WEBQUESTS

. //**__ WebQuests. __**//

** What are they? **  A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet, optionally supplemented with videoconferencing.  WebQuests allow students to explore issues and find their own answers. A well-planned WebQuest has guidance for students, a creative end project with room for flexibility, and links that help answer questions and positively add to the project. A strong WebQuest is designed for students to work independently, allowing the teacher to be a facilitator in students' learning rather than the sole dispenser of knowledge.  Before designing a WebQuest, you'll want to have an outline handy to guide you through the process. Then the main points you’ll need to include on your flowchart are:  WebQuests, which use the constructivist approach to learning, are a super learning tool, said Kenton Letkeman, creator of a number of excellent WebQuests. Mim Faro, a gifted and talented enrichment teacher at Mt. Penn Elementary Center in Pennsylvania, recently created her first WebQuest. She agrees that WebQuests are an exciting and valuable teaching tool. "Of course, some WebQuests are better than others," she noted.
 * What are their main characteristics? **
 * 1)  An ** introduction ** that sets the stage and provides some background information.
 * 2)  A ** task ** that is doable and interesting.
 * 3)  A set of ** information sources ** needed to complete the task. Many (though not necessarily all) of the resources are embedded in the WebQuest document itself as anchors pointing to information on the World Wide Web. Information sources might include web documents, experts available via e-mail or realtime conferencing, searchable databases on the net, and books and other documents physically available in the learner's setting. Because pointers to resources are included, the learner is not left to wander through webspace completely adrift.
 * 4)  A description of the ** process ** the learners should go through in accomplishing the task. The process should be broken out into clearly described steps.
 * 5)  Some ** guidance ** on how to organize the information acquired. This can take the form of guiding questions, or directions to complete organizational frameworks such as timelines, concept maps, or cause-and-effect diagrams as described by Marzano (1988, 1992) and Clarke (1990).
 * 6)  A ** conclusion ** that brings closure to the quest, reminds the learners about what they've learned, and perhaps encourages them to extend the experience into other domains.
 * What type of learning do they promote? **
 * What makes a good or a bad WebQuest? What criteria can we use to evaluate ** ** them? **
 * How does one create a WebQuest? **
 * The Topic. ** You may have already decided on a topic related to current events or to an area of the curriculum that's inadequately covered in available texts. brainstorming process.
 * The Task. ** The task is the single most important part of a WebQuest. There are eleven different types of tasks, including journalistic, mystery, persuasion, and judgement tasks.
 * The Process. ** In this section, you'll include the roles students will assume and the steps they'll follow to complete the activity.
 * The Resources. ** Identify the online resources available on your topic by brainstorming a list of related words and using the list to search for relevant sites. As you search, create a hotlist of current, accurate, and age-appropriate sites that will engage your students' interest.
 * The Evaluation. ** Traditional evaluation techniques are not the best means for evaluating the results of WebQuests, since all students may not learn the same content. Individual evaluation rubrics should be developed that follow curriculum objectives and are easy for students to understand.
 * What do researchers and practitioners say about them? **

**//__Annotated review of some examples of WebQuests__// //__:__// **


 * //__WebQuest 1 Everyone's a Storyteller__// || //__WebQuest 2 Fruits and Vegetables__// || //__WebQuest 3 Meet the Authors and Illustrators__// || //__WebQuest 4 Romeo and Juliet Revisited__// ||
 * [[image:storyteller_2.jpg width="172" height="192" align="center"]] || [[image:2278270817_32fc414f89.jpg width="225" height="189" align="center"]] || [[image:The_Little_Prince.jpg width="201" height="210" align="center"]] || [[image:eb47d0861b1e63a4dca9663550308a.gif width="282" height="177" align="center"]] ||