WebQuest Rubric
WebQuest Evaluation
Form adapted from http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webquestrubric.html by Bernie Dodge
 
Name:  Chris Lohman Date: July 2, 2001
WebQuest Evaluated: O Pioneers!

Score Explanation
Overall Aesthetics (This refers to the WebQuest page itself, not the external resources linked to it.)
Overall visual appeal (0-2)
  1 The opening page is rather plain, though the use of a hardwood finished background does give the site somewhat of a western feel.  The text is is in simple black, but it is easy to read against the background.  Unfortunately there is only one visual, a picture of the cover of the book, O Pioneers!, on which the assignment is based.  The author of the site could have adorned the page with many items from the pioneer time period to inspire the reader to think of pioneers and the west (i.e.. wagons, native motifs, horses, etc.).  The page doesn't grab the readers attention.  In my opinion, the quote used doesn't seem to inspire a deep sense of hardship or true desperation on the part of pioneers that the author seemed to hope to convey.   
Introduction
Motivational effectiveness of Introduction (0-2)
 .5 The Introduction is very short, and provides only a brief synopsis of the book O Pioneers!  It doesn't detail any of the hardships faced by pioneers, or give examples of the duties they performed.  The author could have opened with a brief tale of pioneer exploits/hardships to grab the readers attention (i.e.. Imagine the scene: Dirt on the floor, dirt in the ceiling, the walls, the food. There are bugs and snakes living in your house, crawling through the sod bricks and sleeping in your bed. Rain falls through the roof onto the stove while you are cooking, on to the table when you are trying to write a letter home. This is your new life in a soddy....).  This is from one of the readings.  This catches my attention, plus raises questions that make me want to go on (What is a soddy?, etc.)

A brief, but harrowing account of a pioneer exploit would be far more effective in grabbing the readers attention than simply being told times were tough.  There are some very good first-hand pioneer accounts later in the assignment, but the author needs a good attention-getting opening to get us hooked enough to read the rest.
Cognitive effectiveness of the Introduction
(0-2)
  1 Very simple and straightforward Introduction.  Not many grade levels would have a problem reading it.  The lesson is aimed at 11th and 12th graders, though, so the Introduction should have been more detailed.  It didn't make me think much, nor did it get me entirely excited about the lesson.  But, I teach the pioneer movement, so I wanted to review a site that may have some resources that I could use later.
Task (The task is the end result of student efforts... not the steps involved in getting there.)
Cognitive level of the task (0-6)
 3 The WebQuest is listed as being for students in the 11th or 12th grades.  The assignment is simply to read about what pioneer life was like, and use this background information to write five letters to an imaginary cousin as if you had experienced what you read.  You are supposed to become a pioneer, and interpret what you've read as your very own experiences.  Though the lesson does ask students to analyze, and then synthesize, the activity is very simple overall.  Students could almost cut and paste from the sites that they have visited, or paraphrase what other pioneers have written, in order to write their letters.  The cognitive level is pretty low for juniors and seniors in high school.       
Technical sophistication of task (0-2)
  1 The assignment is not very technical.  Students seem to simply have to read about pioneer life and then write a series of letters as if they were pioneers, using what they had read as background information.  The assignment doesn't seem at first glance to include many, of any, of the Social Studies Standards (though the state in which the author teaches may not have specific standards), so this assignment would not be ideal for my classroom.  Writing letters seems to be a very simple assignment for upperclassman.  Students don't seem to need anything more than a little creativity and a word processor.  No interaction with other students is required, and no discussion or debate is raised.  No issues are brought up, and no solutions given.  Reading and writing are the only two skills needed.
Process (The process is the step-by-step description of how students will accomplish the task.)
Clarity of Process (0-2)
  2.5 The outline of what the students have to read and explore is very well laid out, and very easy to follow.  There are a total of seven steps; the first six steps are the links to pioneer hardships, and the seventh is the actual act of writing letters.  Each step is accompanied by a brief description of what the links are about, so there really isn't any way for the students to get confused or lost.  The links highlighting some of the major hardships pioneers faced are easy to find and read, and should provide the students with a lot of information to write their letters from. 
Richness of process (0-6)
  4 The process of understanding what pioneer life was like in the old west is very well grouped into categories, including foods of the pioneers, clothing, and homes.  This makes it very easy for the students to get a basic understanding of what things were like during pioneer times.  Each step highlights the personal hardships of the pioneers, and doesn't stray from the basic problems.  By going through the six steps of acquiring background knowledge in the order provided, students should get a solid feeling for what it was like to be a pioneer.  

Going through the steps to finding out what pioneer life was like, here is what I found:

Step 1 - Background Knowledge
The poem is rather long, and there are no helpful aids attached to help understand some of the words.  Unless the poem is read out loud with the teacher, and discussed, I fear many students are not going to understand it.  Poetry is difficult for students, and there is no indication that students have any background in reading poetry.  Other than picking up on the obvious things (pioneers used pistols, tanned, adventurous....), the reader won't get much out of the poem.  The Homesteaders Act section gives the students a solid background for the incentives that drove many people west.  Lastly, the Tips for Creative Writing was, in my opinion, a waste of time.  It didn't deal with specific ideas for better writing; rather, it seemed to simply give better ideas on how to sell your writing.

Step 2 - The Sager Family account did not work.  The link led to an error message, and was unusable.  The accounts of westward travel from a variety of women was excellent though.  The site provided photos of pioneer women and wagons, and their first-hand descriptions were excellent.  These women's words should be very helpful.

Step 3 - The personal letter to Mrs. Coney is very good.  It is very easy to read, and it conveys many of the hardships faced by pioneer women (i.e.. mowing and fishing).  It gives an accurate portrayal of life for women out west.

Step 4 - The virtual tour of a "soddy" (dirt home) was excellent.  It provided a lot of facts, and allowed me to do something other than just read.  I could move at my own pace, explore different parts of the home, and read about the experiences of the Oblinger family.  It was excellent.  In addition to the "soddy" story there were separate virtual tours of early feminist movements in the west and others.  I book marked this site.  The second site was also a very good first-hand account of early western home in the words of the families that lived in them.

Step 5 - The first two sites visited were excellent primary documents that gave solid descriptions of the food and clothing of the pioneers.  The foods and clothing were very plain, in stark contrast to what today's kids are accustomed to.  Very good sites to show just how different the two times are.  The third site provided a few very good visuals of early western women's attire.  Visuals definitely help to make things more clear, and reinforce the written descriptions.  

Step 6 - Not very good.  The links take us to a potentially effective site (PBS), but when we get there, we are not given any information about historical events that happened in or around the early 1900's.  What we get is an introduction page to Ken Burns' series on the old west.  We're not told how to or where to navigate.  Both sites are exactly the same, and provide no information.
Resources (Note: you should evaluate all resources linked to the page, even if they are in sections other than the Resources block. Also note that books, video and other offline resources can and should be used where appropriate.)
Quantity of resources (0-2)
  2 Excellent.  There are a total of thirteen resources provided for the reader.
Quality of resources (0-4)
  2 Overall
(4 for the sites that worked)		 Unfortunately, three of the thirteen sites do not work, and the site about creative writing is a waste of time.  The sites that do work, though, are excellent.  Many of the sites are from the American Studies Department at the University of Virginia.  Using resources from a very reputable university, especially in historical studies, gives me confidence that students really are getting quality information about pioneer life.  If they weren't, their letters would reflect that, and they would receive some very poor grades.  The virtual tour of a sod house and the family that lived in it was very good.  The author of this site made sure to almost exclusively use primary source documents.  In my opinion, there is no better way to learn about history than to read about it from those that lived it (except, or course, to live it yourself).   PBS is an excellent source of information, unfortunately the section that we were referred to had no relevance to the assignment.  The author did not use second or third hand accounts, or refer us to textbooks online.  There was some real effort to find quality information.
Evaluation
Clarity of Evaluation Criteria (0-2)
  2 The assignment was to write five letters, typed or hand-written, and no more than 500 words per letter.  The author goes on to tell us exactly what each letter should cover, which avoids the problem of students handing in meandering letters that go nowhere and provide no information.  Although the assignment isn't extremely difficult, it is laid out well and easily followed.  The author has also been kind enough to provide a grading scale for the assignment so that students know how their grade is figured.  The author tells us exactly what each letter should include, and specifically points out what needs to be done to get the best possible grade.  I like the fact that there really isn't any ambiguity about the grading process. If a student follows the rules that are listed, they should ideally do very well.  There are no tricks.  The directions are very speicific in referenece to the content of the letters.
Total Score
(0-30)		  19 Overall, this activity was rather simple for the grades proposed.  The introduction was rather simple and uninteresting, and the fact that some of the sites didn't work or didn't provide the information that was promised are big drawbacks.  The saving graces for this WebQuest are that the resources that worked were excellent primary source documents, and the task descriptions and grading procedures were detailed and extremely easy to follow.  The activity does give a very good general idea about pioneer life in the early part of the 20th century; I just wish that the final product to be handed in was a bit more challenging.