Originally developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in February, 1995, a WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. Teachers pre-select online resources for students to use during the inquiry process, and students are assigned particular roles to support student collaboration. Student typcially use both online and print resoruces to accomplish the tasks associated with the project.

(student faces are blurred for privacy reasons)

Quick guide to using cameras

Besides learning to write poetry, students  learned to write specific praise and constructive criticism for commenting on each other’s work. They practiced this element of the project on poems posted to the blog by Kristi and her student teacher. Kristi observed, “Students are now posting their own work and commenting with maturity and grace! Success!”
You can see their project by going to  http://www.msdahlstrom.edublogs.org

Kristi says, “I set up a class blog using Edublogs called The Ninth Wall, and created usernames for each of the students in my class.  This was time-consuming, requiring me to split one email address 25 times to create unique usernames, but it takes several steps out of the process, including the tricky one that requires students to have email accounts, which many do not. I used Gmail, adding numbers and letters (1A, 1B, 1C, etc.) after a plus sign and before the @gmail.com.  For example, an account address would have been ingraham.la.student+1L@gmail.com.  It worked very well, allowing me to keep track of passwords through a single account. For more on how to set up this type of gmail account click here.

After setting up the accounts, Kristi asked each student to submit at least one poem to the blog to form a class anthology.  Before the poems were published to the blog they went through an editing stage. After being edited, the poems were turned in to Kristi and she posted them to the site. To make sure that the students’ comments were serious, Kristi gave herself complete moderating control. This takes teacher time, but is worth it for the quality of comment she is asking of her students.

If you ask Kristi if all the time spent was worth it, she says: “This has been the most enjoyable project! I would highly recommend it.”

Resources:
http://www.edublogs.org
Why Should I Blog with My Students

Project Purpose: to create a “sense of place” about a country in North Africa or Southwest Asia. See her project handout for details about student expectations. This project was part of a larger unit that included a UNESCO essay designed to use a research gathering tool which prompted students to gather background information about an assigned country (essay handout).

Key Resources: UNESCO website, eLibrary (great resources for pictures & maps), Photostory3 handout (QRD)

Timeline:

• Day 1: Project overiew and discussion about UNESCO (1 period = 50 min)
• Day 2: UNESCO fact collection/research in library & homework (1 period)
• Days 3: Demo examples, including inspirational video about Matt Dancing around the world (click on Matt’s Place)
• Days 4 & 5: Student work days (4 periods in library – block schedule)
  ** There was no formal instruction about Photostory3, the demo and QRD (Quick Reference Document) was sufficient to support student use.
• Day 6 & 7: Student presentations

Step 1: Teacher, librarian and IT specialist met to explore Photostory3. Mrs. Beers used the QRD to guide her development of 2 model projects, 1 modeling what not to do, and another providing a positive exmple.

Step 2: Mrs. Beers create 2 demos at home, showing both a strong and weak example of a multimedia project. She focused on limiting text and photo selection. Creating a project gave her a better understanding of how student might use the tool.

Step 3: Class project days

Step 4: Student presentations – samples Omar| Jordan

Important Technical Issues:

1. Save both the Phtostory project files (.wp3) and the final rendered videos (.wmv) in either student folders on the server or in a virtual teacher drop-box
2. If projects will be available on the web, be sure to discuss copyright issues associated with using music from a file or CD. The customized music option in Photostory makes copyright compliance much easier to manage.

When you go to David’s wiki to read these reviews keep these minimum student guidelines in mind. There must be:

• a summary,
• an explanation of why they are recommending this book,
• a description of where this book can be found which includes links,
• information about the author which includes links, and
• one or two images.

If you would like to know David’s thoughts on this project and how he set it up, click on

David says:
“I like the way the wiki lends itself to collaboration. It is an opportunity for students to work together and help each other. After the WASLs, I increasingly emphasize the reading culture, which includes discussing and writing about books with peers. Having the students collaborate took that idea a step further.”

“I had a rubric that set out my expectations for how they should work on the wiki and what they would accomplish. I set out the assignment clearly, blocked out lots of lab time, established rules for working on the wiki, and set them loose. I worked with them constantly, troubleshooting problems and helping them do what they wanted to do. I told them that their article had to be perfect because they were going to be public. The students helped each other with editing, but I also printed out their drafts and required many rewrites. Near the end, I sat down with students and helped them revise their articles in real time. Classes that finished early had an additional assignment of conducting interviews with wiki participants.”

“The project, in my view, was very successful. Almost all students completed it with good results. Many felt they had learned “real-world” skills. It was a good experience for them to have to write something to perfection. Because it was public, they understood why their pieces had to be perfect and they were motivated. Also, many felt they had the opportunity to do something “special.” Keep in mind, I teach struggling readers – - they liked being able to do something that was out of the ordinary.”

Set up:
“The key to making this work was planning. It was very labor intensive. I thought it would work more smoothly if I created email accounts for every student. I set up wiki accounts for every student, and then as administrator, I had to invite the students to participate in the wiki. I then accepted the invitation for them via their email accounts. Now, in May, all they’ll have to do is sign in with their assigned usernames and passwords. It makes it easy for them, and I have complete control over administration.”

“This year I created my email addresses using Google Apps, which allows you to create group email accounts. That turned out to be easy and cheap ($5 for the domain name). This service is connected with Google Sites, which allows you to create websites and wikis. I won’t be giving my students their email addresses, because I’m only using the email to set up their wiki accounts and invite them to participate in my wiki.”
(It should be noted that currently the only District email approved for student use is gaggle.net and epals. For those interested, here is a suggested gmail trick from Edublogs. …Janice)

“My wiki account on Wikispaces allows me to set the permissions to one of the following:
Public – anyone can view, edit, or comment
Protected – anyone can view, only members can edit and comment
Private – only members can view, edit and comment
Custom – defines custom permissions
I choose “Protected.” My wiki is not searchable, however. You can’t find it from Google, so far as I know. I have the option of updating my wiki to “Private.”

“There is no way to contact the students who are working or have worked on the wiki. The email addresses are not available on the wiki. The students do not have their email addresses because I don’t give them to them. I only use the email addresses to set up their wiki accounts.”

“There is only a 2 to 3 week window when the students are actively working on their wiki. As they complete their work, I lock down the pages so no one in the project can change them. When the project is completed in late June, I delete all the members except myself, the administrator. Thus, there is no way for anyone to get back into the project after it’s over.”

“I’ve never had any problems with inappropriate comments, writing or editing. The students are well aware of the rules. I check the comments the student make – they actually get graded on the comments. I would delete any inappropriate comments. In addition, students only go by first names or usernames. Students are not allowed to use their last names, and I would delete it if one was ever used.”

“As I said, this is a very labor intensive project. For teachers who are new to it, I recommend they start with one class of about 30 students or fewer. Expectations of students must be very clear. Treat the first time as a pilot project, and then see how it goes.”

Lori Leberer, art and multimedia teacher, and Chuck Meding, technology teacher, have involved SBOC students in the Adobe Youth Voices program for the last two years. This program works with schools worldwide using the Adobe Premier products to achieve Adobe’s goal to help students create with purpose. The theme for SBOC student projects is, “I Am From…” Chuck Meding says, “Our goal is to demystify the power of the computer and to help our students communicate their stories to others. Digital story telling is powerful when simply done with pictures and student voices. Lots of our students are scared and lost when they come here, and getting their feelings out in video helps them tell all of us their story without worrying about language. It empowers them.”  You can see that in the three student videos featured here.

Students stay with the SBOC from one to four semesters transitioning through three literacy levels and five math levels. Their greatest impediment is communicating in English. Telling their stories helps them grow in English communication skills as they work with teachers, volunteers and other students to get their stories to publication.

The Adobe Youth Voices program is designed to be finished in an academic year, but at the SBOC the projects must be finished in a semester (20 weeks), because the students who qualify to work with the Youth Voices program are the ones who will be transitioning out to other schools at semester breaks. This is a steep learning curve for students as they strive to tell their stories through pictures, sound and narration.

Here are three of their stories.
Rolando:

Claudia:

Jeong:

Using a free sign-up Gabcast account, teachers and students can use any telephone or VOIP enabled computer to create and share audio podcasts. These audio podcasts can be shared with the unique URL to a users gabcast account, posted to a blog or website, or downloaded and distributed through a variety of digital media formats. Users create Gabcasts by calling an 800 number and entering the unique channel number and password for their account. Once they have accessed their account, users simply speak as though they are leaving a voice message. After creating the message, users are given the opportunity to preview the message, re-record if necessary, and the immediately publish the message to their Gabcast channel.

Gabcast makes it easy for anyone to make learning a mobile, “anytime” and “anywhere” experience. The opportunity to offer up insights or reflections for teachers and students where and when they occur is now as easy as making a phone call.

I have collected valuable information to guide you through getting started including:

• Mark Federman’s tips for getting started such as choosing your first few titles for the year, introducing your first book club event, advertising the launching of your Book Club etc.
• Letter of Support from Barnes and Noble which highlights suggestions for raising funds for purchasing books plus much more
• Technology Resources and websites for each phase of implementation

Mark Federman visited with some of our Seattle principals to share his process and insights for a successful implementation of a Book Club. With his permission, I have outlined below a summary of notes from his presentation and artifacts he shared around this topic. I have also spotlighted the technology resources and websites, which can help you in the various phases of implementation. Be sure to read the letter of support from Barnes and Noble local representative, Lisa Lundquist.

First Year Selection of Books

• Start with a Universal theme, a book everyone can read, high interest for students you are targeting
• Repeat popular authors
• BiblioTherapy: Allow for time with students to address important teen issues and other topics
• Choose books that have movies coming out

Technology Resources:
First Year suggested BookCover List and Synopsis
Evergreen Young Adults Book Awards
Sponsored by Washington Young Adults Review Group
Pacific Northwest Library Assoc. Young Reader’s Choice Awards
This award includes a division category for 4-6th grades, 7-9th grades, and  10-12th grades.
Notable Children’s Books
Committee of librarians  (ALSC) identifies the best of the best in children’s books (for age levels birth -14). According to the Notables Criteria, “notable” is defined as: Worthy of note or notice, important, distinguished, outstanding.

Ideas for Advertising

• Pass out fliers to introduce the Book Club. Be sure to include upcoming books for future Book Club sessions
• Announcement at assemblies
• Book Talks either in person or on multimedia
• Special flier for “Invite for Kick off Party” (usually 10-15 minute book talk and a time to distribute copy of books for students)
• Another way to distribute books might be in partnership with Language Arts Teachers, Math teachers, or Science teachers as appropriate for the featured Book Club selection.
• Email announcements to teachers with possible incentives such as field trips for a class of students to Bookstore or Library, or organize a field trip for teachers to a local bookstore.
• Inquire around your local businesses for ways to raise funds. ( see letter of support from Barnes & Noble)
• Inquire about celebration locations in your community  where students can share their own poetry or other writings in front of live audience
• Provide workshop for all parents to attend in order to inform parents of the Literacy expectations and value of reading (see PowerPoint:Family Literacy Information)

Technology Resources:
Book Cover Images to paste and create your own fliers
PowerPoint: “Family Literacy Information”
Letter of Support from Barnes & Noble

Getting Students Started

• Special flier for “Invite for Kick off Party” (usually 10-15 minutes book talk and a time to distribute copy of books to students.
• Provide a suggested time line to finish reading the book. For first year, recommend a three to four week time frame but can be adapted, as students get familiar with format.
• Request a letter from students about the book (see Sample Request)
• Pull quotes from student letters to start discussion
*Encourage students to keep a log of what they have read
• Mark Federman is currently using a tool online for book discussion groups called Goodreads
• Provide a tutorial for students to learn how to use online discussion group (Ideally, the school librarian might do this.)

Technology Resources:
Sample letter to students
includes suggested prompting questions
Goodreads
This is a website where book lovers can record the books read or plans to read and share rating for books with recommendations. This resource also features a forum to have group discussion about books read within a private setting.
Shelfari (Another option for rating books or online book discussion)  http://www.shelfari.com/

The 10^th Grade Honors Physics class studied velocity and the idea of plus and minus when used with direction. Kim’s fourth period physics class used soccer and basket balls with Logger Pro to analyze horizontal and vertical motion. And finally, the IB Physics class determined the mass of a hover puck. A force plate was attached to the Lab Quest hand held device to determine impulse. Determining the impulse allowed students to solve for the mass of the puck.

The students used three pieces of technology to help them with their demonstrations. The science technology pieces were Logger Pro and the hand held Lab Quest, both from Vernier. Logger Pro allows students to collect data and video from experiments. The video is synchronized with the data collection making it easy for students to make predictions and demonstrate science concepts. The hand held Lab Quest device can be used as a computer interface or in the field for conducting experiments. FLIP cameras were used for the student video portion of the projects because they are small and easy to edit both from the software provided from the camera or in MovieMaker2.

Here are some representative videos from the projects:
10th grade: Positive and Negative velocity
baucho-and-raymond
haley-and-brennas-swell-presentation