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Title: WebQuests: An Inquiry Based Instructional Strategy Using the Internet
Presenters:
- Maureen Brown Yoder, Lesley University
Intended Audience
The intended audience is anyone interested in creating a
Web based lesson for either a face to face or online class.
Participants should be familiar enough with a Web browser to be able to navigate
through Web sites and use search engines. Workshop participants will be
creating a very simple Web page, with text and links, but no experience is
necessary.
Objectives
Participants will be introduced to the WebQuest, an instructional
strategy that consists of an inquiry based lesson on an instructor made Web page
with links to Internet resources. WebQuests provide a responsible use of
the Internet with curriculum based challenges and timely resources. Why
are instructors using WebQuests? How are they increasing motivation and
learning among students? This session will address these questions and discuss
the educational benefits of WebQuests. The workshop leader will
demonstrate why WebQuests have become popular, show examples of exemplary ones,
demonstrate how to find them, and instruct participants in the process of creating
their own by using the abundantly available resources. By the end of the
workshop, participants will have identified a need and will have begun to design
a WebQuest of their own that will fulfill an objective in their
professional life.
Introduction and Definition of WebQuests
A good WebQuest represents good pedagogy. As it was conceived by
Bernie Dodge and Tom March, a WebQuest is a curriculum based inquiry activity
with well chosen Internet resources within well defined tasks. The inquiry orientation requires high order thinking skills applied to the challenging questions presented to the students, and then solved using the best of Internet resources for a particular curriculum area. The structure of a Webquest generally fosters collaboration, and at least one outcome calls for the presentation of the students' newly acquired knowledge,
sometimes in an interactive multimedia format. As students meet the challenges of
WebQuests, they use and develop a variety of technology skills.
The Origin of WebQuests
In 1995, at San Diego State University, Bernie Dodge and Tom March
developed a lesson plan template that incorporated World Wide Web links. A
scenario and a task were presented to students and they were given well chosen Internet resources to address their questions. They had to analyze the
information and come up with their own creative solutions. Dodge
suggests six parts for a WebQuest: the Introduction, the Tasks, the Process,
the Resources, the Evaluation, and the Conclusion. On his Web page are
detailed explanations and examples of each part.
Over the next five years, instructors began to teach the WebQuest
concept to teachers in classes and workshops. Fortunately, teachers published
their WebQuests on the Web and collections of teacher created projects for
all grade levels and subject areas became available.
Why are instructors using WebQuests? How are they increasing
motivation and learning among students? Successful use of WebQuests results in
students collaborating with one another and using technology in a productive, educationally sound way. If the opening challenge, or scenario of a WebQuest, is compelling and motivating, then students become involved in exploration and problem solving then gathering original data and putting together a product that demonstrates what they have learned. Various learning styles can be addressed. This workshop will include examples
of student and teacher findings and testimonials.
Finding High Quality WebQuests:
There are thousands of WebQuests available that teachers can evaluate
and adapt for their own use. Bernie Dodge and Tom March have lists on
their Web pages along with guidelines on how to create your own, Kathy
Schrock's Web page has examples as well as a slide show on creating a WebQuest.
Also, there are hundreds of sites posted by school systems, universities, and teacher resource centers with collections of WebQuests.
The words "WebQuest" or "Web Quest" can be typed into a search engine
or directory to find many individual WebQuests as well as collections. Most have the author's email address, making it easy to contact the
author to ask permission to use all or a part of their page.
Examples:
Internet resources for WebQuests:
Conclusion
This workshop will consist of a thorough exploration of the WebQuest
and its
implications for teachers and students at all levels. WebQuests
represent
responsible use of the Internet and good pedagogy by involving students
in
inquiry using the best resources the Web has to offer. Even novice
technology users can develop and use WebQuests in their traditional or
virtual classrooms. This session will show them how.
A summary of the workshop presenter's qualifications Maureen Brown Yoder EdD, Professor, at Lesley University in Cambridge
Massachusetts, has written one of the definitive articles on WebQuests:
The Student WebQuest. (Yoder, 1999).
http://206.58.233.20/L&L/archive/vol26/no7/features/yoder/index.html. She has also developed an online course in WebQuests for Classroom
Connect, and is the Program Director for the Lesley University online graduate
program
in Technology in Education. She teaches and advises teachers in an
asynchronous environment, developing and promoting Internet based
instructional strategies that will actively engage educators and their
students.
Dr. Yoder teaches the graduate course: Telecommunications: Curriculum
in A Global Context for Lesley University, in both a site based and an
online format to students locally and internationally. She is particularly
interested in the facilitation of online discussions and the creation
of online learning communities, and uses WebQuests in her face-to-face and
online instruction.
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