Module 8: WebQuests

This module is the most important of the course. There's more info on good instruction here than anywhere so take your time and look through all the readings. You have 2 weeks to complete the evaluation of the WebQuest and this assignment is worth more than most of the others so plan accordingly. This is also why I ask you to submit your project topic after reviewing all of this material.

Readings

Dodge, Bernie. (1996) Some Thoughts About WebQuests. San Diego State University. [Online.] Available http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/about_webquests.html

Watson, Kenneth Lee. (1999) WebQuests in the Middle School Curriculum: Promoting Technological Literacy in the Classroom. Meridian: A Middle School Computer Technologies Journal. 2(2). [Online]. Available http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/jul99/webquest/index.html
Truett, Carol. (2001). Sherlock Holmes on the Internet. Leading and Learning with Technology, 29(2), 37-41.

Dodge, Bernie. (1999) WebQuest Taskonomy: A Taxonomy of Tasks. [Online]. Available http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/taskonomy.html
Dodge, Bernie. (2001). Focus: Five Rules for Writing a Great WebQuest. Leading and Learning with Technology, 28(8), 6-9, 58. [Online.] Available http://www.iste.org/L&L/archive/vol28/no8/featuredarticle/dodge/index.html

WebQuests

There are many different curriculum formats utilizing the Web, but one that has really gained a lot of followers is the WebQuest format developed by Bernie Dodge in 1995. Much of its appeal seems to be that it is very close to what good teachers do throughout their curriculum using any type of media.

The first three articles will give you slightly different slants on just what a WebQuest is. After reading those, take a closer look at each of the Building Blocks for WebQuests. Notice that these look very similar to other methods of constructing lesson and unit plans without technology. However, one thing that is often difficult for teachers is to define a single task that is compelling, calls for higher order thinking and allows for some latitude in student work. You'll find a broad range of possible tasks in the article WebQuest Taskonomy: A Taxonomy of Tasks. One way to see where all this is heading is to visit Middle School Evolution of a WebQuest. This site shows how development of educational web-based activities can grow and improve from hotlists through scavenger hunts and finally to a WebQuest. You should be able to note how the level of thinking required of students gets a little higher with each iteration.

A WebQuest is an excellent model for your own curriculum projects. If you choose to do this, there are templates available that you can use for your student and teacher pages. Or you can use the tools at Filamentality to create the first draft of your WebQuest. (But all that is a few weeks in your future!)

Take a closer look at some of the WebQuests in your own curriculum area and at your level. You can use the Matrix of Examples to guide your explorations. However, you should be aware that this is a matrix of examples, not necessarily a matrix of good examples. I put together a sampling of WebQuests that I thought best exemplified each of the elements of WebQuests and you may want to start with those.

To examine WebQuests more closely, A Rubric for Evaluating WebQuests has been developed to cull out the essential elements of a good WebQuest. If you use this model for your project, I'll be using this rubric for grading your work. You can also use the WebQuests for Learning: Designing for Success checklist to guide you through individual elements. Often these are based on the Jigsaw Method. If you're not familiar with this approach to teaching and learning, you may find the Jigsaw Classroom site useful as background.

Many others have used WebQuests to teach about using the Web for instruction and they have added tools. This checklist is useful for evaluating the process: http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/tpss99/processchecker.html

Related Assignments

Evaluate a WebQuest

Using the template based on A Rubric for Evaluating WebQuests, evaluate any one of the WebQuests from the Matrix of Examples. Be sure to add comments as to how you arrived at each score. Remember that there are both good and bad WebQuests represented in the matrix. Since you will also be looking at this as a potential model for your own projects, you'll probably find it most useful to evaluate one that looks pretty good; as you delve more deeply, you may be surprised by your first impressions.

Link your completed rubric to your main page and post the URL in the Discussion Forum under the appropriate thread. Make sure that you include a link to the WebQuest you are evaluating!
Curriculum Project Topic

The curriculum project is the culminating activity and focus for this course. Your first task is to choose a curriculum topic that will benefit from the Internet tools and resources we've explored. You've just explored one model for your project, the WebQuest, and we'll see others over the next several weeks. However, it's time to start getting focused on the project. Skip ahead to the last class to see the requirements for the project.
This week's task is to specify your curriculum topic and your target age group and to create a brief outline of the project. You'll have the opportunity to change or refine this over the next several weeks. However, getting focused now will help you look at the various curriculum resources more critically. It will also help us to use the power of the Internet to seek and provide help from your colleagues. This doesn't have to be your final idea but it is an opportunity for us to start discussing the direction you have chosen

As always, this should be posted in the Discussion Forum under the appropriate thread.