Today was a productive day over all. I figured out how to use the Camtasia and am working on a tutorial for a guitar program that I use in exploratory, set out my plans for the final paper and got a good start on planning out the next unit to be taught with my co-teacher in LS science. All in all, not a bad day!
On the other hand, I'm not having much luck finding data on the use of WebQuests. I had expected to find data showing the positives and benefits, countered by negatives and downfalls , with the pluses outnumbering the minuses. It's intuitive to think that WebQuests, with their interactive outcome based projects, would be a highly productive method to assist students in higher level thinking, problem solving and scientific method while integrating the various curricula in a single project. But, as we've read, what's seems obvious is sometimes wrong. I guess I failed on my quest so far this week.
Even though I failed on that, I did find some very good quests and ideas that could very well be part of my future classes, making me a better, more tech savvy teacher. Not to mention spreading the word of how useful new technology can be. It seems that there is always a use for more knowledge, and sometimes even someone that could use the knowledge that I have :)
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I have not searched for any of the info you have mentioned, but I think that you may find the answers yourself when you implement the Quests as a part of your general subject matter. Those students who do well on the related Quests should incorporate what they learn from them into their overall subject knowledge. While it may be a little too hard to see the statistical relevance of those who do well, a correlation may be made for those who struggle with the Quests (either for lack of effort or understanding) and subsequently struggle with the class in general.
Part of the reason it may be difficult to find the analytical data you seek is because the nature of the Quests is to supplement and not necessarily stand alone. In fact, I recall in one of Dr. Dawson's previous classes where Quests were introduced, it was emphatically pointed out that their usefulness and acceptance by the students was inversely proportional to their frequency!
Hope your Camtasia project went better than mine. I waited late in the week to get started and encountered some difficulties. No microphone (and no time to get one) as well as some software problems (production screen too large causing me to not be able to access the buttons and no way to reduce as well as the transitions in my splits not "sticking"). I'm still impressed with what you can do with it though and will probably purchase it for myself.
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