Use of Technology

This WebQuest makes use of technology by providing links to websites for students to review as sources for the topic of genocide they will be presenting on. Students must practice informational reading on the computer as well as correctly citing Internet material. In addition, groups will make a powerpoint presentation to present their findings from the research material. For the letter activity, students are directed to a Thesis Builder website which provides strategies to formulate a thesis. Students can directly open rubrics, examples, and handouts for the projects as well, as they are linked right into the assignment descriptions.

Overall, I think the author does a great job of taking advantage of the technology. One example of change without difference, however, would be the handout provided for the Memorial examples. These examples are inserted rather randomly into a word document, which is probably similar to something that could have been passed around the classroom. I think there could have been a more interactive or interesting way to incorporate these memorials into the project. This being said, many of the documents could easily be printed and circulated, but I prefer the idea of keeping them online and working towards wasting less paper when possible. For the research portion, I suppose that students could be provided with printed copies of the source material or find it in books from the library, presenting the final information in a posterboard presentation. However, the ability to analyze, scan, and evaluate Internet information is a skill students will use almost on a daily basis as they grow into contributing members of society, so this new literacy skill is one that should be carefully honed and built into classroom assignments.

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