Christina WebQuest Extravaganza

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Christina WebQuest Extravaganza
www.christina.k12.de.us/webquests

• Joe Ambrosino, Brian Conway, Minnie Hutchison
• Joyce Nerlinger, Alyssa RosenthalDelaware
  Instructional Technology ConferenceApril 10, 2002

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The Finished Products

• Save Recordiahttp//www.christina.k12.de.us/webqu
  ests/recordia/
• The Great Owl Search http//www.dcet.k12.de.us/te
  ach/hutch/webquest.html
• Creating Historical Fiction Civil War Journal
  http//www.christina.k12.de.us/webquests/civilwar
  /
• Technology Integration http//www.christina.k12.d
  e.us/webquests/integratetech/

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Process

• Volunteers from the district
• 5 meetings from November to March
• Worked with Pat Sine from UD through in-person
  and virtual consulting
• http//www.udel.edu/sine/christina/index.html

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Parts of a WebQuest

• Introduction
• Task
• Process Resources
• Evaluation
• Conclusion

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Task

• Most important part of a WebQuest
• Should be stated in a single sentence
• Must require higher order thinking
• Great examples http//projects.edtech.sandi.net/
  staffdev/tpss99/tasksimap/

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Our Tasks

• From the point of view of a participant in the
  events of  the Civil War (1861-1865),  create a
  journal with five entries that capture what you
  witnessed during some important event of the
  Civil War. (Civil War Journal)
• Your group must go back in time (on the Internet)
  to gather information about the culture in
  Medieval and Renaissance Europe to create a
  journal, a castle model, and a tapestry to
  complete Cacophony the Wizards 4 challenges.
  (Save Recordia)

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Our Tasks

• Your task is to find an instructional technology
  integration activity that supports State
  Standards and Principles of Best Instructional
  Practice, to be shared at the end of our session.
  (Technology Integration)
• You are to choose your favorite owl and then
  sculpt it out of clay.  Your teacher will show
  you many techniques for working with the clay but
  not until you can show her that you know the
  characteristics of a real owl. (Sculpting an
  Owl)

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Process and Resources

• What the students will do to accomplish the task
• The resources (electronic and traditional) to get
  the job done
• Few enough resources to not overwhelm
• Enough resources to support all learners

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Process and Resources

• Familiarize yourself with the 13 Principles of
  Best Instructional Practice and choose one on
  which to focus.
• Familiarize yourself with the Activity Evaluation
  Chart.
• Use the resources to find an activity
• that supports your chosen principle.   
• that aligns with State Standards.   
• that uses technology, not as an add-on, but as
  a tool integral to accomplishing the
  instructional objective.
• Use the chart to record your findings.
• Be prepared to share your findings with the
  group. (Technology Integration)

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Evaluation

• Rubric-based so that students know whats
  expected of them
• Includes ALL elements of the task to be
  accomplished, especially the standards that are
  to be achieved

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Evaluation

• Sample from the Civil War Journal WebQuest

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Introduction and Conclusion

• Least important parts but easiest to create
• Sets the context coming and going

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Introduction and Conclusion

• Hooray!!!  Your class has been given the honor of
  creating realistic owl sculptures to decorate
  your school.  Before artists can begin to make a
  sculpture of an animal they have to learn as much
  as they can about that animal. Therefore you will
  have to learn about owls before you begin to
  create a realistic owl sculpture. You will be
  working with a partner to find out as much as you
  can about owls but each of you will make your own
  sculpture. (Sculpting an Owl)

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Introduction and Conclusion

• If you have completed the task of creating an owl
  sculpture you have  something that you can
  treasure all your life.  What makes it more
  special is that you worked the way artists do. 
  You researched your subject (an owl), learned all
  about it and really looked at its
  characteristics. You also learned how to See like
  an Artist.  You looked for the geometric shapes
  that make up the owl.  You can do the same
  thing whenever you look at something to draw,
  paint, or sculpt.  Always look for the basic
  shapes first, draw them, then add the
  details.(Sculpting an Owl)

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Summing Up
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Where We Fell Short

• Difficult to change gears from the
  lesson-planning and activity mode to WebQuest
  mode
• Maintaining the commitment as the challenges grew
  (lost 3 along the way)

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Where We Were Challenged

• Matching WebQuest aims to Delaware standards and
  curriculum demands
• Maintaining a balance between learning the
  skills of creating and publishing a WebQuest and
  the skills of writing a quality WebQuest

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Where We Succeeded

• Reflecting on the process and presenting it to
  colleagues at our districtwide inservice
• Using an immersion process to develop a district
  corps of experts

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Our Advice

• Writing WebQuests is hard but worth the effort if
  you can invest the time
• There are lots of good and bad WebQuests out
  there. Carefully evaluate before you try one in
  the classroom.http//edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webq
  uestrubric.html

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You can find us on the web at www.christina.k12.de
.us/webquests.