Multimedia Design Project Assessment (MDPA) Report TemplateFrank Graham ITEC 7445

Product URL: microorganismwebquest.weebly.com/

AnalysisThe project was designed for 5th grade science students 10 to 12 years of age. The learners that will be completing the webquest are in a suburban north Georgia elementary school setting. The reading level of the intended audience is in the range of 750 to 900 Lexile level. 20% of the students are English language learners and 25% are from low socio-economic households. The students possess high technical skills regarding technology and are experienced in using technology in project-based learning tasks.

The 5th grade class is composed of 25 students. Students have a 40-minute science class every Monday – Friday. The classroom has five desktop computers and a computer lab with thirty additional desktops. Printed resources will be made available to students without internet connections at home. Read & Write software is available for students with special needs that need text to speech services.

The teacher has a high level of technical proficiency and is comfortable assisting and troubleshooting technical problems.

5th Grade Georgia science standards that are covered are as follows:

S5L4. Students will relate how microorganisms benefit or harm larger organisms.

a. Identify beneficial microorganisms and explain why they are beneficial.

b. Identify harmful microorganisms and explain why they are harmful.

ISTE student standards covered are as follows:

1c. Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.1d. Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.3a. Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.3b. Students evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance of information, media, data or other resources.

3c. Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.3d. Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.4a. Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.5c. Students break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving.6a. Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication.6b. Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.6c. Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.6d. Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.

Students will work through the webquest with a partner and create a product of their learning to show the mastery of the following learning objectives:

Students will determine the different types of microorganisms and how they are harmful and helpful to humans.

Students will discuss with the class beneficial and harmful ways microorganisms affect us.

Students will play the games in the Game Breaks to learn and have fun. Students will evaluate why restaurants must pass a health inspection. Students will create a presentation or brochure to show their learning.

DesignOverview

Through the webquest students will produce a brochure that shows their knowledge regarding beneficial and harmful effects of microorganisms on humans. Activities would include website exploration to identify good ways human use microorganisms. I will use the real-world experience of restaurant health inspections to convey the important of avoiding harmful microorganisms. Student choice in their final product can include images, videos, and presentation software of their choice. A webquest project rubric will be used to guide the project. Completion of this project will include collaborating with a partner. I began developing my webquest with Weebly.  The reason I am using Weebly is that I am very familiar with it since we started our KSU portfolio in it.  It is very easy

to navigate and create pages.  Since discovering it, I have made several additional websites for my school and my community. 

I am very interested in the design layout.  This will be another good opportunity to put the design principles we have learned into action.  I feel confident with Weebly that I will be able to create the style and layout that will be a good foundation for presenting my webquest. 

I started with the overall topic for the webquest and continued to build the content to fit the standards and learning objectives. The following resources were used in the creation of my project:

TIL: 20% of Our Oxygen Comes From a Bacteria | Today I Learned. (2017). YouTube. Retrieved 25 November 2017, from https://youtu.be/-ty5puoADMU

Bacteria - BrainPOP. (2017). Brainpop.com. Retrieved 25 November 2017, from https://www.brainpop.com/science/diversityoflife/bacteria/

Nitrogen Cycle - BrainPOP. (2017). Brainpop.com. Retrieved 25 November 2017, from https://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/nitrogencycle/

CDC - BAM, Disease Database. (2017). Cdc.gov. Retrieved 25 November 2017, from https://www.cdc.gov/bam/diseases/immune/disease_database.html

What and where are micro-organisms - The Children's University of Manchester. (2017). The Children's University of Manchester. Retrieved 25 November 2017, from http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/learning-activities/science/microorganisms/what-and-where-are-micro-organisms/

State of Georgia Board of Health - Digital Health Department. (2017). Ga.healthinspections.us. Retrieved 25 November 2017, from http://ga.healthinspections.us/georgia/search.cfm?county=Cherokee

My final webquest can be found at the following published URL: http://microorganismwebquest.weebly.com/

Details

Differentiation in the project will be achieved by giving students the choice of how they will demonstrate their learning by product creation. Students may choose the medium to create their product of learning. The Universal Design of Learning (UDL) is evident within the development of this project. The content is presented in a variety of ways. The students view microorganisms from varied perspectives to determine their beneficial and harmful effects on humans. The project also used the UDL by offering students a variety of ways to express their learning.

The students will navigate the webquest in partners to allow for collaborative learning. Peer feedback during the product creation will be essential to incorporating multiple viewpoints into the project. The multimedia selected for the webquest includes videos, websites, and health inspection records as means of discovery and knowledge creation. The instructions of the webquest given in the task and process pages guide the students to achieving the learning objectives. Students with special needs will be supported by text to speech software and appropriate scaffolding strategies.

DevelopmentAfter selecting the topic of the project, the first step was to determine the standards and the learning objectives associated with them. The timeline for the project emerged over the content creation phase of development. The completion date was set for mid-November, and the research for multiple means of content expression began. Extensive knowledge of Weebly and embedded video and audio media uploads was needed. After content creation was complete, the Think Aloud protocol was implemented to evaluate the process. Adjustments to the flow of content were made, and all externally linked resources were confirmed. Documents and media uploads were uploaded and embedded correctly in the Weebly pages. Final revisions were made, and the final project was published.

ImplementationDue to not having access to a classroom full time, I was only able to implement this project partially. I was able to secure a small group of students to test the webquest as an enrichment activity during the after-school program one afternoon. I secured a computer lab and allowed four students to test the webquest's functionality. One of the 5th grade students did complete the final product. I am using this as my student example in the Teacher section of the webquest and in the student evaluation section.

In order to implement this project during a regular block schedule, students would need access to desktop or laptop computers preferably for a week's time. Basic computer troubleshooting skills would be needed to manage multiple student devices. Office 365 and the Canvas LMS would serve as the support and collaboration platforms for partners creating and sharing their work. Over a timeframe of a week, students would work through the webquest step by step progressing through the project. Time during class would be used for partners to work through the steps and find the content information for each step. Time outside of school could be used to finish any unfinished portions and allow extra time for needed work. If students did not have internet access at home, printed materials could be made available to them. Differentiation strategies such as extra time and support through slotted notes and graphic organizers should be made available to students with special needs. Choice of product differentiates the final brochure or presentation to show student learning. A useful collaboration would be to involve the writing or language arts teacher in the final product creation process if possible.

EvaluationStudent Learning –

Students will be assessed on the learning objectives of this webquest by creating a brochure or presentation. The student creation will show knowledge creation through connecting the concepts of microorganisms with the real world through restaurant inspections. The product will show understanding of the beneficial and harmful ways microorganisms affect human life. The project rubric will assess the students concept accuracy and knowledge gained. In the classroom, students would take a pre-test to evaluate existing knowledge of the content prior to completing the webquest. A post activity summative assessment could be used in conjunction with the webquest final product to assess the participating students. However, the brochure or presentation is a good substitute for a formal summative assessment. Partner presentations and post project discussions following the presentation of the learners are an effective tool for evaluating content knowledge. Daily assessments throughout the project will provide valuable formative assessment to ensure students are progressing adequately. Extra support can be given to students struggling with the included learning objectives. Student partner reviews of answers to the required steps in the webquest provides peer feedback on a daily basis. After the completion of the final product, a self-reflection on the steps of the project will be given to modify and refine the project. The self-reflection will also include feedback on the partner collaboration process.

Product Design –

The project was designed and developed to cover the standards and learning objectives first. Then the Think Aloud protocol was used with the small group of four students to evaluate usability. The usability test focused on the steps of the webquest and how user friendly each step was. The results yielded guidance that revised the webquest. Revisions from the user test included editing the task goals to be clearer, numbering the activities in the process, and the addition of the video presenting a student example under the Evaluation step. It was valuable to hear the student feedback and revise the language used in the webquest to be clear and precise. Multimedia in the form of audio and video uploads were added to the project to support and guide the user through the series of tasks.

ReflectionThrough the development process of this project, I learned that it is essential to gain feedback from the users. Feedback helps ensure that the task is clearly understood by its users. I used Weebly as the platform to create the webquest because of its ease in content creation and media embedding. Audicity and Screencast-o-matic were used to create the

media uploads. The webquest was created over a timeframe of 13 weeks. A majority of time was spent in finding appropriate content to match the objectives of the lesson. I believe the timeframe allowed for feedback from peers and users to drive the development of the webquest.

Webquests offer students a valuable way to learn by allowing them to view, create, and refine their thinking on the particular subject. The instructional design of the webquest guides and creates an appropriate flow of contents that relate to one another. The feedback from peers and students was particularly influential in the development of this process. The feedback further supported the additions of the audio and video aspects included in the project. The continual feedback by colleagues during the creation phase proved extremely useful in homing in on the specifics of the process and content. It is difficult to rush this design process. In hindsight, I would start earlier in order to benefit more from feedback and usability data sooner.

Creating this webquest allowed for the application of many tools and design principles we learned in ITEC 7445 curriculum. The experience of building web-based learning module such as a webquest aligned strongly with my other class this semester on online learning. The process of continually revising can be tedious and time consuming; however, it is completely essential in order to create a meaningful learning experience for the students. My experience this semester grew my confidence in the use of multiple technology tools to achieve learning objectives in an online method.

When building learning experiences for students, it is necessary to recognize that the strength of the experience comes from the connection of instructional design principles with the learning objectives. Knowledge of the ADDIE Model of instructional design which is Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate process framework along with the Universal Design of Learning is extremely important. Another element that I would suggest teachers and colleagues to take advantage of is feedback. Feedback from peers and students can help smooth out the form and function on the learning process. It is very valuable for students to test the product to ensure successful implementation.