March 1, 2001

March 1, 2001

Tapped In Session: Disaster WebQuests

Started recording in After School Online Room (#1460)[TappedIn] at Thu

Mar 1 15:58:52 2001 PST.

Kari [HelpDesk] waves hi to Bernie

(Dialog explaining the fact that this session was being recorded for research purposes removed.)

BernieD asks, "OK.... shall we start with the usual (Very Quick)

self-introductions?"

BernieD projects AboutB.

---------------

I'm Bernie Dodge and I'm a professor at San Diego State University in

the Department of Educational Technology.

For the last four years I've been involved with San Diego Unified School

District's two Challenge Grants (which are heavily about WebQuests).

More recently I've started work on a Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to

Use Technology grant in which we'll be trying out some new ways to

introduce teachers to computing.

More than you'd ever want to know about me can be found at

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/bdodge.html

---------------

PhilipAB [WebTeach] projects Intro.

---------------

Philip Benz teaches English and does teacher training in web-based

learning in the Ardeche region of central France.

---------------

Judi . o O ( DETACH if you need to mke this window bigger. )

DeborahT shows Proj4 to ShunI.

ShunI says, "EFL teacher from Tokyo college."

DianaJH says, "I am a teacher of Computer Art at Ivy Tech State College.

I used to teach at the Indianapolis Public Schools Day

Adult High School and taught World History, Art and

Reading. Also I will be teaching classes on Internet

Research and WebQuests. I have a disaster site based on

the Titanic."

Judi . o O ( the DETACH button is on the right side of the screen and

will make this window bigger. )

BernieD exclaims, "cool!"

DeborahT says, "Researcher working at SRI International in Menlo Park

CA. She is"

DeborahT says, "currently studying TAPPED IN! S\showhe likes to talk

with teachers and likes to talk about research. She"

DeborahT says, "can be reached at deborah.tatar@sri.com or

(650)859-5546."

Harris [guest] HS ESL teacher new to this world

Kari [HelpDesk] is on staff with TAPPED IN, from Wisconsin

janet [guest] says, "Janet from Milford, CT I work with teachers in the

classroom helping them use technology- i was a

classroom teacher for 20+ years"

Judi is a researcher and on staff here in TAPPED IN too...

RoddL says, "I am responsible for Gifted education in the London

District Catholic School Board. We use technology in many

ways from video production to independent project work."

CraigDM says, "Craig Morgan Haddon Township NJ Math/Technology

Facilitator (support teachers) How do you make the text

screen larger. things are flying by."

DebKitch [guest] says, "Elementary school librarian learning all about

webquests."

JaniceF says, "I am an Instrustional Specialist working in Missouri on a

project called eMINTS."

DianaJH asks, "What is SRI?"

Judi [to CraigDM]: "do you see the word DETACH on the right hand side of

the screen in the middle?"

CraigDM exclaims, "thank you it worked!"

Judi nods

Kari [HelpDesk] smiles

Harris [guest] says, "I dont see the DETACHED"

DeborahT says, "SRI is a non-profit research institute which came up

with the idea for TAPPED IN and does other research in

education and technology."

Harris [guest] I see attached in the far rt

PhilipAB says, "SRI is originally the Stanford Research Institute, the

people who invented the mouse, and tons of other neat

things."

Jan_NS says, "I work with preservice teachers - edmedia, technology

integration"

BernieD asks, "zat everyone?"

BernieD says, "OK.. let's begin."

BernieD projects Mar01.

---------------

Tonight's topic is inspired by the fact that we're at the start of a new

month.

Our topic: WebQuest Disasters

Description: March winds make us think about natural disasters.

Earthquakes, floods and hurricanes provide dramatic starting points for

a WebQuest. Join us as we dissect some catastrophe-based examples.

Most kids (and most former kids) are intrigued by the large-scale drama

that Nature occasionally stages. Natural disasters are found in the

curriculum standards of most states (which are themselves examples of

man-made disasters in some cases). They turn up as science topics

within a weather unit. They're also a part of the geography and history

curricula on occasion.

Moreover, a good disaster can provide the hook to provide practice at

skills that are not specific to one content area: creative writing,

problem solving, analysis.

Tonight we'll take a look at some WebQuests that were created around

natural disasters. Like all human endeavors, they are imperfect. But in

discussing them and looking for their strengths, I think we'll all get

smarter about making better lessons for ourselves.

---------------

BernieD projects Mar01B.

---------------

In preparing for this month's chat, I did the usual foraging around the

net looking for WebQuest examples that would inspire us.

I have to say, however, that after a few minutes of doing that, I began

to get depressed. I found I had to make two folders to put my bookmarks.

One is labeled "Disaster WebQuests"; the other is "WebQuest Disasters".

Looking for tonight's examples drove home to me the challenge of

maintaining quality control in this brave new dot-com world where ideas

flow so freely. It's clearer than usual to me that there are lots of

folks out there who think that any web-based activity is a WebQuest.

In my WebQuest Disasters folder I have lots of examples in which the

basic instructional strategy is this: Look at these five websites and

answer these ten closed questions.

Very disheartening to me!

And I realized that one of the downsides of the web that I hadn't

thought about before is this: bad web sites are immortal.

Good sites get updated and improved. Bad ones done hurriedly or under

duress get abandoned by their authors and forgotten BUT THEY RARELY GET

ERASED FROM THE SERVER, so they're sitting out there perpetuating the

notion that Treasure Hunts are WebQuests, and they're there waiting to

be indexed by Google.

On my personal homepage I've got an animated gif of Sisyphus rolling his

rock uphill and that's how I sometimes feel!

---------------

Judi says, "that's a long one....."

Kari says, "Scroll back up to read that note if you need to"

BernieD says, "I'll wait for slow modems to catch up."

CraigDM says, "It sounds like people have scavenger hunts mixed up with

web quests"

BernieD says, "yup."

RoddL says, "I avoid bookmarking the disastrous, but there are some good

disaster sites..."

Kari says, "If you don't how to detach your text window, let me know and

I'll help you"

BernieD says, "I'm about to project a web site, and I'll let Judi do

that projection-explanation thang she does so well."

Harris [guest] People are just in a rush to apply their web knowledge

DianaJH says, "I was very glad for your templates since they gave

structure to a webquest."

PhilipAB says, "The specificity of the WebQuest model is not always easy

to grasp. I heard the label "WebQuest" more than a year

before I read the training material on The WebQuest Page

and found out what they were really about."

RoddL says, "Those who use and promote WebQuests generally know what

they are... others will catch on"

DeborahT says, "\show proj3 to craigdm"

CraigDM says, "The scavenger hunts are more like on line worksheets and

shouldn't be called webquests."

Kari says, "Okay...when Bernie PROJECTS a web page, a new web window

will pop up onto your screens, but you will still be

connected to TAPPED IN so long as you don't close this

window. You can bookmark the page, close it, print it, etc."

Harris [guest] Think about it Bernie many districts are still in the

stone age and are pressure folks to use technology

DeborahT shows Proj3 to CraigDM.

DianaJH says, "There was plenty of work to do in making a webquest but

you helped organize it."

BernieD nods vigorously to Craig

BernieD asks, "Are we all comfortable with web projections now?"

JaniceF says, "yes"

janet [guest] says, "We start our webquest workshops with work on

Essential questions materials from jamie MCKenzie-

that seems to help"

DianaJH says, "yes"

BernieD says, "OK... here's goes."

RoddL exclaims, "go~!"

BernieD projects Mar01C.

---------------

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. It's a lovely lesson that

would keep the kids busy reading and looking for answers, but it isn't

what I had in mind as a WebQuest.

Take a look...

---------------

BernieD projects the URL:

http://www.davison.k12.mi.us/dms/library/cybrary/earth2.htm

JaniceF says, "Ouch"

RoddL says, "definitely not an attractive task"

DianaJH says, "nothing projected"

Kari asks, "So this is a disaster WebQuest Bernie?"

Kari [HelpDesk] shows DianaJH the URL:

http://www.davison.k12.mi.us/dms/library/cybrary/earth2.htm

RoddL says, "Where is the authentic project.... I would bypass this

project"

Harris [guest] help Im lost in the table of contents!

Judi adds a name to WebQuest 3/1.

BernieD exclaims, "But there are others that look more like WebQuests...

even using the template, but when you look closely, it

's all read these sites; answer these questions; bore

us with a PowerPoint presentation. Gah!"

DebKitch [guest] says, "Way too much information needed"

janet [guest] says, "teachers do like these types of lesseons for quick

trips to computer lab"

PhilipAB says, "Activities like this Earth Science WebQuest (sic) may

work well for the instructor, but they lack important

scaffolding elements, and a student-production-centered

aspect."

CraigDM says, "I love question 15 what did you learn in this quest that

we didn't ask you. I wonder what their objectives were."

Michelle [guest] arrives from nowhere.

BernieD exclaims, "This is a WebQuest disaster. Now... let's move on to

Disaster WebQuests!"

Judi adds a name to WebQuest 3/1.

Michelle [guest] says, "Hello. Sorry to be late"

Kari says, "Welcome Michelle, let me show you the web page we are

looking at"

BernieD says, "Welcome, Michelle."

RoddL says, "None of my students would've been motivated to even begin

the task"

DianaJH says, "Still no projection."

Harris [guest] Bernie at least q15 deals with the facet of self-knowledge

BernieD projects Mar01D.

---------------

So what could we do differently? I find it useful to just go down the

list of task types from the taxonomy page on my site and think about

ways to treat a topic that goes beyond retelling.

Here's the Taskonomy page. Skim it for a few minutes, please, and then

come back with some ideas on how we might make a better WebQuest on the

topic of natural disasters.

---------------

BernieD projects the URL:

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html

SusanneN arrives from nowhere.

DiaLog follows SusanneN to here.

TimeLog follows SusanneN to here.

SusanneN waves Hi

BernieD says, "Welcome, Susanne."

Kari says, "Welcome Susanne...let me show you the web page we are

looking at"

SusanneN says, "Thanks"

Harris [guest] Right off the bat...a news report

Kari [HelpDesk] shows SusanneN the URL:

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html

BernieD says, "Ah... a journalistic task."

Harris [guest] says, "Have the students write from the perspective of

victim/volunteer and so on"

Kari [HelpDesk] shows DianaJH the URL:

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html

JaniceF asks, "How about a mystery where we see the results of a

disaster and have to figure out what happened?"

BernieD says, "Cool, Janice."

PhilipAB says, "Retelling tasks can be an important first step to

WebQuest elements that will be completed later in the

classroom with more student involvement."

RoddL says, "Being in role in many of these tasks is what makes them

meaningful"

PhilipAB [WebTeach] agrees with Rodd

BernieD agrees with Philip but wonders if that's a good use of $2000 per

desk.

JimGray shows proj4 to ShunI.

BernieD asks, "Other task types that might lend themselves to

disasterology?"

JaniceF asks, "Here's another one. You are part of the National

Committee on something to prevent disasters and you need

to make plans about earthquakes in Washington state?"

Harris [guest] says, "Maybe have the learners design possible plausible

escape routes"

BernieD says, "Hmmmm... a design task perhaps."

Kari [HelpDesk] shows Michelle the URL:

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html

BernieD says, "This is a well-informed crowd, I see."

janet [guest] says, "persuasive - might be convincing country to have

building standards that are earthquake proof- look

at india"

DebKitch [guest] says, "Apparently the earthquake in Seattle has folks

in B.C. taking a good hard look at disaster

plans, this would work well in Canada"

JaniceF says, "How about an economic one, You have to figure out the

amount of money to give to a city that has had a natural

disaster."

RoddL says, "How about taking real data or collecting real data to

compare to the net, and working on a real design task that

may even be implemented in your region. Eg. Design a park

since our playground was designated 'unsafe'."

Harris [guest] says, "How to prepare for a quake what's needed and why"

BernieD exclaims, "Janice is on a roll! You go girl!"

Judi adds a name to WebQuest 3/1.

BernieD says, "Nice, Rodd."

CraigDM says, "or just how a disaster would effect a family in their

different roles."

RoddL says, "Include links to playground design companies, parks, and

price lists with a budget..."

BernieD says, "Shall we look at some examples? You've anticipated all

the ones I could find."

CraigDM says, "lets look"

BernieD says, "OK... I've got six examples lined up. I'll show each,

give you a few minutes to look them over, and then we'll

dissect them."

BernieD projects Mar01X1.

---------------

Here's our first example. It's called Disaster Dilemma.

---------------

BernieD projects the URL:

http://educ.queensu.ca/~citc/august99/disasterweb.htm

DianaJH has disconnected.

RoddL exclaims, "Right Deb, my friend in BC wrote about being under the

staff room table, they may have to consider notebooks

instead of desktops!"

PhilipAB exclaims, "Persuasion tasks could be a good angle. One of the

biggest problems leading up to the 1903 explosion of

Mt Pelee in Martinique was that nobody wanted to

listen to warnings that they were in imminent danger.

Persuade them to evacuate before it's too late!"

Judi adds a name to WebQuest 3/1.

MidgeF has arrived.

Midge's Recorder (recording) has arrived.

RayAd arrives from nowhere.

RayAd's personal recorder follows RayAd to here.

Kari says, "Hi Midge and Ray, welcome"

BernieD says, "Hi Ray, Midge."

RayAd says, "Hello."

DebKitch [guest] says, "Kari...I'm not receiving any projections."

BernieD says, "(Ray's in my face-to-face class.)"

Kari asks, "Let me show you the web page we are all looking at. Are you

both familiar with web projections Ray and Midge?"

MidgeF asks, "The Exit was locked, couldn't get here?"

MidgeF says, "Yes, I know about projections"

RayAd says, "It was something of a disaster getting into the site

tonight."

RayAd says, "Yes, I am familiar"

DianaJH has connected.

Kari [HelpDesk] shows MidgeF the URL:

http://educ.queensu.ca/~citc/august99/disasterweb.htm

Kari [HelpDesk] shows RayAd the URL:

http://educ.queensu.ca/~citc/august99/disasterweb.htm

BernieD says, "Look the site over and come back and tell us what you

think."

MidgeF says, "OK"

RoddL says, "This task reminds me of 'The Real Game' a career based game

in which a classroom becomes a community...one of the things

the group has to overcome is an environmental disaster."

Kari [HelpDesk] shows DianaJH the URL:

http://educ.queensu.ca/~citc/august99/disasterweb.htm

BernieD says, "Hadn't heard of that."

Harris [guest] Dead links in that quest

JaniceF says, "I like it. It puts the thinking in the kid's lap and yet

there is scaffolding to guide them."

Mike [guest] has arrived.

PhilipAB says, "Pity we can't seem to access the evaluation rubric."

Harris [guest] Seems a bit too open ended

Kari says, "Welcome Mike"

Mike [guest] says, "Hi."

Michelle [guest] says, "On first look, it seems like something students

would "enjoy". It's real. Has drama. They get

to exercise their imaginations."

SusanneN says, "Lots of good ideas to elaborate on"

DianaJH says, "Kari, thanks. I had technical difficulties, but it is

fine now"

MidgeF says, "Nice structure"

BernieD says, "I think it's kind of loosygoosey too, but agree with

Janet that the scaffolding is useful"

SusanneN says, "Will do for many hours of deep concentration and

creativity"