WebStars Interview Questions
Selia Karsten OISE/UT 1998
Using Computers and Class Work:
1. Expectations and prior experience: Tell me the story of what it was like for you regarding computers before you took this course. Give as many details as you can about how you felt about them, what experience you had, what you were hoping to accomplish. What were your expectations regarding what would happen in the Computer Applications course?
2. Looking back and into the future: In what ways were your expectations different from what really happened? Was it easier or more difficult than you thought it would be? How did you feel after the course - what were your expectations for where you might take these skills into the future? What hopes, ambitions or questions do you have now regarding the future and your involvement with the web?
3. Assignments and projects: in what situations, for what assignments
or projects did you explore more, get
more involved, ask more questions, go beyond what was expected? Please
give specific examples. Did you do more in this course than for other courses
in the international business and marketing program?
4. Course web page: Was it easier, the same or more difficult
to understand the teacher's assignments for the course by having them posted
on the web? Was the teacher more or less accessible to you than teachers
in other courses in the program.
5. Forums: What did you think of posting your ideas to the Forums each week? (if Forums were used in your COmputer Applications course) Were you able to express yourself as you wanted to? How did you feel about having your ideas seen by others? In what ways did it change your thinking about your classmates to see their ideas in the Forums?
Presentations and Web Pages
1. Presentations: You first learned to use the computer to make
presentations in the classroom. Tell how this
experience was for you. In what ways was it helpful to learn
presentation tools before creating a web page
portfolio?
2. Design elements: Creating presentations and web pages usually
involves thinking in visual terms - using
pictures or other images, deciding what colours and fonts to use, how
to layout the material, having a sense of
design and deciding what styles to use. Tell me about your experience
with these elements. Did you use sound
and animation? How did you feel about the results?
3. Web pages: Describe what happened to you as you created your
first web page. Try to remember how you
felt, where you started, what problems you may have had, how you got
help, what you discovered, where you got
stuck, if you helped others, etc. Tell about any significant difficulties
you overcame in order to create web pages.
4. Web page portfolio: How was having a portfolio with information
about you presented on the web important
and useful for you? How did this experience affect you socially? Professionally?
Psychologically? Tell about what you did as a result of creating a web
page. Who did you show? What feedback did you get? How did you feel
about your work? Have you changed the web pages you created for the course
since then? If so, what have you done? What plans do you have regarding
your web pages for the future? What other work on the web have you done
since you took the course? For what purpose?
5. Impressions: What did you know about making web
pages before you took the course? What fears or
concerns did you have about using the web? How has that changed? In
what ways are web pages, in general, important to you now?
Storytelling, Creativity and Self Reflection:
1. Storytelling: During the course, you were asked to think about
stories and story telling. How does this apply
to what the course was all about? What does storytelling have to do
with presentations and web pages? Did
storytelling have anything to do with your presentations or web pages
and if so what?
2. Creativity: Creating a presentation or a web page involves
creativity. How did the projects for this course
help you in being creative and artistic? Did you feel confident about
your talent in this area? How do you what
you were able to accomplish in creative/artistic terms in this course.
3. Self Reflection: For me a WebStar is someone who shines in
the medium of the world wide web. I
discovered that I have a special aptitude and enjoyment, a passion
for creating on the web, so I t hink of myself as a WebStar. Would you
call yourself a WebStar? In what ways do you think this label, "webStar"
might apply to you?
4. Self Reflection: A number of times in this course, you were asked to talk about yourself.
1. You were asked to introduce yourself in
the forum
2. You were asked to tell about your goals
and your feelings about making an A.
3. You were asked to give a 5 minute presentation
to the class about yourself.
4. You were asked to create a web page about
yourself.
Tell me how you felt about each of these requests? Was any one of these
difficult for you? In what ways? What
was the best part of thinking about and creating ways to tell about
yourself? If you could do it over again, what
would you do differently?
5. Self-Reflection: Is there anything you would like for me to
know about your experiences in this course that
hasn't been touched on in this interview so far? Is there a story related
to what we have been talking about that you would like to share with me
about your experiences? This story could be something that happened to
you
before, during or after the course.
Outcomes and Impact of Course:
1. Skills and work habits: How have you been able to use
the skills gained in this course? for other courses? for other interests
and activities in your life? In what ways? Have your work habits
changed since taking the
course? In what ways?
2. Team work and collaboration: In this course did you exchange
ideas more with others in your class than
you did in other classes? Were new friendships made through the course?
Tell me about your team experience in the course.
3. Attitude: Has your attitude and confidence in using technology
changed through taking the course - in what
ways? Discuss any changes regarding study practices, time management,
presentation of assignments, care
with work, and/or pressure to succeed? How do you feel about computers
and technology these days?
4. Self Image: How did you feel about having your work
on the web where it might be seen by more than just
the teacher? by your classmates? by anyone looking at the web?
5. Highlights: Thinking back on the course, is there anything
that stands out as a highlight or special
experience that happened regarding this course - it could be
an event that happened in the class room or
outside. It could be something that happened to you alone or with others.
Please describe the setting, who
was involved and what exactly took place.