Final Project Reflection

Final Project Reflection

When it came to choosing a final project for ECOMP 7007, I was elated to see that the project choices available included creating a WebQuest. This past year I used a WebQuest on civil disobedience that my colleague found on the Internet. I was pretty excited about the way it prompted my students to use their higher order thinking and problem solving skills as well as their creativity skills. So, that is why I was motivated to design my own WebQuest.
With the idea of promoting higher order thinking skills and integrating technology, I wanted to redesign a previous lesson I have taught on propaganda. I began by reviewing the lesson which included teaching the propaganda strategies and showing examples of product advertisements where various propaganda techniques were used. This lesson culminated with the students creating a unique product that their peers would use and then designing a print advertisement using one of the propaganda techniques to “sell” their product. The students enjoyed this lesson and were very inventive when it came to developing ingenious products to make their lives easier. However, I knew this lesson could be revised using technology.
First, I set out to find a Webquest template. After reading Five Rules for Writing a Great Webquest by Bernie Dodge and I chose to use his Webquest template. As a result of reading several tutorials on designing Webquests, and previewing examples of other teacher designed Webquests, I had a better understanding of how a Webquest can promote critical thinking. I designed the “Land the Account” Political Propaganda Webquest for the students to follow a step by step process that would require learners to think critically about propaganda use in the world around them. I wanted the students to explore the importance of curiosity, honesty, openness, and skepticism in advertising and exhibit these traits in their own efforts to understand how political propaganda influences people’s vote. The premise of the three assignment options, which will be linked to the Webquest and printed for each student, is that the students imagine that they own an advertising agency and they have been chosen by presidential campaign managers as a possible agency to promote the presidential candidates in the next election. There are three assignment options from which the students choose only one. The first is a partner activity and includes designing a television commercial and a print advertisement. The second is also a partner activity and it involves creating a radio commercial and a print advertisement. The third is an independent assignment, since some students prefer to work alone on an assignment, and it requires that the student pretend he/she can’t talk and must create a portfolio of eight political print advertisements.
As a hook to get the students interested in the topic of political propaganda, the Webquest begins with the students linking to a propaganda quiz with a series of questions that will determine how brainwashed the students are when it comes to political advertising influencing their vote. The voting and campaigning process is somewhat familiar to sixth graders since campaigning for student body representatives begins the third week of school. Once the students complete the propaganda quiz, they are prompted to link to the answers to the quiz. They will be surprised when they find out that if they answered yes to any of the questions, then they have been brainwashed by some type of political propaganda in the past.
In order for the students to begin the assignment, I provided links to online research of the various types of propaganda techniques. I created a propaganda techniques handout on which the students will take notes as they find information on each technique. Also, I designed a class work rubric to grade each student as they work independently or with a partner in the classroom throughout the entire lesson. The rubric will provide guidelines for classroom behavior as well as time management.
After researching propaganda techniques, the students have the opportunity to view examples of the various propaganda techniques used in political advertising by linking to online political advertisements. One of the links takes them to presidential political television ads which span from 1951 to present. Another link takes them to the current presidential candidate’s television advertisements. In addition, there are two links to radio presidential advertisements. Also available is a teacher resource folder which will contain political advertisements such as mailbox flyers and political print advertisements from past elections.
After viewing various examples of political advertisements, the students must choose one of the three assignment options. I designed a rubric for each of the three assignment options and provided a link to each on the Webquest; however, I feel it is important to give a copy of each of the rubrics to the students so they have a hard copy of the printed guidelines. The rubrics are very detailed with guidelines so the students can see exactly what is required for each option. Once the assignment choice is made, the students will enter the planning phase and I will have time guidelines for them to meet in order to complete the assignment. I will also show them how to use various online tools to create a television or radio commercial: Moviemaker, the free Audio Editor and Recorder, audacity, Jing which captures and shares video from your computer, Animoto which allows you to select pictures, pick a sound track, select some effects, and it will mix a video for you with the spot-free version which is limited to 30 seconds, and a screen cast on how to make a public service announcement.
The last phase of the assignment is for the students to plan the presentation to the campaign managers. I will arrange for each group or individual to present final products to the campaign managers (teachers and administrators from my school). The managers will also have a hard copy of the rubric so they can judge the final presentations. As a follow up extension assignment, I will ask the students to use their newfound skills in identifying propaganda in politics, to brainstorm some other areas in their lives where propaganda is present. They will have to compile a list of places where they see propaganda, clarify the propaganda technique, justify how it is used to influence people and share their ideas with your classmates at the culmination of the lesson.
In order for any teacher to use the Land the Account Webquest, (especially the two seminar teachers I work with) I added to the Webquest a Learner Advice/Teacher section which included essential questions, performance standards, and teacher materials and resources. Even though the propaganda Webquest took several hours to complete, I enjoyed creating it and I am anxious to use it in my classroom. I believe the students will enjoy the lesson and in turn the assignments will foster critical thinking and problem solving. The Webquest is on my school Web page and all of the seminar advanced content students will have access to it.
The difficult part came when I attempted to upload my Webquest and the documents I wanted to link to the Webquest to a free Website called Weebly.com. After completing the Webquest and all the handouts, as well as linking them to the Webquest, I found that when I saved the Webquest to my flash drive, none of the links worked. I took the advice of my instructor to save the Webquest and the linked documents into one file and then reset the links and all was well. However, when my Weebly.com Website was completed and I was ready to create a page for the Webquest and each of the linked documents, I found that each page of the free Website would only accept small documents of one to three pages and it would not transfer my formatting. My propaganda Webquest is nine pages and one document, the propaganda techniques notes page, is four pages long. The Weebly Website would not hold either of them without distorting the format.
To solve the problem of not being able to upload too large a document, I separated my Webquest into a student page and a teacher page. Next, I removed all my hyperlinks on my Webquest and created new links on the Webquest to the pages on my Weebly Website. I saved my Webquest as a Web page and then uploaded it to my Weebly Website. This time I was successful and all of the links worked properly. I am pleased and proud to say that anyone may now access the Political Propaganda Webquest which I created. I will be using this Webquest in the next few weeks and I am anxious to guide my students through it. I hope to attain my goal of increasing the student’s critical thinking and problem solving skills through the use of this Webquest in my classroom.