2.
3 Authentic Learning
Candidate will model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to engage students in
authentic learning experiences.
This artifact, a WebQuest for an eighth grade Georgia studies course, was designed to engage
students over one week of study. The WebQuest guides students through the democratic process in the
state of Georgia, while allowing students to participate in a mock election, and culminating with
students writing to their local representatives about issues in their communities. This WebQuest was
designed with student data in mind, as teachers reflected on the standards with lowest scores on
student assessments. In collaboration with the social studies teachers, this WebQuest was designed to
address specific standards, while increasing engagement with the content, and while creating authentic
learning opportunities for students.
This project, the Georgia Democratic Process WebQuest helps to model and facilitate the use of
digital tools and resources. During this WebQuest, students will be provided a role within a mock
election, and through the use of digital tool sand resources, students will research the requirements for
office, the roles of each person in an election, and the legislative process once an elected official is in
office. Students used Microsoft Office 365 tools (Word, Excel, Sway, Teams) to gather and present their
findings. During this activity, students will participate in an authentic way by participating in a mock
election. Each student will be given a role (candidate, campaign worker, constituent) and asked to
demonstrate the importance of each of those roles during the simulation. The activity culminates with
students participating in another authentic learning opportunity in which they will identify areas of
need in their community and write to their local representatives in order to share their concerns. This
authentic learning experience helps students to understand that everyone plays an important role in
government and that it is best served when everyone participates and is active.
Prior to the completion of this project, I have looked at WebQuests in a negative light. I often
felt like they were used as a way to keep students busy and that they couldn’t possibly be an effective
teaching tool. I believe that the most effective learning takes place when students and teachers are
actively engaged in productive dialogue and reflection, and most WebQuests that I had been introduced
to did not include space or time for discussion and reflection. I purposefully designed this WebQuest
with time and requirements for student collaboration and reflection. Using Flipgrid and Microsoft Office
365 tools, students were engaged in research based learning strategies. If I were to complete this
WebQuest again, I believe I would utilize several of the same tools, like Microsoft Office 365 and
Flipgrid, but I think I would narrow the scope of the project. We had to add a few extra days into the
originally projected timeline, but we were happy to extend our timeline because of the authentic
conversations students were having about the roles of everyone in the states democratic process.
This project had an impact on faculty development and student learning. After completing this
project for one of the eight grade social studies teachers, we shared it with the rest of the department.
Each class participate in the WebQuest. Teachers reflected on the WebQuest after completion and all
described a level of engagement with their students that they do not typically see during this unit of
study. We will be able to measure the impact of the WebQuest on student learning once assessment
scores are received, but teachers also indicated that student score son the unit assessment were higher
than previous years as well. The purpose of the WebQuest was to increase collaborative and reflective
opportunities for the students so that the content is learned through an experience, and not only
through information.
