Comprehensively justified the intellectual rigour and engagement

Reeves & Oliver (2002) provide ten characteristics of an authentic task with which it is possible to judge a task for its authenticity. The CSWCLES ask students to form groups and conduct field work and research in the same manner as a geographer would in the real world.  They must build a product – webquest – to be used by primary school students based on data they have collected from their own research and fieldwork.  It is encouraged for the research to include many different perspectives and opportunity was given for students to interview different ‘users’ of the ecosystem during fieldwork. The task was designed to be completed over several days, perhaps even a couple of weeks, enabling a deep understanding and requiring substantial amount of effort. The webquest could then be marked as an assessable item meeting several ITC outcomes including access, collect and interpret electronic information, collect and use visual media, design and create a multimedia presentation or webpage to communicate geographical information to a particular audience, including maps and diagrams as appropriate.

The webquest task asks students to use PowerPoint, an easy to use what-you-see-is-what-you-get program, in a manner that they may not have used it before to convey information to a specific audience. There are a number of factors that must be considered, including appropriateness of the tasks they set out, design to meet the needs of their audience and ways to keep the activities interesting.  This provides a substantial challenge that all students, even those with limited experience with PowerPoint.