Strengths and Weaknesses of Civil War Webquest

 http://questgarden.com/99/92/4/100401133756/index.htm


              1. Introduction. 

1. Strength: gives an exciting scenario of time travel as well as background on the Civil War being the 1^st “media war”
2. Weakness: The role given to students is that of journalists, but beyond that there are few details…they have no specific task, not does it they say whether they are from the north or south.

2. A task that is doable and interesting. 
1. Strength: There are diverse roles that will allow kids working in groups of four to choose something that they are good at.
2. Weakness: The intro to the tasks only highlights one job.  It makes that one sound much more important than the others…as a teacher I know this can lead to slack off in other positions.

3. A process (do learners know what to do and when?). 
1. Strength: Instructions and requirements broken down into 3 processes with different addable due date blanks.
2. Weakness: Instructions may be too detailed and lengthy, it was easy to get bogged down by the paragraph of intro for each process before even getting to the bulleted to do list.

4. Evaluation. 
1. Strength: The rubric covers all essential aspects of the newspaper, so each members contribution is evaluated. 
2. Weakness: This is a LOT of work for only 30 points, and the group is given one grade. 

5. A conclusion that brings closure to the quest, reminds the learners about what they've learned...Overall thoughts.
1. Strength: The conclusion offers a trip to a Civil War Museum which would be a great reward for the hard work
2. Weakness: Not all classes have a Civil War Museum nearby, and the final reflection is a 250-300 word essay on their experience during the webquest.  I would prefer a more historically focused conclusion on what they learned. 

And, lastly:

6. Is this a webquest you think you could use without modification in your classroom (not for the project in this class -- that should be your own creation)? What might you have to change?
1. I would need to modify this web quest some. 
2. Strength: There are great pictures that hopefully would interest students
3. Weakness: The links provided are all from websites that support a very “Southern Perspective” on the civil war.