Audience
This final product is for members of a public library sponsored Europe Travel Club, which would hold frequent meetings to discuss all things Europe and travel. The club would be open to anyone but would probably attract mostly adults. There are enough resources on the site to appeal to someone of any age or background. Specifically, the project is a resource for club members who are planning their first trip to Europe. They would most likely be new members who do not know much about traveling to Europe and have not delved too deeply into the research process. The site begins with a “Destination” page, so the user would be at the very first stage of travel planning. Another aspect of the audience is the members creating the content. These would be experienced members who would be creating most of the content. They would be encouraged to share their knowledge and experience with new members.
Need
There is such an excess of travel resources online that new travelers may be overwhelmed with where to start their research. Furthermore, while there are so many travel websites to choose from, finding them can still be difficult using a basic internet search, which would be common for casual internet users. The learning experience I’ve created gathers resources in one location to allow users to plan their trip without the frustration they may face when doing their own online searches. I’ve created three research areas that organize the information into stages: Destination, Budget, and Itinerary. The point is for users to follow these stages so that they can slowly build their own plans while also learning about which websites best fit their needs and can be used for future travel. This organization makes the project more than just a pathfinder but rather a WebQuest meant to guide them in their plans. I also suggest some online tools to use while they are on the WebQuest, such as the note-taking site YourDraft or the social bookmarking site Furl. This should give them something that will be produced from the learning, and it will also show them that online travel research does not have to be difficult but can be done in an organized format.
The need also arises for a way to welcome members who are new to traveling and to the club. New members may feel uneasy to join a travel club with seasoned travelers, especially new members that have limited knowledge about travel. This learning experience would make users feel they are openly embraced, as they would now have ample resources and guidance for their specific needs. The project itself is also a way for experienced members to get involved and develop a connection with new members. More about that will be discussed in the technology section. When they are done with the experience, new members should be able to talk about what they learn and the resources that were most helpful to them with the rest of the club. Whether their needs were met can be discussed with the club, and they will also participate in a survey at the end of the learning experience.
Technology Effectiveness
The technology components I selected are the following: wiki, WebQuest, digital photographs, and survey. An additional technology I used is a Swicki. I took a different slant on two of the technologies I used: the wiki and WebQuest. I wanted to use the wiki for its primary purpose as a collaborative tool so that members can have an online space for contributing their knowledge and research on travel. However, as new members are using the wiki, they are not the ones who are adding or editing the content as part of the learning experience. My vision is for other, more experienced, members to be the ones contributing the content for the newer members who have limited travel experience. Once the new members complete the learning experience, they will be encouraged to contribute to the wiki by adding resources they find during their own research, thus providing them with motivation and encouragement to further their own research. This leads to another way that the wiki may seem different from popular online wikis, like Wikipedia.
The wiki I created is not very text-based but is rather comprised of lists of resources. As noted by Brian Lamb, wikis are “perfect for creating perpetually updated lists or collections of links” (Lamb). The external resources are part of the WebQuest, which is meant to guide users to provided web links so that they can begin making their travel plans. Bernie Dodge names the elements that should be part of a WebQuest: an introduction, task, set of information sources, description of process, guidance on how to organize the information, and a conclusion (Dodge). However, since the project is for an informal audience and setting, such rigid components to the WebQuest may deter users from participating. While I still organize my WebQuest with the elements Dodge lists, I make the task and process very broad in that I ask only that users begin making their travel plans, and the process is that they should follow the links in the order of Destination, Budget, and Itinerary. I interpret Dodge’s method in a way that would best fit the informal setting of a public library club. This would satisfy users who would most likely want some organization to their learning experience but would not want to fulfill strict requirements in a highly structured learning environment.
The other two technologies I use are digital pictures and a survey. I used several pictures from past trips to Europe to add visual interest to the pages. All the pictures are resized to 400x300 and 72 dpi. Furthermore, I used Adobe Photoshop to add artistic effects to the picture on the main page. I also created a Picasa web album of a past trip I took to Europe. I had to scan the photos and do some retouching in Photoshop. The placement of the picture slideshow element in the Destination page may help users in deciding their destination. One option on the page is for links to travel videos and pictures, so providing the slideshow is meant to be an example of the type of resources participants can access. Some pictures, which have a link under them, were used from Flickr Creative Commons. This would be a good opportunity for users to contribute to the wiki by replacing the Flickr pictures with their own. The other technology I used is an online survey. I thought about using a PowerPoint starter rather than a survey, but I wanted a simpler way for users to end their WebQuest, since they should already have taken plenty of notes and have bookmarked numerous websites.
The purpose of the survey is twofold: to help sum up what users have learned, as the conclusion in a WebQuest should be a reminder of what users have learned (Dodge), and to serve as a tool for the club leader so that the site can be evaluated for its usefulness. The user is asked which websites helped him/her the most and is also asked for general feedback. In addition to providing evaluation, the survey results can be a discussion topic for the club. The project also concludes with a Swicki. In the conclusion of a WebQuest, users should be encouraged to extend their experience (Dodge). A Swicki is a customized search portal I created for travel planning. This will give users some guidance in extending their research experience into online searching. Information about how the technology is effective for users with different learning styles is addressed as part of the technology issues section.
Technology Issues
That the open-access nature of wikis means one user will “ruin” another user’s work is a common complaint (Lamb). However, wikis employ “SoftSecurity,” in that an edited page can simply be recovered to its original state with a click of the mouse (Lamb). The members of the Europe Travel Club would be encouraged to contribute to the wiki but still respect the work of others. Discussion in the comments area of the wiki is also another way to promote dialogue and rationale about changes, as the community itself should be enforcing order on the wiki (Lamb).
There may also be concern that new members to whom the wiki is directed will begin contributing to the wiki without completing the WebQuest. Emma Tonkin points out that not all wikis are suitable for collaborative writing, and she recommends that wikis have the following features: “page-locking system, versioning system, and ability to temporarily remove the edit functionality for a given page” (Tonkin). Rather than enabling a page-locking function, Google sites allows the editing function of the wiki to be locked for members only. So, the administrator/club leader can limit who is able to contribute. It is not, however, recommended that the administrator take an active role in changing the content or restricting access to members who have permission to edit the site. Creating an active community that can police itself is the goal of this wiki.
Another issue would be whether the technology can fit the learning styles of all users. However, 100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner provides tools that can be recommended to users as they engage in the learning experience. It is very difficult to consider all types of learners in every single aspect of the wiki. Furthermore, if the wiki is meant for community collaboration, forcing users to include resources for every learner would go against the wiki’s purpose. However, recommending that auditory and visual learners use slide show programs like Zoho Show or Empressr to incorporate pictures and sound while taking notes will allow those users to synthesize the information to fit their needs. Likewise, kinesthetic learners are encouraged to use note-taking tools that would be more appropriate for their learning style. And while the content of the budget and itinerary sections do not give individual attention to the different learning styles, the destination section divides the resources for the three styles: podcasts for auditory learners, videos and pictures for visual learners, and interactive communities for kinesthetic learners. With at least some consideration to users of all learning styles, these users will hopefully in turn continue to modify the site to better accommodate users of their particular learning style.
Additional Notes
This project is meant to get everyone in the club involved, not just new members. As already mentioned, experienced members also have a role in its implementation. This project can be an extension of a much larger online project. It could be one of many technology learning experiences for the club. Consider the next step to be forming an online social network, with this project as one of many linked resources from the network.
Laun, Christina. “100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner.” College @ Home 10 June 2008. 2 Dec. 2008 <http://www.collegeathome.com/blog/2008/06/10/100-helpful-web-tools-for-every-kind-of-learner/>. Dodge, Bernie. “Some Thoughts About WebQuests.” WebQuest.org. 5 May 1997. 2 Dec. 2008. < http://webquest.sdsu.edu/about_webquests.html>. Lamb, Brian. “Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not.” EDUCAUSE Review 39.5 (September/October 2004). 2 Dec. 2008 <http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/WideOpenSpacesWikisReadyo/40498>. Tonkin, Emma. “Making the Case for a Wiki.” Ariadne 42 (January 2005). 2 Dec. 2008 <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/tonkin/>.
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