Can E-Training Packages Develop Webquests Designing Skills for Teachers of Gifted Students?

Abstract

The research aimed to study the effectiveness of using an E-training package to develop Webquest designing skills for teachers of gifted students. The main research question was how well gifted students' teachers acquire the Webquest's designing skills after studying the proposed E-training package? The research follows a quasi-experimental design for one group. The sample consists of 23 teachers of gifted students. The research only focuses on the designing skills for long term webquests. It is administered in a private school located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia during the second semester of academic year 2008-2009. The researcher used a pre-post test and a webquest rubric to evaluate the teachers' knowledge and skills. The researcher found that gifted students' teachers acquired very well the knowledge and skills related to the design of webquests after studying the E-training package. However, the skills of describing the process clearly and selecting resources were poorly acquired. This finding indicates that e-training packages can be used to train teachers on developing new instructional methods and tools. The researcher has put several recommendations. E-training packages should be used as complementary method and not as a replacement for face-to-face training. In addition, E-training packages should be supervised when implemented in an organization. In addition, the Arabic Web resources should be enriched with high quality websites.