FEMINSIGHTS Magazine What Wise Women Need to Know!

1. FEMINSIGHTS MagazineWhat Wise Women Need to Know! By Dr. Jacki Leak A webquest for students in an upper-division Psychology of Women class.

2. INSTRUCTIONS for STUDENTS • In completing this Webquest, first you will research and analyze information on issues that are generally important to mature women. You will then formulate an opinion as to which issue you feel is most important for mature women to be informed about, and construct a research-based persuasive argument to convince others of the importance of the issue you have chosen. • Your task is to go online and research at least 3 of the websites listed below, and to determine the single topic that you feel is the most important one for this inaugural edition of FEMINSIGHTS, and then you must convince the editors of the magazine that the topic you've selected should be a priority.  Remember, other people will be trying to convince the editors that their topic is the most important, so present your most persuasive, documented, and detailed rationale for the topic you have selected. Please save all relevant web addresses and cite them as resources.

3. INSTRUCTOR GOALS • Student acquisition of insights regarding issues that are salient in the lives of mature women • Student synthesis and prioritizing of data gathered from multiple sources in order to create a final product, a persuasive powerpoint presentation • Gathering information as to the effectiveness of this assignment, the level of student engagement, clarity of the instructions, the ability to engage in perspective-taking and other details relating to the student experience in completing the assignment

4. SALG ASSESSMENT • The SALG was selected because of its convenience, accessibility and the “perceived flexibility”* of the question format. • The data collected suggested that most of the students were able to successfully assume the perspective of a mature woman to varying degrees in order to effectively construct an argument for the importance of a particular topic • Student responses were overwhelmingly positive about the exercise, its perceived usefulness and their own levels of engagement *One of the limitations of the SALG was my lack of familiarity with the instrument itself.

5. What Changes …? • I will more emphatically and repeatedly stress the target group by providing the specific age range of the market for the magazine/exercise (mature women) because at least one student either failed to make note of that very important fact or failed to assume the required perspective, and submitted an entry that was more appropriate for younger women. • I will adjust the assessment instrument to more specifically evaluate the student’s perception of the how difficult/easy it was to step into the shoes of women of another generation. • I will add an inquiry that forces the student to identify specific overarching course concepts that relate to the exercise (power and oppression, diversity, developmental issues, etc) • The problem I anticipated was being overwhelmed by the number of responses, which I mitigated by offering the Webquest late in the semester as an optional extra credit assignment

6. SAMPLE STUDENT POWERPOINTS