A WebQuest for Graphic
Communication
Designed by
Daviea Bradley
Introduction
| The
Task | Resources
| The
Process | Learning
Advice | Conclusion
& Evaluation
Teaching
Guide | Implementation Plan | Teacher
Profile | Credits
Introduction
Image
that you have
been chosen by your school principal to create a
magazine that reflects the rise of technology from the early 1900's to
the present. This magazine will help the students develop more
entrepreneurial skills within the school of Entrepreneurship.
Technology is advancing everyday and although many people
seem to agree that the rise of
technology is one of today's greatest resources, there are other
individuals who think otherwise. In this Webquest you and your
team will have to
explore reports about how the rise of technology is either good
or bad
for mankind and develop your own magazine.
The Task
"What is
the
truth about technology?"
You will be the editor of this magazine
and
will be required to develop a name and logo for the magazine, your own
reporters,
photographers and
design and layout crew. To unwrap the truth about technology, you
and your staff are
going to read background articles, learn how there are different
opinions on the topic and discuss ideas and feelings with Americans
from all over the world to come up with a truth about
technology. After your research is complete your staff needs to
do the following:
- Create a company name and logo using Adobe Photoshop.
- Prepare a magazine reflecting the truth about technology.
- Decide how many pages your magazine will be based upon your
research that you developed.
- Prepare an outline of what is going to be on each page of the
magazine.
- Layout the magazine so that each article will have a sufficient
amount of space for pictures.
- Create the magazine in Quark Xpress design program.
Resources
There are a number of resources for this topic and your staff
will
be split into work areas in which each person will research a
topic. Magazine articles, newspapers, Internet search engines,
periodicals from the Media Center will assist you with your research.
The list below is just some resources
from the Internet.
- Cold
War equals rise in technology: The
Cold War was the impetus for such creations as intercontinental
ballistic missiles (ICBMs), lunar
launders and space stations -- and
eventually gave birth to important inventions like the computer.
- Fast Company
Magazine: Web Sites We Can't Live Without - There are
millions of sites on the Web. Here is an
utterly unscientific, thoroughly opinionated, and absolutely genuine
review of sites that have worked their way into our daily lives. This
site has other links connected to it.
The
Process
1. Background: Read information about life without the
use of
technology.
You have to begin by researching lifestyles in the
early 1900's
before technology was invented.
Create a survey to ask Americans how do they feel
about the rise of technology.
2. Looking Deeper: Different Perspectives on the
topic. Based on how life was before technology, come up with
other topics that relate to the rise of technology. Some examples
include: medical issues, telephone usage, computers,etc.
3. Research the topics that your staff discovered by
brainstorming.
Develop concrete issues to base your discovery that will support your
thesis of the truth about technology.
4. Brainstorm a name and logo for your magazine.
5. Your magazine has to be at least 10 pages and must be paginated
correctly to be printed.
6. Once you have decided the amount of pages that your magazine should
be, your reporters must make sure that their articles will be long
enough to fill up the space. - Remember the most interesting article
should be on the front page of the magazine.
Lets' Get Going:
7. Give your staff a deadline so that the magazine will be ready in a
sufficient amount of time. Usually, it will take about 6 weeks to
gather
all the needed information. Make sure you meet the deadline.... that's
important in the printing and publishing industry.
8. Three or four days before the deadline, begin proofing the layout
for errors so you can begin printing the magazine.
9. After the magazine is printed, relax and enjoy the money that is
about to roll in from the sales of your magazine.
Learning
Advice
- All pictures should come from the Internet, resource books,
magazines or even scanned images from photoshop. All of the complete
layout should be created in Quark Xpress. Don't forget to give
credit
to the source of the pictures.
- After you are completely finished with the magazine, PLEASE
spell check.
- Each person on your staff should be assigned to a certain page of
the magazine to make sure that page is error free and ready to go to
the press.
- You will loose a lot of money if you have to reprint the magazine
because of spelling and grammar errors.
Conclusion
&
Evaluation
Congratulations, You've done
something that few others have a chance to really do: That
is, you and your staff have created your very own
magazine. You have utilized your previous graphic combination
skills
to create a useful source of information. You have also developed a way
to
practice entrepreneurship skills by selling the magazines to
people in your
community. This webquest was to broaden students minds on how
the rise of technology has changed the way Americans live. The answer
to the question of whether the use of technology is good or bad
for mankind should be displayed in the magazine that you created.
Please click
here to view the criteria on
which your individual grade will be
based. You may also click
here to review the criteria on which will determine your
collaborative grade.
Credits
- Thanks to
Craig Cunningham for directing the WIT Program; Carisa Bryant Johnson
and
Terry Jones for mentoring the WebQuest Class.
This page written by Daviea
Bradley