A Notch Above

Evaluating Online Lesson Plans

Introduction

This activity is called a WebQuest. A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The model was developed in early 1995 at San Diego State University by Bernie Dodge and Tom March, and was outlined then in Some Thoughts About WebQuests. For more information about WebQuests and how to create them, check out this site.
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/about_webquests.html.

The Task

Teachers of the 21st Century will find themselves being required more and more to use the Internet as a learning tool and resource for their classrooms. There are currently thousands upon thousands of lesson plans and ideas already on the Web. To be quite honest, some of them are very good and some of them are very weak. Many of them "go beyond" what is possible with paper, pencil, and books. Those are the ones that we want to learn to use, adapt, and create as the Internet takes on a larger and larger role in educating the students of the next millennium. In this WebQuest you will examine and evaluate a variety of online lesson plans (hopefully in your teaching field) and form an opinion about what is good and what is not. Here are some specific questions that you should consider when evaluating each Internet lesson plan. Record your answers to questions #1-7 for at least 5 Internet lesson plans using this online form

1. What do you like about this online lesson plan?

2. What do you not like about it?

3. What are its educational strengths?

4. What are its educational weaknesses?

5. Could you use this lesson plan as it is or would you have make adaptations?

6. Do the objectives, goals, and activities in this Lesson Plan support the TEKS for your subject area?

7. Is this lesson plan a "paper plan gone high tech" or does it utilize technology's capacity to broaden the classroom, access the world, and develop student's higher order thinking skills? Why and how?

8. Is this Internet lesson-plan "A Notch Above"?

. Write a summary of your research that answers this question:

In your opinion, after looking at these resources, what makes an Internet Lesson Plan "A Notch Above"?

Resources

There are far more resources listed here than you can possibly use in the short amount of time that we have for this project. Select one or two of them for today's WebQuest but keep the rest of them in mind for future reference. You are free to use any other Web based resources that you want to.

1. Perform a search on the phrase "lesson plans"

2. Look in the "Best Bets" section of the returns page

3. Click on the phrase that most nearly represents your teaching field

4. Begin examining the lesson plans on the page that follows (Note: It would be a good idea to bookmark this page)

1. Either select "Content Table", "Subject Area" or "Refined Search" links

2. Select a subject or grade level

3. Click to the lesson plans (don't for get to use bookmarks)

4. Examine and evaluate the plan

1. Select a topic

2. Examine and evaluate the lesson plan

1. Select a subject

2. Select a topic

3. Examine and evaluate the lesson plan

1. Select a subject

2. Select a topic

3. Examine and evaluate the lesson plan

The Presentation

To conclude our WebQuest today you will be asked to share an example of two Internet Lesson Plans with the class, one good one and one not so good one. You should be prepared to share why you think one is good and one is not good, and what your opinion is as to what makes an Internet Lesson Plan "A Notch Above."