I really enjoyed the webquest assignment. In fact, I tried to create some of my own, just to see how it works. For me, the challenge of the webquests I looked at was twofold. One was to create a webquest that really needed the web to be effective. Simply putting poems on the internet instead of handing them out in class doesn't seem to really integrate technology into teaching. The second issue was evaluation. The rubrics need to reflect the learning objectives, and they need to be rigorous. I really struggle personally with creating great rubrics. There are lots of rubric examples out there, some good, some not so much. One good site for examples and for rubric "know how" and guidance is from Kathy Schrock at Discovery Education: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/assess.html I feel like she's vetted some quality sites.
So the other part of this all is that I decided to experiment with creating my own webquests. Our district is big on Google Sites, so I used that. The first webquest is one I'm considering using for a course I'm teaching this summer. It's called "Expanding the Canon" and its an opportunity for teachers to read and evaluate contemporary literature for approval to be included in our district's canon.
It's available at: evaluating literature webquest I'm not very excited about it, but it's an okay start. I like the next one though!
The other is an activity I first created last year using Trackstar (available through http://4teachers.org/). I tried to move it to a webquest using Google Sites. One of my goals with this was for students to teach themselves by looking at different websites, and also to provide differentiation by providing resources at different levels. This information is usually something I deliver in a lecture style, and I was looking for more engaging options.
If you're interested, check out: Odyssey Webquest I'd love to have some feedback. I'm kind of excited about this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment