Simply put, a Web Quest is an inquiry-based activity where students are given a task and provided with access to on-line resources to help them complete the task.
It is an ideal way to deliver a lesson over the web. Web Quests are discovery learning tools; they are usually used to either begin or finish a unit of study. When creating a Web Quest, it is beneficial to be able to make your own web pages. But, it is not necessary. Teachers have delivered fantastic Web Quests in hard copy format. Over the last five years, the TeAch-nology.
Some are good, some are great, and some are not worth the time it takes to download. In this tutorial, we will examine the use of Web Quests and qualities of effective Web Quests. As a collaborative activity in which students create a product fostering cooperative learning ;. To teach students how to be independent thinkers since most of the problems encountered in a Web Quest are real-world problems;. As a motivational techniques to keep students on task.
However, if it proves to be an inefficient method of learning for your particular students for whatever reasons , don't use it!
Qualities of Effective Web Quests. The Beauty of Web Quests are their flexibility since they can be anything to anyone. This makes it hard to identify a typically effective Web Quest.
Nonetheless, we have found that Web Quests that promote learning typically have 6 common attributes. A learning activity could stop here and be a pretty good WebQuest. But why not go for the best?
Note this site has been retired — you can see a snapshot of BestWebQuests. Students see richer thematic relationships. Is this WebQuest real, rich, and relevant? These questions form the three R s for assessing the value of a WebQuest. Students contribute to the real world of learning. Innovative applications of authentic assessment increase the value of WebQuests. Educators play a vital role in securing in-person or online mentors, experts, collaborative classes, and policymakers who are willing to share their informed positions, and teachers can help students pursue such worthy initiatives as service learning; school-to-work programs; and partnership academies, in which students become interns for related partnering organizations.
In addition to this real-world feedback, teachers construct rubrics to authentically assess student achievement. Qualitative descriptors for varying levels of achievement in a range of criteria guide student progress rather than simply measure completion. Students reflect on their own metacognitive processes. After all, the goal is not for students to do WebQuests forever or to blindly jump through these new and improved hoops, but rather to develop as independent, expert learners.
WebQuests bring learner-centered principles from the realm of noble idea to daily practice. When teachers facilitate well-designed WebQuests, they gain in-process professional development, moving them toward learning-centered practice. As they internalize and share their experiences, we all benefit. Terrorist or Freedom Fighter? Crool Zone? Little Rock 9, Integration 0? American Psychological Association. Learner-centered psychological principles. Washington, DC: Author.
Available: www. Bereiter, C. Teachability of reflective processes in written composition. Cognitive Science, 8 , — Blakey, E. Developing metacognition. ED Bransford, J. Schema activation and schema acquisition. Ruddell Eds. Brooks, J. In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms rev. Cho, K. The effects of argumentation scaffolds on argumentation and problem solving. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50 3 , 5— Dodge, B. Some thoughts about WebQuests [Online].
Keller, J. Most students completed the tasks successfully, though several had to be given extra time to turn in their work. Students from both groups received individual grades for their completed work. She stated that many of the posters showed a higher level of learning than the WebQuest group. The posters attempted to analyze the events of the Texas Revolution, where the newscast presentations included simple recall of the events. The results of this study seem to indicate that, for this unit, particularly, traditional classroom activities, such as creating unique posters, were more effective for teaching and reinforcing large amounts of content.
One critical difference in the instructional strategies of this teacher and those of teachers relying solely on textbooks is the sheer variety in instruction. In essence, this study did not compare WebQuests to common instruction that relies on textbooks and worksheets for instruction.
It looked at WebQuests compared to exemplary teaching. This is not the first WebQuest these students have completed. Prior to completing this activity, all students completed a WebQuest on the geography of Texas.
Each group had to select a major Texas city and prepare a presentation that would lure a lucrative boating business to their city. To complete the task, the students had to be knowledgeable of many aspects of the larger cities. The teacher was impressed with the quality of information provided in the presentations and the level of involvement from all students.
She also indicated that the students were more competitive with the geography activity, which may have resulted in students being more motivated. Overall, the students seemed to have more ownership and sense of accountability with the geography WebQuest compared to the Texas Revolution. One possible reason for the results may lie in the topic itself.
The study of the Texas Revolution includes many dates, names, and battles. The WebQuest was designed to make the topic more interesting and inviting; however, the experimental group never seemed very interested in the assignment.
In contrast, the road map activity allowed the control group to synthesize the information they gained into one graphic illustration. Deciding on road signs to symbolize the events of the Texas Revolution may have made the information more concrete. Another possible reason for the results of this study may be related to student motivation to learn. Students tend to be more motivated when using novel instructional strategies. Using the Internet to learn may not be as motivating to these students as it would be for students with limited access to the Internet.
Educators must critically examine the benefits of any type of instructional strategy before implementation. WebQuests and other technological innovations should be no exception. Just because a strategy is novel does not mean that it is effective. Any effort to implement this type of technology into the curriculum is certain to be costly and time consuming. More evidenced is needed to justify the use of such technology in the classroom.
The empirical evidence is lacking, however, as to whether or not WebQuests are more effective than traditional instructional strategies when teaching for content.
They do give teachers and students variety in their teaching and learning. Variety is critical to effective instruction because it ensures that teachers meet the needs of all students. Kennedy stated that there are two areas teachers should consider when evaluating a WebQuest.
The first area is pedagogy. Pedagogy refers to whether or not the WebQuest is developmentally appropriate for the intended age group. Specific elements to look for included absence of threat, student choice, adequate time to complete tasks, collaboration, and meaningful content, to name a few. The second area is scholarship. The WebQuest should be authoritative hosted by a credible source , objective, accurate, current, helpful, and attractive.
Allowing students the opportunity to use WebQuests activities to develop inquiry skills, learn content, and build technology skills is an endeavor not without obstacles. Lack of time for teachers to create and use their own WebQuests may be the most difficult obstacle to overcome.
One alternative is to use what is already out there. For those teachers who want to create their own WebQuest catered to the needs of their students, the best advise is to start simple, designing and creating short-term WebQuests at first and moving toward more complex, longer-termed activities. Using Web page development software may be too time-consuming for some teachers, due to the time needed to become truly comfortable with the software.
Web pages can easily be developed using Microsoft Word and Microsoft Power Point, software programs with which many teachers are familiar. It is as simple as saving the document as a Web page. The high-stakes testing trend seems to be gaining momentum, and teacher autonomy is not likely to increase in the near future. State and national standards can and should be incorporated into all technology-based learning activities.
The best way to prepare students for success on state mandated tests is to focus learning on the state curriculum through exciting and meaningful instruction. WebQuests do just that. Teachers and students who have never used computers or cooperative learning in the classroom should not expect smooth sailing at first. Students must have the social skills necessary to participate in cooperative grouping. These social skills are acquired only through practice. Teachers should expect confusion and management problems at first but be confident that the students will respond appropriately over time.
The classroom must be managed to optimize student engagement and teachers need to set clear boundaries. No one plan will work for all teachers, so teachers should develop their own management techniques. Once familiar with using computers and cooperative learning for learning activities, the task gets much easier.
The very nature of the WebQuest should ensure that students engage in only those activities assigned by the teacher and visit only those Internet sites provided. The first strike would consist of a warning, the second strike a warning and contact with parent, and the third strike loss of Internet privileges for a predetermined amount of time. Finally, teachers can find peer support in schools, the local university, virtual communities, and anywhere else it may be available.
The WebQuest page has several ways to join virtual communities. The list is usually very active and teachers can receive support and ideas from all over the world. In addition, teachers can join monthly chats hosted by Bernie Dodge himself.
Research on the actual educational benefits of WebQuests is lacking. Defining a webquest Reasons for using webquests Structure of a webquest Producing a webquest Implementing a webquest Conclusion Defining a webquest Bernie Dodge of San Diego State University was one of the first people to attempt to define and structure this kind of learning activity.
Download example webquest 84k Download teachers' notes 88k Reasons for using webquests There are many compelling reasons for using webquests in the classroom, including: They are an easy way for teachers to begin to incorporate the Internet into the language classroom, on both a short-term and long-term basis - no specialist technical knowledge is needed either to produce or use them.
More often than not, they are group activities and as a result tend to lend themselves to communication and the sharing of knowledge - two principal goals of language teaching itself.
They can be used simply as a linguistic tool, but can also be interdisciplinary, allowing for crossover into other departments and subject areas. They encourage critical thinking skills, including: comparing, classifying, inducing, deducing, analysing errors, constructing support, abstraction, analysing perspectives, etc.
Learners are not able to simply regurgitate information they find, but are guided towards a transformation of that information in order to achieve a given task. They can be both motivating and authentic tasks and encourage learners to view the activities they are doing as something 'real' or 'useful'. This inevitably leads to more effort, greater concentration and a real interest in task achievement.
There are usually four main sections to a webquest: The Introduction stage is normally used to introduce the overall theme of the webquest. It involves giving background information on the topic and, in the language learning context, often introduces key vocabulary and concepts which learners will need to understand in order to complete the tasks involved. The Task section of the webquest explains clearly and precisely what the learners will have to do as they work their way through the webquest.
The task should obviously be highly motivating and intrinsically interesting for the learners, and should be firmly anchored in a real-life situation. This often involves the learners in a certain amount of role-play within a given scenario e. The Process stage of a webquest guides the learners through a set of activities and research tasks, using a set of predefined resources.
These resources - in the case of a webquest - are predominately web-based, and are usually presented in clickable form within the task document it's important to bear in mind that it's much easier to click on a link than to type it in with any degree of accuracy.
In the case of a language-based webquest, the Process stage of the webquest may introduce or recycle lexical areas or grammatical points which are essential to the Task.
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