Educational Computing & Technology
Bloomsburg University

Creating a WebQuest
40 points

What is a WebQuest?

Many teachers have used the Internet as an electronic encyclopedia or dictionary where students look up factual information and apply it using the lower order thinking skills of Bloom’s Taxonomy.   In order to develop a constructivist approach to learning while using the web, Bernie Dodge and Tom March of San Francisco University first introduced the concept of a WebQuest in 1995.  The purpose of WebQuests is to help students integrate the Internet in a meaningful fashion and utilize higher-order thinking skills.  The concept of WebQuests has changed the way teachers have used the Internet and has helped improve the learning that is associated with Internet use.

However, many teachers have used the WebQuest in ways that have deviated from the original purpose proposed by Bernie Dodge. Some teachers have come to label any type of activity associated with the web as a WebQuest.  Some WebQuests still use the web as an electronic encyclopedia while having students report their findings in traditional activities such as oral reports and research papers.

One of the main problems is that teachers do not quite fully comprehend the WebQuest model as there are various resources and examples that lack the quality expected of a WebQuest activity.  WebQuests are not always easily understood and directions for creating WebQuests are not always clear to the reader.  In addition, WebQuests promote active learning but some parts of the WebQuest model actually support passive learning.  One example of this is the sixth stage or conclusion of WebQuest where, in many cases, the teacher concludes what the students should have learned.  In addition, the WebQuest is not always suitable for applications across many web-learning activities. 

The purpose of this assignment is for you to create an effective “WebQuest.” 

An effective WebQuest...

• Engages the student's higher-order thinking skills

• Uses the Internet for information that cannot be easily obtained from other sources

• Takes advantage of the Internet in terms of its dynamic nature (information that changes by the minute, hour, and day)

• Takes advantage of the Internet in terms of its communicative nature (communication with other students, teachers, and experts).

• Utilizes other resources such as printed materials and speakers, but the main focus is from resources on the Internet.

• Usually involves collaboration through group work

• Allows for individualized differences

• Incorporates authentic (real-world) learning and assessment

• Is addressed to the students and written at their language level

As you design and write the WebQuest, consider the following chart that compares 20th century practices (left side) with 21st century practices (right side):

ESTABLISHING NEW LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
Incorporating New Strategies
 

How to Get Started with This Assignment

1.  Read this ENTIRE page and scan all of the links.

2.  Visit the WebQuest Links to learn what has been done with WebQuests in the past.  Keep in mind that many of the WebQuests that you visit are not necessarily the best.  You will find some of the best ranked WebQuests at Best WebQuests.com and WebQuests.org

3.  Decide on a topic.  Consider the following:

• The quality of the web sites that you use in the WebQuest is central to determining the success of the WebQuest.  Choose web sites that are unique, interactive, current, and provide information that cannot be easily obtained from other resources. 

• Choose a topic that is exciting to you and one that you may be able to use in your future teaching.

You need to ask yourself the following questions:

• How can I create a WebQuest utilizing the effective characteristics of WebQuests as described above?
• How does this fit into my curriculum?
• Is this going to be an activity that takes advantage of the uniqueness of the Internet?

4.  Create your WebQuest page in Dreamweaver and save it as webquest.html.  This page should link to and from your home page. 

Your WebQuest will consist of s title and 6 sections addressed to the students as defined below.

Title of WebQuest

Introduction

Task

Process

Resources

Evaluation

Conclusion

Visit http://teacherworld.com/WebQuestrubric.html for a rubric outlining the components of an effective WebQuest.

Below is more information on each of these categories.

Important:  Each of the following categories should be addressed TO THE STUDENTS!

Title
 

List the title, subject area, and grade level for the WebQuest

Introduction

Write a short paragraph to:

• introduce students to the WebQuest

• set the stage or provide background for the upcoming activity

• motivate students and capture their interest

You should also present the GENERAL questions that will be explored during the WebQuest.

Task

Write a short paragraph or outline of expected results.  The task is the end result of student efforts... not the steps involved in getting there. You may also present SPECIFIC questions in this section.

Process

Describe how the groups will be assigned and the role of each member.

List the steps that the students will need to follow in order to complete the activity.

Resources

List any materials and resources that the student will need for the activity.  You do not have to list a computer with Internet access since it a basic assumption that WebQuests center around Internet access.  You also need to list web sites in this section.  The requirement for listing web sites is:

You should list a minimum of 5 web sites.

All web site name & addresses should be in the following 3-part format (NAME, LIVE LINK ADDRESS, AND A SHORT ONE-SENTENCE DESCRIPTION):