WebQuest: Popular Music of Japan or China, Asian Country, Indonesia, Central America, South American Country, African Country, Middle Eastern Country, India, Eastern European Country, Western European Country, Carribean Country

The Task

Congratulations! You and your partners have been selected by the World Pop Music Class to determine the top 5 popular musical ensembles of Japan or other country. This honor includes an invitation to share samples of their music with your classmates and to share your decisions with the world. The following tasks lie ahead of you.

1. Search the internet for Japanese Popular Music and Artist information

2. Select 10-15 of the finest web sites to share with your classmates and the world during the 9 active weeks of the class

3. Create a dynamic web page that will be linked to the World Pop Music Class to report your findings and decisions for the first 3 months of the year 2000

4. Acquire musical samples of the artists you have selected to share/compare with the class

The Background

Over the past few years, music of different cultures has become popular all over the world. Record labels have identified world music as a genre they wish to record and distribute. MP3's along with RealAudio give music lovers all over the world the ability to listen and enjoy the music of different cultures.

The Process

1. Arrange a number of times each week you and your partners can work together on the project. Consider using chat rooms, message boards, e-mail etc. as well as face to face interaction.

2.Determine who will be doing the various tasks needed for this project (web page creation, web page research, web page analysis, music samples for class.

3. Organize your schedules so you will be prepared to present your research to the class every other week.

4. By the second week of the quarter post the shell of the your web page so it can be linked to the class web page.

5. Update and add information to your web page so it can be used in your presentation to the class every other week

6.Use the guides and search tips provided on the class web pages to maximize your efforts.

7. Students will be using a computer, a web browser along with real audio and mp3 players for the presentation. Each presentation should include music, pictures, information regarding the group/artists. Presentations will be made by a different member of the group each time.

Conclusion

I hope, that by doing this exercise, you will have learned about Japanese popular music, how to work as a team to complete a project, how to more easily find information on the Internet, how to acquire/listen to popular music of another cullture.