Whistleblowing: Business Ethics EAP 1620 Advanced Reading Webquest Activity
Synopsis
This is a WebQuest designed for adult non-native English speakers in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program. This long term WebQuest was designed with a 4-week time frame in mind. This WebQuest aims to develop reading skills of advanced EAP students. The class is a 3-college credit advanced reading course that prepares students for university level reading. This WebQuest was used to reinforce face-to-face class lessons including main idea, supporting details, inference and conclusion, patterns of organization, fact and opinion and argument. This WebQuest allows students to learn about the term whistleblowing by using teamwork and Internet resources, culminating in the production of a two-part final report about students’ findings. However, although the parts of the final product are described in the conclusion section, there is no rubric to evaluate student work and participation.
Pedagogy
This WebQuest employs a variety of teaching strategies to accomplish the goal of developing reading skills of advanced EAP students and to teach the term whistleblowing. The introduction section of the WebQuest starts with a scenario and defines students’ job: Students work for a simulated business and must decide what to do about a dilemma, “Is it better to remain quiet about a potential problem their team discovers in their simulated business or speak out? ” Thus, this WebQuest arouses curiosity and motivates students by wrapping such motivational elements around the basic structure. Also, in the introduction section, students are introduced to the term whistleblowing and given a summary of the assignments they need to accomplish. In the task section, this WebQuest utilizes problem-based learning (PBL) by introducing students to the problem and the big question, “Should I blow the whistle? ” By using problem-based learning, students are challenged to use problem-solving techniques, self-directed learning strategies, and team participation skills since students need to learn some knowledge before they can solve the posed problem. In the process section, every step is clearly stated and the scaffolding process takes students from basic knowledge to higher level thinking with a number of teaching strategies employed in the WebQuest. As students work in groups of four to solve the problem and to accomplish a common learning goal, to come to a unanimous decision about the big question, this WebQuest also uses team-based learning and cooperative and collaborative learning. Students work interdependently and work towards both personal and team goals. They meet as a group and decide their special areas of interest within the group, that is, each person learns one piece of the puzzle by doing research and when the group comes together, each person shares what they have read with the rest of the group. As a result of team-based learning, active learning also takes place since students rely on each other for their own learning and are responsible both for their own learning and for each other’s learning. In other words, checks for understanding are built in the WebQuest because as students meet to share what they have found, they find the opportunity to assess whether they are on the right track or not. This WebQuest also utilizes inquiry-based learning through a discovery process since students arrive at an understanding of the term whistleblowing by themselves and the responsibility for learning rests with them. By employing this method, this WebQuest encourages students to do research. Students use their findings to write a group report about the various points they had to consider while reaching a decision about the big question; thus, this WebQuest also provides an opportunity for students to apply critical thinking skills as well as helps them to learn the term whistleblowing. Students are also given production scaffolds in the conclusion section of the WebQuest. Lastly, this WebQuest also uses a bit of direct instruction since it is introduced in class; however, after students choose their teams, the rest of the WebQuest is done out of class.
Technology Use
To teach the term whistleblowing, although enough resources to read are embedded in the WebQuest document itself as anchors pointing to information on the World Wide Web, this WebQuest does not utilize a variety of technological tools. Students are expected to read the web documents and are also suggested to watch one of the movies about whistleblowing listed in the process section of the WebQuest. Students also can watch some videos about whistleblowing by visiting http://www.Whistleblower.org/; however, it is listed in the credits section but not in the process section in which resources are listed. Therefore, this WebQuest could be done by printing out a hard copy and handing it out to each student. Then the rest of the work can be done outside of class, but students would have to type in the resource web pages. Overall, since this WebQuest only guides students to find the resources on the World Wide Web, technology is an add-on for this WebQuest.
Bugs and Flaws
This WebQuest works technically. Links are functional and there are no visible bugs or flaws such as broken links or images. The material seems to be up to date since the last published date is March 4, 2013. The WebQuest credits some of its resources in the credits section.
Suggestions for Improvement
This WebQuest could be improved in several ways. To start with, criteria for success are not stated clearly in the form of a rubric although students are provided with information about grading in the conclusion section of the WebQuest. Each team turns a final report consisting of two parts and they get a group grade based on this report. Thus, a rubric to grade the team product needs to be included in this WebQuest to focus students’ attention during their initial learning and to help students to interpret instructors’ feedback. Another rubric to evaluate team process is needed because although the first part of the report is written by all group members, the second part is written by each individual member of the team. In the second part of the final report each member has to evaluate each member of their group by rating them on a scale of 1-5 and by explaining their opinion about how much work other members contributed to their team’s final report. Thus, I would prefer a rubric to guide students to evaluate group functioning. Additionally, although the process is organized and it takes students from basic knowledge to higher level thinking, I think a variety of activities should be included to use the technology as a transformative tool. Information sources are all web documents; however, video conferencing can be set up and students can talk with an expert about whistleblowing. Also, group members are expected to meet regularly to come to a unanimous decision about the big question and to write the final product. They can chat online with their team members to come to a decision and they can use an online graphic organizer to brainstorm before starting writing the final report, and when they start writing, they can still use an online graphic organizer like Mind 42 because it allows students to collaborate at the same time. In addition, the resources in the process section should also be added to the credits section because some of them are not listed in the credits section. http://www.Whistleblower.org/ should be added to the resources in the process section because this is the only resource in which students can find some videos about whistleblowing. Yet, when students view this website, they have to click on the multimedia tab to watch the videos. Thus, instead of this link, a direct link to the videos should be added both to the process section and to the credits section. Apart from these, students should also be provided with a production scaffold in the form of a writing template to give guidance to students to convey what they have learnt. Lastly, conclusion section may contain some questions to extend student learning beyond the scope of the WebQuest. Overall, I am excited to use this WebQuest in my classroom after doing the necessary tweaking.
Synopsis
This is a WebQuest designed for adult non-native English speakers in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program. This long term WebQuest was designed with a 4-week time frame in mind. This WebQuest aims to develop reading skills of advanced EAP students. The class is a 3-college credit advanced reading course that prepares students for university level reading. This WebQuest was used to reinforce face-to-face class lessons including main idea, supporting details, inference and conclusion, patterns of organization, fact and opinion and argument. This WebQuest allows students to learn about the term whistleblowing by using teamwork and Internet resources, culminating in the production of a two-part final report about students’ findings. However, although the parts of the final product are described in the conclusion section, there is no rubric to evaluate student work and participation.
Pedagogy
This WebQuest employs a variety of teaching strategies to accomplish the goal of developing reading skills of advanced EAP students and to teach the term whistleblowing. The introduction section of the WebQuest starts with a scenario and defines students’ job: Students work for a simulated business and must decide what to do about a dilemma, “Is it better to remain quiet about a potential problem their team discovers in their simulated business or speak out? ” Thus, this WebQuest arouses curiosity and motivates students by wrapping such motivational elements around the basic structure. Also, in the introduction section, students are introduced to the term whistleblowing and given a summary of the assignments they need to accomplish. In the task section, this WebQuest utilizes problem-based learning (PBL) by introducing students to the problem and the big question, “Should I blow the whistle? ” By using problem-based learning, students are challenged to use problem-solving techniques, self-directed learning strategies, and team participation skills since students need to learn some knowledge before they can solve the posed problem. In the process section, every step is clearly stated and the scaffolding process takes students from basic knowledge to higher level thinking with a number of teaching strategies employed in the WebQuest. As students work in groups of four to solve the problem and to accomplish a common learning goal, to come to a unanimous decision about the big question, this WebQuest also uses team-based learning and cooperative and collaborative learning. Students work interdependently and work towards both personal and team goals. They meet as a group and decide their special areas of interest within the group, that is, each person learns one piece of the puzzle by doing research and when the group comes together, each person shares what they have read with the rest of the group. As a result of team-based learning, active learning also takes place since students rely on each other for their own learning and are responsible both for their own learning and for each other’s learning. In other words, checks for understanding are built in the WebQuest because as students meet to share what they have found, they find the opportunity to assess whether they are on the right track or not. This WebQuest also utilizes inquiry-based learning through a discovery process since students arrive at an understanding of the term whistleblowing by themselves and the responsibility for learning rests with them. By employing this method, this WebQuest encourages students to do research. Students use their findings to write a group report about the various points they had to consider while reaching a decision about the big question; thus, this WebQuest also provides an opportunity for students to apply critical thinking skills as well as helps them to learn the term whistleblowing. Students are also given production scaffolds in the conclusion section of the WebQuest. Lastly, this WebQuest also uses a bit of direct instruction since it is introduced in class; however, after students choose their teams, the rest of the WebQuest is done out of class.
Technology Use
To teach the term whistleblowing, although enough resources to read are embedded in the WebQuest document itself as anchors pointing to information on the World Wide Web, this WebQuest does not utilize a variety of technological tools. Students are expected to read the web documents and are also suggested to watch one of the movies about whistleblowing listed in the process section of the WebQuest. Students also can watch some videos about whistleblowing by visiting http://www.Whistleblower.org/; however, it is listed in the credits section but not in the process section in which resources are listed. Therefore, this WebQuest could be done by printing out a hard copy and handing it out to each student. Then the rest of the work can be done outside of class, but students would have to type in the resource web pages. Overall, since this WebQuest only guides students to find the resources on the World Wide Web, technology is an add-on for this WebQuest.
Bugs and Flaws
This WebQuest works technically. Links are functional and there are no visible bugs or flaws such as broken links or images. The material seems to be up to date since the last published date is March 4, 2013. The WebQuest credits some of its resources in the credits section.
Suggestions for Improvement
This WebQuest could be improved in several ways. To start with, criteria for success are not stated clearly in the form of a rubric although students are provided with information about grading in the conclusion section of the WebQuest. Each team turns a final report consisting of two parts and they get a group grade based on this report. Thus, a rubric to grade the team product needs to be included in this WebQuest to focus students’ attention during their initial learning and to help students to interpret instructors’ feedback. Another rubric to evaluate team process is needed because although the first part of the report is written by all group members, the second part is written by each individual member of the team. In the second part of the final report each member has to evaluate each member of their group by rating them on a scale of 1-5 and by explaining their opinion about how much work other members contributed to their team’s final report. Thus, I would prefer a rubric to guide students to evaluate group functioning. Additionally, although the process is organized and it takes students from basic knowledge to higher level thinking, I think a variety of activities should be included to use the technology as a transformative tool. Information sources are all web documents; however, video conferencing can be set up and students can talk with an expert about whistleblowing. Also, group members are expected to meet regularly to come to a unanimous decision about the big question and to write the final product. They can chat online with their team members to come to a decision and they can use an online graphic organizer to brainstorm before starting writing the final report, and when they start writing, they can still use an online graphic organizer like Mind 42 because it allows students to collaborate at the same time. In addition, the resources in the process section should also be added to the credits section because some of them are not listed in the credits section. http://www.Whistleblower.org/ should be added to the resources in the process section because this is the only resource in which students can find some videos about whistleblowing. Yet, when students view this website, they have to click on the multimedia tab to watch the videos. Thus, instead of this link, a direct link to the videos should be added both to the process section and to the credits section. Apart from these, students should also be provided with a production scaffold in the form of a writing template to give guidance to students to convey what they have learnt. Lastly, conclusion section may contain some questions to extend student learning beyond the scope of the WebQuest. Overall, I am excited to use this WebQuest in my classroom after doing the necessary tweaking.
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