Close Up on
Creative Product Tasks


Creative product tasks provide a flexible way to integrate some old favorite lessons into the WebQuest format. In a creative product task, students extend what they've learned about a topic by transforming it into some new form. The forms are those used for creative self-expression and can range from posters to poems. The learning takes place as we grapple with the challenge of conveying the content while working within the boundaries of the form. This page takes a closer look at lessons built around such tasks.

A good place to begin is with the definition of creative products as given on the Taskonomy page.

Creative Product Tasks

Might students learn about your topic by recasting it in the form of a story or poem or painting? Like engineers and designers, creative artists work within the constraints of their particular genre. Creative WebQuest tasks lead to the production of something within a given format (e.g. painting, play, skit, poster, game, simulated diary or song) but they are much more open-ended and unpredictable than design tasks. The evaluation criteria for these tasks would emphasize creativity and self-expression, as well as criteria specific to the chosen genre.

The Art WebQuest, for example, asks students to get into the head of a specific artist and create a painting the way that artist would. Radio Days requires the scripting and performance of a radio play, complete with sound effects and ads. Sworn to Serve requires the creation of a historically plausible portfolio for a fictional feudal family.

As with design tasks, the constraints are the key, and they will differ depending on the creative product and topic being worked on. Such constraints might include such things as requiring:

  • historical accuracy;
  • adherence to a particular artistic style;
  • use of the conventions of a particular format;
  • internal consistency;
  • limitations on length, size, or scope.

Balanced against the constraints, a task of this type should invite creativity by being somewhat open-ended. There should be enough wiggle room in the assignment that a student or group of students will be able to leave a unique stamp on what you're asking them to do.

 

Here are some additional WebQuests designed around creative product tasks.

Plays

Poems

Comic Book

Song Lyrics

Myths & Folktales

Ads

Fiction

© Bernie Dodge, 2001. Last updated May 24, 2001.