Tia Reynolds

ITEC 7445

Multimedia Design Project Assessment (MDPA) Report Template

Product URL: http://exploringnativeamericanswebquest.weebly.com/

Analysis
This project is geared toward 4th grade students. Students will be placed in heterogeneous
groups made up of high, middle, and low readers. The groups will also contain varying
learning styles; auditory, visual, kinesthetic, ect. Since the groups will be heterogeneous,
the need for extensive differentiated tasks decreases. Students will need to have basic
computer skills. This project is meant to take place about 4 weeks into the school year.
By that time, the teacher should have reviewed basic computer skills such as logging on,
maneuvering through WebQuests, and using a camera to film one another. Being that this
project will be assigned in the first two months of school, students will not be graded on
the quality of the video. However students will be graded on the content of the video
presentation. Prior experience with project based learning and small group learning is
desired however procedures for projects and small group learning will be reviewed
extensively in the first few weeks of school.
I have access to a computer lab, Ipad cart, Mac cart, and 4 desktop computers within my
classroom. During the week that my students are working on this project, I plan to sign
up for the computer lab for two days for a total of two hours. This should allow my
students time to conduct their research. I also plan to check out an Ipad cart the following
two days for a total of two hours. This should allow my students time to film their
presentations. In addition, I will incorporate at least four hours of project work time
throughout the week so that students can complete readings and additional project
assignments.
Since I have assigned students passages to read in their social studies book within this
WebQuests, I will also checkout two cd players from the media center for students who
need additional reading support via audio book. This project contains various forms of
technology. My proficiency in using the cd player for audio books, classroom computers,
laptops, Ipads, and digital cameras are necessary for this WebQuests. The following are
the state history, reading, ela, and speaking standards that will be covered in this project:
SS4H1 The student will describe how early Native American cultures developed
inNorth America.
ELACC4RI2: Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key
details; summarize the text.

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ITEC 7445

ELACC4RI10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts,
including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4-5 text
complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
ELACC4W1: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with
reasons.
ELACC4SL1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in
groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on
others ideas and expressing their own clearly.
ISTE Standards
1. Creativity and innovation Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct
knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. a. Apply
existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes b. Create original works
2. Communication and collaboration Students use digital media and environments to
communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual
learning and contribute to the learning of others. a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with
peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media d.
Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems
3. Research and information fluency Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and
use information. b. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use
information from a variety of sources and media d. Process data and report results
5. Digital citizenship Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to
technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. a. Advocate and practice safe, legal,
and responsible use of information and technology
6. Technology operations and concepts Students demonstrate a sound understanding of
technology concepts, systems, and operations. a. Understand and use technology systems
This project will serve as the intro into our Discovery of North America unit. They will
learn about six key Native American groups required for 4th grade Georgia standards. In
addition to social studies standards, the project also contains reading, ela, and speaking
standards. The following are the main objectives covered in this project

Locate where the Native Americans settled with emphasis on Arctic (Inuit),
Northwest (Kwakiutl), Plateau (Nez Perce), Southwest (Hopi), Plains (Pawnee),
and Southeastern (Seminole).

Describe how the Native Americans used their environment to obtain food,
clothing, and shelter.

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ITEC 7445

Use nonfiction texts to write a summary

Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational

Use persuasive writing skills to compose a persuasive presentation

The following questions will be used as essential questions for this WebQuests
How would you describe the environment (land, climate, resources, and culture)
of the different Native Americans nations?
How did Native Americans use their environment to survive?
What are the steps to composing a summary?
How can opinion writing skills be used to compose a persuasive presentation?

Design
Being that my students will be grouped in heterogeneous groups for this project,
extensive differentiation for content, process, and product arent necessary. Students will
be given the opportunity to work cooperatively and learn from each other. Audio books
will be made available for groups who may need the additional support for the reading
assignments. Students will use a computer to access the WebQuests which will detail and
outline the process and steps students should follow to complete their project. The
WebQuests will include aspects of multimedia that will serve as a support for students to
complete their tasks. For example, parts of the WebQuests include audio directions and a
web tutorial is included to assist students with persuasive presentations. As a final
product, students will create a persuasive video presentation.
This project is housed on Weebly and Quest Garden which makes it universally available
to people all around the world. Below is a list of resources that assisted me:
Websites used for this WebQuest:
http://www.bigorrin.org/hopi_kids.htm
http://www.crystalinks.com/nativeamer.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7IOowc544U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws621OvdhmY
http://www.bigorrin.org/seminole_kids.htm
http://dos.myflorida.com/florida-facts/florida-history/seminole-history/

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ITEC 7445

http://native-american-indian-facts.com/Southeast-American-IndianFacts/Seminole-Indian-Facts.shtml
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYu0FNvJhC0
http://www.bigorrin.org/nez_kids.htm
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/native/nez.html
http://www.indians.org/articles/nez-perce-indians.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OZrQf-BLIE
http://www.bigorrin.org/kwakiutl_kids.htm
http://www.native-languages.org/kwakiutl_culture.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPaw5QnFhKM
http://www.bigorrin.org/pawnee_kids.htm
http://native-american-indian-facts.com/Great-Plains-American-IndianFacts/Pawnee-Indian-Facts.shtml
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kl3gpBdDWw
http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/inuit_culture.html
http://www.ducksters.com/history/native_americans/inuit_peoples.php
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northamerica/before1500/history/inuit.htm

Development
I set a three week goal for completing this project. There were several tools that I had to
become more comfortable with. I completed this project on Weebly and Quest Garden. I
found that Quest Garden made the building process more simpler but Weebly is more
visually appealing. I had to spend a significant amount of time learning both sites. In
addition, I had to learn how use Voki and become more comfortable with embedding and
hyperlinking.

Implementation
I plan to implement this project upon returning to school in the fall. This will be the very
first class project that my students will work on. As far as resources, I will need access to

Tia Reynolds

ITEC 7445

the computer lab, Ipad cart, CD player, headphones, content books, and chart paper. This
project will take place over the course of a week. It will be done entirely in class so that I
can ensure that everyone has access to equipment and the internet. Group members will
rotate roles in their group so that they all have an opportunity to utilize the equipment.
The project will be worked on for 5 days during an integrated reading and social studies
block. Around this time, students will still be familiarizing themselves with our
procedures for group work, centers, and technology use. Some classroom management
strategies I plan to follow are the following:
Group member jobs/roles
Adhering to our G.R.O.U.P.S guidelines
G-et Along
R-espect Others
O-n task behavior
U-se Quiet voices
P-articipate
S-tay with your assigned group
Students are expected to respect technical equipment by allowing only the group
researcher to operate equipment, keeping equipment on a flat service, alerting
teacher when equipment needs charging, and keeping any foods/drinks away from
equipment

Evaluation
Student Learning
Students will take a pre-assessment before engaging in this project. I will also give
students a learning styles survey. I plan to use this data to group students in heterogonous
groups. Students will complete 7 assignments during the course of this project. However
the ultimate project will be their 3-5minutes persuasive presentation video. I will assess
all components of the project with a rubric. They will also take a post-assessment. I will
measure their understanding by evaluating the assessments and rubric.
I plan to assist groups as well as take notes throughout the process so that I can improve
for the next WebQuests assignment. I plan to provide all students with an evaluation form
that will provide them an opportunity to give me feedback about their experience. Below
are some of the questions I plan to include on the evaluation:

What parts of this project did you find most challenging?

Tia Reynolds

ITEC 7445

Reflection
I learned a lot while completing this project. The project provided me hands on
experience with designing an educational experience for my students. I was introduced to
technical tools that Ive never used before such as Voki, which I included in my project.
I also was introduced to various tools that I did not include on this particular WebQuests
but I plan to use for future WebQuests projects, such as PowToon. For the past few
years, Ive been looking for more efficient ways to integrate across the curriculum. I
found that idea of WebQuests is an excellent way to integrate various content areas. In
this particular project I think I did a great job with content integration. I think my
students will have a great introduction into an assignment that includes multiple subjects.
I originally started this project on Weebly. I think that Weebly is great for many things;
however I found it to be very time consuming for a WebQuests. In the future I will
definitely start off with using Quest Garden because I think it is an efficient site that lends
itself to WebQuests design. I would also include more video tutorials and possibly more
quick-check assignments to go along with those videos to hold students accountable.
As mentioned above, I think WebQuests are an excellent structure for student learning.
The sky is the limit with WebQuests. WebQuests can be made to be simple and quick or it
can serve as a more intense and challenging project. Multiple skills can be covered and it
lends itself to cooperative group learning and independent learning. In the future, I think
that I should incorporate more multi-media aspects. The multi-media that I used in this
project were included to help re-iterate directions or provide a tutorial to assist students
with the project. Video links were included for each Native American group so that
students could have a visual and auditory explanation of their assigned group. Going
forward, I think that I should include more tutorials to assist students with completing
some of the reading/ela portions of the project.
While working on this project, I learned that I am much more patient and perseverant
than I thought I was. I signed on to do this program because I enjoy using technology in
my instruction. However, I enjoy using finish products. I knew going in that I wouldnt
just be dealing with finished products and that I would have to learn how to create and
design things for myself. This class and this project really pushed me to be confident in
my abilities to create. I was extremely overwhelmed throughout the process however I
thoroughly enjoyed it.
I would advise other teachers who plan to embark on similar projects to start early!
Designing and creating instructional material of any kind takes time. I would also advice
teachers to integrate content so that the project is more meaningful and students are able
to make connections between subjects while engaging in the project.