My Idea for a Webquest
I teach Photography and Graphic Design, so I looked at art quests. Almost every art quest I found focused on art history. However, I want to create a webquest that yeilds a creative product.
I liked watching the Apprentice and the challenge of completeing a creative task with a team. My idea for a webquest came from thinking about the Apprentice and my new graphic design class I am starting next spring. The task teaches students to think like graphic designers by playing different roles in graphic design, using teamwork, and thinking outside the box.
Here is a bare-bones introduction to the task:
You have $50,000 to invent and promote a new product. Your company consists of three experts:
- Product Designer
- Commercial Photographer
- Graphic Designer
Your company will work together along the way, but first you need to become experts in your field.
Next, I will have the students find some background on the different roles. For example, the product designer will learn about effective packaging for the product. The photographer will study lighting, and the graphic designer will study advertising. Students will have to write a proposal explaining their product, target audience, message, and approach.
The final product will be an advertisement promoting the product.
I am considering a few additions:
- Option of adding a commercial component.
- Giving out mock money to students which they can use to buy the mock products. The company that makes the most mock money will win. I could include some economics about setting a pricepoint.
- Having guest graphic designers and commercial photographers come in for a day so students can ask questions relating to their roles. If I can’t get any guests to come in, then maybe we could get an email corrospondence going. I think some design firms would be happy to have their employees mentoring high school kids.
Some skills the groups will learn and use along the way:
- Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Digital SLR, Studio Lighting, Layout, Type, Visual Communication, Marketing, Printing, Teamwork, Career knowledge
Let me know what you think, any ideas or suggestions would be helpful. I need a catchy title!
on September 11th, 2006 at 092006000000930pm049
Jessica,
I love this idea! You have it well thought out. One suggestion that I would have is that you define a target audience for your product. I think that this would help you be able to find appropriate resources instead of having to get this too general or too many to make them meaningful. Also, for Module 3, you will need to produce a video – I thought that this would be a nice addition to the webquest with the students producing a video to market their product (I know this is down the road, but the thought came into my head now!). I very much like your idea of having “authentic judges” – practicioners give their opinion about the product. As for a catchy title … I’m drawing a blank here, but I’ll keep thinking! Nice job.
on September 16th, 2006 at 092006000000930am379
Jess, this is really cool. You have all aspects of a great project covered. The cross-categorical ideas with math and econ, etc are really good, too. Students will love marketing their products. Since it is launching a new product, the first title that sounded like an interesting reality TV show to me would be “THE LAUNCH.” Then after that I thought about 50 cent and “Get rich or die tryin’” and that is when I decided that I should no longer even try to come up with names…ever.