Jonathan Smith

ITEC 7445

Goetzel

Project Report

Project Report

Product URL: http://smith701.weebly.com

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AnalysisIn Georgia 7th grade social studies, students study geography, religions,

governments, history and economies of the Middle East, Southern and Eastern Asia, and Africa. For this project, students focused on the Georgia performance standard SS7G8 which states; The students will describe the diverse cultures of people who live in Southwest Asia (Middle East). The students focused on element C of this standard which states: compare and contrast the prominent religions in Southwest Asia; Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Based on the standard stated above, the students will answer the following essential questions: How do the religions in Southwest Asia compare? How do the religions in Southwest Asia contrast?

This project will be completed in the 21st century classroom that has 15 computers. Since there are only 15 computers, the students will be spit up into groups of 2 with an occasional group of 3 if needed.

Learner Analysis

128 seventh grade students will complete this project. 9 of these students have IEPs and are served in an inclusion setting with exceptional student service support (co-teacher). To meet the needs of all students, I have placed the students into collaborative groups based on last years CRCT scores, and other ability indicators based on this years grades and reading level. 90% of these students read on or above grade level, while 7% read within 1-2 grade levels and 3% read 2 or more grade levels below.

These students have been exposed to project based learning twice this year and the majority had previous experiences last year. These students are also consistently in group work as they complete mini projects at the conclusion of each standard.

This project will be completed in the 21st century classroom that has 15 computers. Since there are only 15 computers, the students will be split up into groups of 2 with an occasional group of 3 if needed.

Context Analysis

● Class characteristics -There are around 30 students per class and classes are roughly one hour long. Some classes tend to be shorter than others because of bathroom breaks, locker breaks, and teachers letting out late. Students come into the room and begin working on a warm-up each day, before beginning the instruction period, followed by the activity period and closure/assessment.

● Technical considerations –This project will take place in a 21st century classroom in which students have access to 15 desktop computers. No students have any assistive technology needs, however, some students do have an IEP and will require extended time, tiered rubrics, and fill in the blank notes.

● Teacher characteristics – Since the students have been in a 21st century classroom for 12 weeks now, the students are fairly comfortable with technology. Some students may need outlines on how to create a brochure on Microsoft word, which will be given on an as needed basis.

● Standards – Georgia performance standard- SS7G8: The student will describe the diverse cultures of the people who live in Southwest Asia. C. Compare and contrast the prominent religions in the Middle East: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.

NETS-S Standards

Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. A.. Identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation b. Plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project d. Use multiple processes and diverse perspectives

Digital Citizenship: Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. a. Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology b. Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity c. Demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning d. Exhibit leadership for digital citizenship

Technology Operations and Concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. A Understand and use technology systems b. Select and use applications effectively and productively c. Troubleshoot systems and applications d. Transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies

Research and Information Fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. b. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media c. Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks

Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. a. Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes b. Create original works as a means of personal or group expression

DesignOverview

The introduction will include the hook of the project including a picture that is related to the topic and a Voki video that describes the hook.

The task explains what the students will be doing; in this case, the students will be viewing websites on multiple religions and putting together a brochure to get tips from their customers. This also includes a Voki video that describes the task.

The process is how the students will complete the project. This page consists of documents that the students will download, and links that the students will view to answer the document questions.

The evaluation page is a rubric that the students can look at and use as a checklist to ensure a satisfactory grade.

The conclusion page wraps up the assignment and lets the students know that they are finished with the webquest.

The credit page is a works cited page that gives credit to any source that I did not create.

The teacher page is useful for other teachers that may want to use the project. This will include ideas that they may want to use to improve the project and will also list all of the standards that the WebQuest covers.

Religions Picture on the introduction page- http://www.kualalumpurpost.net/is-there-a-religion-that-is-greater-than-any-other-religions/

Voki Video- located on the introduction and process page was created by Jonathan Smith via www.voki.com

Tour guide picture- located on the task page was taken via google images- http://fryemuseum.org/gallery_guides/

Coexist picture- Located on the process page, was taken via google images-http://gettingeek.com/comparing-judaism-christianity-islam-15.html

Judaism Link- http://gssg-mobile.wix.com/go-history-go/judaism

Christianity link- http://gssg-mobile.wix.com/go-history-go/christianity

Islam link-http://gssg-mobile.wix.com/go-history-go/islam#!__islam

The end picture- Located on the conclusion page, was taken via google images- http://paulhastings0.blogspot.com/2009/03/end.html

Details

In the WebQuest, the content is presented with UDL in mind. I used high contrast with a light background and dark text to help with the visual of the text. For each section there is a picture that will help users associate content, as well as, a button letting the student know which page to go to next. I used audio for the text on my page to help with students who may have visual or reading disabilities. I, also, chose to use the site gosocialstudiesgo.com for their research. This website is very user friendly and the students are able to read text, see pictures and watch videos all of which relate to the same topic. I also, use the UDL principle of multiple means of engagement by motivating students to do the project by making it a competition in who can get the most “tips” (votes), students also may be motivated by prior knowledge that he or she has in Christianity, Islam or Judaism as they are 3 of the most followed religions in the world. The last way that I use UDL for engagement is because students have the choice to make the brochures how they want. The students can choose to make 3 brochures or 1 brochure, and these can be set up anyway that the student wants as long as it meets the minimum content requirements.

This project will be a group project of 2 or 3 students. The students will each take their own notes as they read through the websites that I have provided and answer the reading guide questions. In the websites that I have provided there are pictures, graphs and videos that relate to the topic. The website that I have chosen for the students to read for their research is age appropriate and uses language that the students use in their everyday life. I feel that the website combined with my reading guide that I have created provides for an effective learning environment.

Assistive technologies could be used in this project in multiple ways such as; providing audio for students with visual disabilities, voice command for students

with physical disabilities and pictures and captions to go along with any videos or text for students with auditory disabilities.

Further ideas for the project may include adding in video of myself explaining the introduction and task, as well as audio for reading guide questions.

DevelopmentFor this project, I decided to use the website weebly.com to create my webquest. I broke my project down into sections for completion. My first step was to take the first few weeks of the semester to look over my Georgia performance Standards and figure out what I wanted my WebQuest to be on. Once I chose religions of the Middle East, I then moved on to the finished product. I am a firm believer in backward design (scaffolding), so I decided that the students would complete a brochure of the Middle East. I then begin to research websites for the project. When I finished gathering up my resources, I began to build my WebQuest. I used Weebly.com to build my WebQuest and I used Voki.com to embed an animated character to read the text on my WebQuest. I added in links and document files within my webquest. For the sites that the students will be using, I made them into buttons that the student could click. For the task, I explained it and added in a document file that the students could download and refer back to as needed. I then uploaded the rubric into the WebQuest that I created at an earlier date. Once I finished with the content and layout of my project, I went back and double-checked all of my sources. I then added these sources into the credits page, so that all sources were given credit and I did not break any copyright laws.

ImplementationFor this project, teachers will need access to enough computers or tablets for the students to complete the project in pairs or groups of three. In my case, I have 15 computers and the students will be able to complete the project in pairs. I have a 21st century classroom with computer and Internet access everyday. For teachers that do not have this luxury, they would need to set up dates to use the computer lab or a similar resource i.e mobile cart with laptops or tablets. In the instance of technical difficulties, depending on what the issue was, the project could either be delayed or a different resource could be used. I would recommend that the teacher have several books, on the religions, checked out from the library. If the websites are the issue, I would recommend that the teacher have a few back up websites planned or have the students do research through Google and Galileo.

The timeline for this webquest is three 50 minute class periods. The students will spend 2 days researching and completing their reading guides and at then end of the second day and all of the 3rd day, the students will complete their brochure. Students will complete most, if not all, of this webquest at school. The only part of the webquest that the students would complete at home would be to put the finishing touches and his/her brochure.

All students will have access to the internet in my room and I will be available after school for students who need extra time with the internet. The work that students may

have to do at home will not require the internet, as they will be putting together their brochure with the notes that they have taken at school.

I will not be collaborating with other teachers on this project. However, this project could be modified for students to write a compare/contrast essay on religions in the English Language Arts class.

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EvaluationThe students will eventually be given a test over the Middle East, which will include the religions that they have studied in this webquest. The students will be asked to compare and contrast the religions in a short answer question. I will know that this would an effective webquest, if the students end up doing well on their unit test as well as, their benchmark test.

Student Learning –

The students will be expected to create a brochure for the religions that they have studied. The students will have already taken a pretest on benchmark 1 material, which included questions on the religions. The brochures will give me an idea as to what the students have learned since the pretest. The students will also take a unit test and will take the benchmark 1 post-test as well. This will give be an even better idea as to how much the students actually learned, as to what they just memorized.

For the brochures, the students will have a rubric (included in the webquest) that they will be graded on. I like using rubrics because it lets the students know what needs to be done to get an A.

For my unit test, the students will answer a series of multiple choice and short answer questions. I like to have the students apply their knowledge as to just filling in a bubble on a piece of paper. This helps me see what the students have learned and what they did not understand so well.

The benchmark test (which is a county wide test) consist of only multiple choice questions. These questions are the exact same questions from the pretest and should show how much students have learned from the pretest to the posttest.

Product Design –

I will use student feed back and any problem shooting during the WebQuest to know if it is a well functioning project. I sampled this project with 4 of my students. Two students were on target reading levels for 7th grade, one was above 7th grade reading level, and one was below a 7th grade reading level (this student is also served in ESS inclusion). I paired the one average student with the above average student and one average student with the below average student. All students were able to successfully complete this WebQuest, with very little issues. The issues that occurred were technical issues of the Wi-Fi. This issue was easily fixed by resetting the router that is located in my room. As for feedback, the students stated that I should add in a task document that they could download, so that they could easily access their task without having to leave certain pages of the WebQuest. The students stated that they liked that the WebQuest was easy to navigate. The below average student also stated that he found the Voki animated instructions were very helpful. All students also liked the set up of Gosocialstudiesgo.com and said it was a fun way to study social studies. Lastly, the above average students liked the product of making a brochure. The students stated that I should add in a task document that they could download, so that they could easily access their task without having to leave certain pages of the WebQuest.

In the picture above, the students using the laptop are the students who sampled the WebQuest.

Reflection

I learned that using weebly.com and Voki.com are great tools in the classroom. I have spent some time in the past building websites and nothing has been as easy as weebly.com. This is a website that I would trust using for students to develop websites of their own. It is very user friendly and makes great websites. I had never used Voki.com before this webquest. I had seen it used before, but never had tried it for myself. After using it, I have to say that I love this tool. You can literally take any text and in 30 seconds have a cool audio tool to use. If I had to do this again, I would add in more video directions. I think this would be an added element and I could explain all the instructions and show students what the final product looks like.

I like the use of the WebQuest for structured learning. The WebQuest breaks the sections down for students and they can get a sense of accomplishment as they go from page to page. It also allows the students to navigate back and forth as much as they need. UDL principles really influenced how I decided to incorporate multimedia elements. I wanted the WebQuest to address the needs of all learners, so I decided to use high contrast, audio for auditory learners and pictures for visual students. The use of embedding links to Gosocialstudiesgo.com into my webquest was an awesome decision as well. I could have found other information and videos to add into my webpage, but this website nailed every aspect that I needed. Looking back, I could have added in a few more web links for more student choice, but again, I fell in love with the gosocialstudiesgo.com and felt that it covered everything that the WebQuest needed to teach the standard.

I have always seen like projects like this, but never had the guts to put one together. I would always think to myself, “man that is an awesome project.”, but never make my own. Now that I took this course and built my own webquest, I want to do it for every standard/unit. I think it would be very cool to sit down this summer with a couple of colleagues and create many WebQuests for our social studies department. I think that putting this project together has really made me that much more ready to become an instructional technology coach. I feel at ease with not only putting these types of projects together, but teaching others to build them as well.

For others, I would tell them to keep it simple at first. Do not try to over do it with your first WebQuest or else you may never try to build another one. Teachers should also keep in mind the age level that will be using the webquest. In middle school, when you think that something is simple, you may need to explain it that much more. Teachers also need to take into consideration UDL and design. Teachers need to reach all learners with the webquest and should make sure they do so but using videos, pictures, audio and high contrast.