so they can be bookmarked on the home computers.

If necessary, the kidcyberQuest pages can be printed and photocopied for distribution to students, and the information pages can similarly be printed for the students to do hard copy research. Perhaps a combination of hard copy and online research would be a satisfactory compromise for some situations.

Back to Teachers' Notes

Go to tourism links and resources (bookmark them on the classroom computer/s)