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Standard 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.

The artifact that reflects standard 2.6 Instructional Design was the web quest project created
about the first Thanksgiving for my kindergarten students. Through my coursework during ITEC
7445, I learned how to create web quests and how to implement them in my classroom. The
creation of this web quest took many hours of thinking, planning, and consulting with resources
on the first Thanksgiving. The group that I designed this project for represented a multitude of
ability levels. The class included students with disabilities, students performing on grade level,
students who were in the early intervention program, and students who were being tested for the
gifted and talented program. This project was a great opportunity for me to research and reflect
on digital tools that would level the playing field for the diverse group of learners in this class.
The design phase of this project required me to consult with my mentor and determine the best
ways to link the research information into the web quest that I wanted my students to have in
order to create their Venn diagram. I was new to the concept of hyperlinking files, but the
learning challenges I faced gave me a new skill set that I can carry forward and use with future
students. I used Power Point to create the web quest itself. I used Scholastic resources to
hyperlink an interactive informational site on the first Thanksgiving. This site has resources that
compare and contrast the life of a child from the Wampanoag tribe along with the life of a
Pilgrim child. Hyperlinks were included that took students directly to the Scholastic virtual tour
called The First Thanksgiving. The implementation phase of the project took a period of two
weeks. I consulted with my technology mentor and learned many new skills that I will carry
forward for use on future projects. The students were excited about being given the opportunity
to learn about children who would have been their age and how they lived during the time of the
first Thanksgiving. An extension for this project was to compare a child from that time period to
present life. Students were given the opportunity to explain whether they would prefer to live in
the age of Pilgrims and Wampanoag or now.
Future implications for my students would be trying this project again and incorporate digital
tools such as Audacity and Google Docs. As my confidence and proficiency increases with the
digital tools, more creative projects for my students can be developed. The impact that the web
quest had on my school was the modeling of engaged learning projects. Many of my peer
teachers were not aware of web quests and what a variety of engaged learning projects they
could provide. The future impact for my school will be the facilitation of increased engaged
learning opportunities through digital tools.

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