Claire

Mracek

2.6 Instructional Design
Candidates model and facilitate the effective use of research-based best practices in
instructional design when designing and developing digital tools, resources, and
technology-enhanced learning experiences. (PSC 2.6/ISTE 2f)

Reflection
The Early Exploration WebQuest was developed to provide fourth grade students with an
engaging social studies project. I created this WebQuest using my schools social studies
standards and student technology standards. WebQuests provide students with interactive
learning experiences that offer a clear level of structure and allow students to create
individual showcase of their learning. This WebQuest allowed students to become an
expert on an explorer of their choice and develop a digital storybook to teach others about
the explorer.
Standards 2.6 states that the candidate will model and facilitate the effective use of
research-based best practices in instructional design when designing and developing
digital tools, resources, and technology-enhanced learning experiences. To model and
facilitate an engaging unit of study for my students, I designed a WebQuest for students
to explore. Students can progress through this exploration at their own speed, utilize
individual resources, and create their own digital storybook. It was imperative to consider
research-based best practices when designing this WebQuest. I was focused on keeping
my WebQuest as organized as possible. Because this project offers fourth grade students
various options and information sources, it was important that the design was eyecatching and logical for viewers. I included various research-based best practices, such
as forms of representation, expression, and engagement by including maps, audio
recording, hyperlinks, and digital handouts. It was also important to include safe research
links for students to use to collect information. This project is an individual project and
allows students to chose an early explorer that they would like to investigate. Based on
their selection, they are to compose research on their explorer, using some guiding
questions. Students are given options as to where to collect their research. Depending on
their explorer, students will individually create a plan (storyboard) for their final
presentation. This storyboard will include a general outline of their presentation, along
with the image included in their presentation. Student will then draft their scene scripts
using a prompter tool of their choice, and create their digital storybook using a web 2.0
tool called Narrable. To meet needs of students with disabilities, assistive technology
may be used. Some helpful forms would be the laptop computer while drafting
storyboard and scripts, and an audio reader and recorder for reading and writing text.
I enjoyed designing this WebQuest because it was an engaging and content rich
experience for students. This project was not designed to work in isolation, by required
students to call on skills from many subject areas to research and create a digital
storybook. This WebQuest provided a common digital space for students to access tools,
resources, and rubrics for their projects at anytime. The implementation of this WebQuest
could be used through the schools laptop program, iPad carts, or desktop computer lab.

This WebQuest project impacts school improvement and student learning directly. The
content in this WebQuest is delivered in an engaging ways that meets multiple design
principles. It follows content standards and provided students with opportunities to make
choices about their learning. Students are required to design a digital storybook to
showcase their content learning and their digital skills. This learning can be assess
through the use of provided formative and summative assessments and rubrics.