Week #14: WebQuests (Due April 29)
Please post the link to your blog for your WebQuest by Sunday midnight, April 29.
The WebQuest is a tool for organizing interactive Internet-based learning for your students in a safe format that allows for Web 2.0 delivery of learning.
Bernie Dodge created WebQuests in the early 1990s. http://webquest.sdsu.edu/materials.htm The major driving force for these was to allow students access to interactivity of the web with teacher guidance. Turning young students loose to surf the web just isn't a good plan, but having them use specific pre-identified sites is an excellent idea. Here is a quick design tutorial: http://webquest.sdsu.edu/designsteps/index.html
The following six components to a WebQuest are required (http://webquest.sdsu.edu/about_webquests.html and http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/tpss99/anatomy.htm):
- Decide on a topic/theme for investigation or inquiry. This translates into an INTRODUCTION.
- Provide students/users of the WebQuest with a TASK
- The PROCESS. Give guidance, even steps, if you so need, and provide them with information sources. Don’t expect them to have to search the Internet for sources, as this leads to sites that we don’t want our students visiting and helps focus them on reliable information. You may ask why I have chosen not to provide you with “the” sites to visit, and my answer is easy – I’ve not written this as a WebQuest, and I do want you to learn to evaluate reliability of sources, and to learn to search and retrieve appropriate information. If you are having students work in groups, make sure each group member has a role to fill. Make sure each member’s work is critical to the success of the task.
- Provide EVALUATION rubrics of tasks.
- CONCLUSION. Make sure students/users reflect back on what they have done, and what your beginning objectives were.
- Always provide CREDITS for your sources, including pictures, ideas, templates, etc.
Just click on the tab "Register for a free trial" and follow the steps.
