Evaluation of the History Detective WebQuest

Evaluation is the crucial step to making improvement. In order to evaluate my WebQuest lesson I enlisted the help of professional colleagues who are teachers, and some professionals from the technology business field. Overall, their comments were very favorable. Each professional looked through the WebQuest, evaluating three things: the content of the lesson, the teaching strategies, and the functionality of the technology. Each professional E-mailed me a list of the things that worked well, and suggestions for improvement in these three areas.

The content of the lesson is the key to capturing the attention of the learner, and making sure that the objectives are accomplished. Anything that is outside the focus of the content could be distracting, unless it is a side note that will help maintain the interest of the learner. Many of the evaluators commented that they were very impressed with the interesting opening activity on the student page. They thought that this activity very subtly and covertly locked their attention, then transitioned to the lesson in a very smooth manner. Many of the teachers felt that the content was something that is not often covered well in classes, and would be a great addition to any history curriculum. As far as improvement, most of the criticism pointed in the direction of just adding and deleting websites as more interesting and engaging sites were found. They mentioned that this would probably be something that would evolve over time. I really agree with that statement, and have found that many times students stumble on to even better websites than what I have found. I always am keeping an eye out for great websites, and often use my favorites folder to store new and interesting sites. Many said that the websites worked, and that they were within the scope of the lesson content, however they thought that they may get students to think about and connect to even other topics as they read through them. One even suggested developing the Sherlock Holmes idea even more by providing more links to evidence about his being real or fictional. This is exactly what I had in mind, and in fact, this is just the first of many lessons in this area. If you look at the Conclusions section of the WebQuest, you will find that I put some extension ideas for students to continue their learning. In the near future, I hope to include some links there that would help students follow their new ideas and connections to the content.

Teaching strategies at times can get so confusing that they distract from the lesson. Overall, those evaluating the website felt the strategies were great. They liked the idea of having the students work individually on some of the lesson, then come together collaboratively to create a synthesis of their learning in the form of the PowerPoint presentation. They really thought the this was great, because the students were really the focus of the lesson, it is a students-centered lesson. Some mentioned that I may want to just clarify the requirements of the lesson in a more simple format. They liked the description of the different phases, but felt some students may get a little confused the way I have communicated those ideas. All of them commented on how great it was to have the evaluation rubric where students can constantly check themselves against that standard, and they felt that the grading of the project was clear and communicated well to the students.

Often times, great lessons are destroyed by technology. Not because technology is bad, but because the way it is used is distracting, and leads to complications in the lesson. My goal was to try and eliminate that as much as possible. Those who evaluated my WebQuest felt that the format of the lesson was done very well. They like the graphics and backgrounds. They liked how it was easy to contact me through e-mail. I hope to have this used by students to give me feedback on the lesson. I will incorporate an area where students can give feedback on the lesson. The links all worked, and it was noted that it was nice to be able to click and go to each section individually, and not have to scroll down the entire page. The like the relative links to the different sections of the page. One comment that was made that I tried to incorporate was to make sure instruction were given to students as far as how to save and what to title documents. I thought this was important to eliminate confusion and lost work, and I tried to incorporate that into the WebQuest.

Those who evaluated my Webquest were very helpful and gave me a lot to think about in how to improve the lesson in the areas of content, teaching strategy, and usability. This is only the start of something grand I hope. I have every intention of calling this a work in progress that will continue to evolve and become even better. I am a teacher who is not afraid to be instructed by my students, and I can not wait for them to try this WebQuest, so that we can make it better.