Trial+of+webquest

Ergonomic Principles for Computer Workstations **Webquest trial** **Susan Pretorius ** **Overview:**

As this unit forms part of the programme developed for Year 12 Computing students, students enrolled in the Level 2 Computing class at my previous school were asked to participate. I was unable to trial it with my Correspondence School students as all new programmes must be approved by the Academic Board, which was impossible to obtain in such a short period of time. I also wanted a 'real' situation where students could be assessed and gain the relevant credits towards their NCEA Level 2.

Although students could access the webquest online ([]), the teacher also downloaded it onto the school server. The class consisted of 27 students and they were instructed to work in teams of 3 or 6, which worked out very well. There were three teams with 6 students each and two teams with 3 members each. This was an interesting situation as the members in the smaller teams had to take on two roles each, which meant more work!

The trial took place in the computer lab which consists of 27 computers.

Students have been taught about ergonomics in the Year 11 Information Management course the previous year, though there are students in the current group who didn't take the subject previously. All students were given the definition of ergonomics as it is on the Wiki and had a class discussion about ergonomics. In depth prior knowledge is not a requirement for this unit of work. Students also completed a presentation unit earlier this year and therefore had the required level of skills. But no prior knowledge is required for the successful completion of this project.

Students had access to a scanner, printer and a digital camera to acquire photos for their presentations. The projector was also available to be used for the presentations.


 * Implementation:**

To ensure all the students could participate and sit the assessment activity after completing the webquest they were given the opportunity to complete the activity during class time. They are timetabled into the computer lab for 5 x 1 hour periods per week. Internet access is freely available to be used by the students. Each student had access to a computer in the computer lab, the teacher supervised the trial. The Wiki, as suggested, was not used in the trial, but students could email each other and the Designer their findings. (The Wiki could not be used as all Wikis and Blogs are blocked by the school system and couldn't be accessed by the students at school.)

Members of the teams allocated roles to themselves. The possibility to gain credits motivated students to take part in the trial. Students worked well in their groups, though absences caused problems for some groups.

Feedback from students varied from 'A good way to complete the work' to 'Boring'. Students would have preferred to complete a webquest on a more exiting topic. Most students were happy that they could choose a role instead of the roles being allocated. Though the 'Researchers' requested a more exciting title for their roles, instead of Researcher 1, etc! They found the instructions clear and easy to understand. All the links worked!

I have not managed to get hold of the final presentations yet, but the teacher said the work also varied from the normal excellent quality to the rushed jobs and poor quality presentations. All the groups created PowerPoint presentations. The Unit Standard has not been assessed yet which makes it difficult to really measure the success of the trial and the webquest. The teacher commented on the fact that the students were interested in the topic and discussed their findings as they completed the research. The timeframe of a week was also an encouragement for the students to get actively involved and use the time productively and it wasn't stretched out over a long period of time. It motivated them to get on with the task on hand and complete it within the given time. She indicated that she would like to use this webquest in future to assist in the teaching of this topic - I interpreted that as a positive sign!

I have asked the teacher for more feedback and recommendations on how this unit can be improved, but due to the lack of time and extra work with reports she has not come back to me yet. This is very disappointing as I cannot really comment on the meaningfulness of the learning and whether learning took place at all. An evaluation form completed by the students would have solved the problem to get proper feedback, instead of relying on the teacher for this feedback.


 * Evaluation:**

Although I am generally pleased with the design of the webquest I found the fact that I couldn't trial this activity with my own students as a barrier/problem. I cannot measure the success of it as I didn't experience it first hand. Working with your own group of students lends itself to more flexibility - I would have been able to immediately make adjustments when certain aspects didn't work out. I would also prefer to trial it again with the Wiki as it would be more realistic. I kept the design simple and straightforward, but it should be more focussed on Year 12 students, who are the target audience. I will also make some changes to the design, for example use a coloured table, setting out the roles in different cells, to make it more appealing and easier to read at one glance, instead of scrolling down.

The webquest allowed each student to specialise in an area that they were interested in, but it also required all team members to engage in good technological practice so that they could plan, prepare, create and evaluate their area of expertise. It also taught students how to work in a group.


 * Conclusion:**

I am going to trial this unit with students from The Correspondence School as soon as we get the go-ahead for the development of the new course - although the organisation of this webquest will have to be closely monitored and I will have to make sure the students feel comfortable in the online environment and will also have to establish a 'community', otherwise it will not be successful, as students will have to work together. It will be possible to judge the success of it then and to make changes as and when required to meet the need of out students. I will spend time and find more suitable 'teenager' friendly sites to visit as part of the research. In the meantime I am discussing the possibility of trialling this with another group of students here in Wellington during Term 3, where I will attend the face-to-face lessons. I will also ensure to design a course evaluation form which can be completed by the students at the end of the trial.

The fact that the wiki couldn't be used as part of the trial was also a disadvantage. When I trial this again I will make sure that the wiki can be accessed by the students at school or have another option through which the students can communicate or a central area where they can save the work with easy-access to all students.

What I would have preferred to say in this conclusion is that the students demonstrated good technological practice and achieved a high quality outcome, incorporating photos, text and graphic images into the final product.......