This week's project is evaluation of a webquest. I chose a webquest from Zunal. This is a very useful site for teachers who likes to integrate technology with lessons. It is also beneficial for students. But, in my opinion, the homepage of the site could have been a bit attractive to learners. There is almost no visual post and visual quality is an effective tool for teaching by technology. Because graphics contribute to the subjects being understood, visuals make concepts clear. Moreover, as for navigation, it is clear to the learner what all the pieces are and how to get to them. And there are no broken links or misplaced or missing images, badly sized tables. On the contrary, links and images were chosen appropriately for the learners.
I chose the webquest named The Tudor Queen. You can reach it from here. The welcome page gives the description of the title and introduces the writer and the key words. In the introduction page, the introduction draws the reader into the lesson by relating to the reader's interest. It says '' God save you Sirs/Madams...'' More effectively, it asks many questions about to the subject to get the whole attention of the students. And it also says;
''Fasten your seat belts please and relax
The journey is about to start''
It prepares the learner by foreshadowing what the lesson is about.
In terms of the task page, the task is referenced to the standards, it is related to the topic. It is clear to understand, learners are able to know what they will do to achieve proficiency.And the task is doable, it requires the synthesis of multiple sources of information. (Learners are given different options.)
In the process page, first of all it begins with an attention-taking sentence. It says;
''Our marvellous journey in theElizabethan era has just begun!!!
Follow my instructions carefully in order to do the task that follow!''
There are two sections: The first part gives the directions which must be done after reading the passages in the second section. In the first part, there are three stages giving directions in relation to the passages. Learners first should read the passages then answer the questions. They are given worksheets in terms of checking their attention. Finally they have a quiz, they have to submit their names and e-mail adresses to take the quiz. The results will be sent to their mail adresses. They are given the link of the quiz. You can reach it from here. In this process part, I can obviously see that every step is clearly stated. Students will know what they are doing and where they are, and they will know what they will do next. Activities are related and designed to take students from basic knowledge to higher level thinking. Different roles are assigned to help students understand the topic from different perspectives.
Resources are chosen directly available for the topic. There is a clear and meaningful connection between all the sources and the information. Links are to the point and they make excellent use of the timeliness. One of the websites is about Queen Elizabeth's biography. You can have a look at it from here. And there are also two videos about Elizabeth. One of them is Elizabeth and her portraits. And the other is Encountering the queen: Elizabeth and her portraits. There are varied sources that provide enough meaningful information for students.
Finally, in the evaluation part, the criteria for success are clearly stated. Learners are informed how they will be evaluated. There is an evaluation rubric including qualitative and quantitative descriptions. There are four different parts for each stage and each stage is scored differently. Learners can control all of them. It also lets students to think reflectively for what they must know and what they are able to know.
I think webquesting is a very effective tool for teaching. It's neither a classic nor boring. Learners can enjoy it. I will advise my students to use webquesting in the future. And of course, I will be guiding them in this issue. While evaluating this webquest, I enjoyed so much, challenged my mind. It developed my critical thinking and so on. I hope you will enjoy it as well :) Thank you!
Nadire
