Web Dilemma: Assessing Student Understanding
I have just read through a commentary by Gary Simpson on the benefits of Web Dilemmas in assessing student understanding. I was truly amazed to see that the uses for web dilemmas goes far beyond what I previously realised. Earlier in the semester, I had to create a Webquest with a focus on professional development for teachers, but after reading this article I am ashamed to say I hadn’t yet thought about using this type of technology as a means of assessing my students understanding of a topic in such as fun and interactive way. The article outlines a real life dilemma that Gary Simpson did with his Year 11 Biology class, and the skills which they developed over the course of the semester. However, I was disappointed by the reflection of his article, as I felt he did not make valid reference to the need for using a Web Dilemma, over the same question posed on paper. I would have liked him to mention the reasons why he believed using a Web dilemma would benefit the students more and how it helped assess the students and how this in particular this attributed to the web dilemma. For example, was there a forum linked to it that students could make regular contributions to, and could these contributions be viewed by the students’ peers?
