WebQuest about WebQuests

Introduction

Since the mid-90's, Bernie Dodge coined the term WebQuest.  A WebQuest is an inquiry based activity in which all of some of the information that a learner interacts with comes from the web.  What are the steps in a WebQuest?  How can a WebQuest harness the power of the web?  What is it like to go on a WebQuest?  You will have an opportunity to find answers to these questions in the next 60 minutes!

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Task

You are a group of teachers employed by DiscoverySchool.com  Your challenge is to evaluate WebQuests that have been submitted to the site for publication and determine which two should be featured at the site and why and which two need to be rewritten and why.  You and your group must also determine a definition of Best and Worst.

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Process

1.  First, each person will have a hard copy of the worksheet.
2.  You will be assigned a group with four people.  Within the group, you will decide upon on of the following roles:
 
 

Technophile
High Level Thinker
Collaborator
Time Manager
Loves movies, sounds, great links, interactivity, and colorful pages.  If the web is used as a textbook than it shouldn't be used at all! Love to take learning to the highest degree.  Hates basics level of questioning, but loves the why and how.  Anything that allows students to synthesize information and creatively express ideas is a hit! Believes that students need to work together and cooperate.  Any WebQuest that forces groups to work together and collaborate are wonderful! Believes that way to much class time is wasted on the web.  A WebQuest must be efficient, easy to navigate and tie to curriculum to be a hit for you!!!
3.  Individually,  examine each of the sites on the list of resources and use the worksheet to jot down some notes of your opinions of each from the perspective of your role.  Don't spend more than 10 minutes on any one site.

4.  Meet as a group to determine which sites should be featured at DiscoverySchool and why and which two should be rewritten and why.  Make sure that your group defines best and worst!

       Assign one person the job as recorder and one person as the speaker!

5.  After meeting as a small group, you will meet as a class to share your opinions!!

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Resources


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Evaluation
You be evaluated on how well you as an individual evaluated each site, how well you worked in a group, and how your group participated with the class.
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Conclusion
Hopefully you now have a better understanding of a WebQuest and will have some great ideas as you begin down the path of creating your own projects!!
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Written by Ann Feldmann and adapted from Bernie Dodge. Last updated on July 5, 2001