Learning activities

About online learning activities

Online learning activities provide engaging, meaningful and diversified learning experiences for students in the classroom. They have the potential to stimulate students' thinking and cater for different learning styles.

Developing online learning activities and using them in the classroom can also be a very rewarding experience for teachers.

Online learning activities include hotlists, treasure hunts, subject samplers, webquests, and scrapbooks. Go to the Asia EdNet online tutorial for information about these and other ways of using the web in education.

The Asia EdNet online initiative

The aim of the Asia EdNet online learning initiative was to encourage educators to develop high quality activities and make them available to others by placing them on the Asia EdNet website.

The activities are presented below, and accompanied by a brief explanation of their purposes and goals. Each explanation has been written by the creator.

Evaluation of the activities was guided by criteria designed by Tom March at BestWebQuests and ozline.com

Online learning activities

Sunitra's India - an Online English unit
Created by Ros Teirney, Ogilvie High School, New Town, Tasmania

Sunitra' India was developed so that the students at Ogilvie High School could learn more about India, the home of Sunitra, a child sponsored by the school.

The central theme of the activity is Indian life and culture. It aims to highlight the size and cultural diversity of India and demonstrates some of the dangers associated with making generalisations about India.

This activity is intended to develop students' knowledge and comprehension skills, as well as the way they apply knowledge and analysis of literature. Students also have the opportunity to create their own website or PowerPoint presentation.

The activity has a clear multicultural focus, and as such assists in the fulfilment of the aims of the Inclusivity priority of Ogilvie High School. Built into the program is the opportunity for students to set personal goals and manage their own time.

Japan - an Image based web quest
Created by Greg Gebhart, Lowanna College, Newborough,Victoria

This image based web quest was designed to provide students with a visual understanding of Japan. The saying, " A picture tells a thousand words" is often true. The webquest was developed to assist students with poor literacy skills or who lacked motivation when undertaking Studies of Asia projects.

Students provided great feedback on the quest, often pointing at images and sharing thoughts as they compared their own region to those on the screen. Their understanding seemed to be enhanced by the visual appeal with text links to assist those who wanted to investigate further.

The Blooming Flower of Flores - an online story
Created by Peter Lelong and his Year 4 students, Fahan School, Sandy Bay, Tasmania

This activity is a retelling of a traditional Indonesian folk tale from the island of Flores, made possible by the establishment of an email link between Fahan School and a school in Malang, Indonesia.

The aim of the activity is to enhance students' knowledge of Indonesian literature, and particularly to draw attention to the similarities between popular folk tales in Australian and Indonesian. The Blooming Flowers of Flores, for example, shares many similarities with the storyline in classics such as Little Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty.

There are numerous educational benefits associated with this activity. Once students read the story their desire to look at traditional tales from other cultures increases. It is also a wonderful means of prompting students to read more widely, improve their literacy and skills in the use of Information and Communication Technology.

Asian Cities Web Quest
Created by Duncan How, Elizabeth College, Hobart, Tasmania

The Asian Cities Web Quest looks at urbanisation and cities in Asia and the Pacific. It considers both the problems and opportunities facing the largest Asian cities, including Calcutta, Bangkok and Shanghai. It asks the question: are large cities in Asia and the Pacific monsters or boomers? To answer the question, the learner undertakes a virtual tour of three cities in different sub-regions of Asia and the Asia-Pacific.

This webquest is designed for the Geography unit of Australia, Asia and the Pacific in the Tasmanian Certificate of Education, but has many possible applications. For instance, it could be expanded by assigning specific roles to groups of students so they share their ideas online before reaching a combined answer.