A Quick Look at Resources for Developing Online Materials
Presented for the TESOL EVOnline 2004 Session: Becoming a Webhead

Michael Krauss
Academic English Studies, Lewis & Clark College

This Web page was created to support a one hour chat held at Tapped In on February 23, 2004. A transcript of the chat will be available here shortly after the presentation.

• 1. Culture Capsules (student project)
• 2. Hatchet: A Student Survival Guide (student project)
• 3. Subject Sampler (teacher created)
• 4. Posting Student Projects (student created)
• 5. Building Online Quizzes, Games, and Surveys with Quia (teacher and student created)
• 6. Additional Resources

2. Hatchet: A Student Survival Guide (student project) - Students read the novel, Hatchet, in their intermediate reading class. They researched lists of vocabulary given them by their teacher. They discussed the novel in class and also chose topics from the book on which to do research. Building on their knowledge from the reading class, in the Computer Applications class, they developed a Web guide to help other ESL students read and enjoy Hatchet. Students used a Web editor for their individual pages. I supplied them with templates to get started. I assembled the individual students' parts to make the final Web site. Explore the Hatchet Project. To explore later: Lessons to create the Hatchet Project Hatchet Workbook (study guide to the novel)

Return to top.

3. Subject Sampler - This is one of the Web-based activity formats developed by Pacific Bell Fellows in the 90's (Hotlists, Treasure Hunts and WebQuests are others). This is discussed in depth in Tom March's article (on your reading list). Samplers can be created with a free click 'n build resource, Filamentality. You need no Web skills, no Web editor, and no server. Choose one of the Subject Samplers below to explore. Prejudice - This Sampler was created with a Web editor so feedback could be emailed by the students to me. This was an introductory assignment in a course on Civil Rights and Diversity for advanced ESL students. Celebrating the Monkey - This Sampler was created with Filamentality by a EFL teacher enrolled in an online course I teach, "Integrating the Internet into the Classroom. " (use any materials you like from this course to educate yourself or help your students) Explore how Filamentality works. Read an Introduction. Then take a tour. NOTE: Do *not* click on any links or in any boxes on the Filamentality Web pages during the tour. Just skim the pages and at the bottom click on "Continue the tour." The tour takes you through the process of producing a "Hotlist" (a Web page with links). The topic of the Hotlist created is "Web Pages and How Filamentality Can Help." To explore later: You can search Filamentality to make use of the 1000's of activities created by other teachers. You can get a flow chart of the Filamentality process to help you understand it. You can get started with Filamentality when you're ready. You can find top rated WebQuests and get templates to create your own at the WebQuest page. Filamentality is showing its age. Tom March has created Web and Flow (in his words, "Filamentality on steroids or after a load of lattés. "); $25 per year.

Return to top.

4. Posting Student Projects - Want to post a project that includes student writing, a graphic image and links to resources, but don't have the Web skills? Or have your students post their own work? The essay below was posted with Project Poster in less than fifteen minutes from start to finish (including the registration process). This resource is from HPR*Tec (High Plains Regional Technology in Education Consortium). Have a look at My Writing Is Like a Dolphin (student essay). Explore Project Poster. Just scan the page to learn how to easily build your project. To explore later: Here is an image to use if you want to practice posting a page with a graphic at Project Poster. Click to open it. Once it opens, right-click it to download it to your computer. (Mac users, hold "control" key down and click the image"). Follow the instructions at Project Poster to upload your image. Other high quality, free resources from HPR*Tec include Web Worksheet Wizard (online lessons, class pages and worksheets), TrackStar (create Web-based activities by collecting and annotating related sites), and QuizStar (create quizzes for students to take and review online)

Return to top.

5. Building Online Quizzes, Games, and Surveys with Quia - Create class pages, online activities (16 formats to choose from), quizzes (self-correcting with 8 question types), and online surveys. Quia also includes a directory with 1000's of previously created activities and quizzes you can use. This is the most versatile and user-friendly "click 'n build" tool of its kind that I've found. The directory *is* free to use; however, creating materials of your own is *not* free. Costs $49 per year to create materials, but several teachers (and/or students) can share one account (that's what I have done). Visit the Quia directory to find online activities useful for your students. Choose among the Quia class pages below to explore: Teacher-created - This simple Quia Science class page was created to supplement an intermediate level Earth Science class. Some activities were created by me, others came from the Quia directory. Here's a intermediate level Quia Reading class page. Student created - This Quia class page and all activities on it were created by a student in an intermediate level Computer Applications class. A good variety of activity templates were used. (Do you think he liked basketball!!?) To explore later: Lessons for a "Quia Creations" student project + more student created samples. Teach yourself to use Quia.

Return to top.

6. Additional Resources ESL Independent Study Lab - 225 high quality resources for ESL and native speaker students. Web sites are annotated, organized by skill area (listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary, writing, fun 'n games, TOEFL, pronunciation), and graded for difficulty. Integrating the Internet into the Classroom - Topics covered include: Web searching and evaluation, online materials creation, collaborative Internet projects and more. Supports an online class, but materials are freely available to use for self-education or with students in the classroom. Put the Web to Work for You and Your Students - More ideas and resources for creating and using online materials. Teacher's Web Tools Web Tour - Extensive list of mostly free online tools for teachers.

Return to top.
Return to Michael Krauss Home Page.

Created by: krauss@lclark.edu
Updated: 2/20/04