Introduction to WebQuests

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Introduction to WebQuests

eMINTS National Center 103 London Hall Columbia, MO 65211 Voice: (573) 884-7202 Fax: (573) 884-7614 www.emints.org Cover Photos: Brian Kratzer Contributors: Cynthia Matzat Michelle Kendrick Roxanne Kerwood Written: January 2001 Revised: November 2006

©2001 The Curators of the University of Missouri and Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Use or distribution of materials is restricted to authorized eMINTS instructors and staff. Do not copy, alter or redistribute without the express written permission of eMINTS National Center. To request permission, contact the eMINTS National Center at emints-info@emints.org or postal address above. Titles or names of specific software discussed or described in this document are registered trademarks, trademarked or copyrighted as property of the companies that produce the software. Please note that the World Wide Web is volatile and constantly changing. The URLs provided in the following references were accurate as of the date of publication.

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Table of Contents

Purpose of the Module ............................................................................4

Module Objectives..................................................................................4

ISTE NETS-T. ........................................................................................4

WebQuests: An Introduction

What is a WebQuest? ....................................................................5

Why Use WebQuests?....................................................................5

How Do WebQuests Meet Diverse Learner Needs? .............................6

Key Elements of a WebQuest..........................................................6

Additional WebQuest Elements........................................................7

WebQuests in the Classroom

Higher-Level Thinking in WebQuest Tasks ........................................8

Additional Criteria for Selecting a WebQuest .....................................8

Implementation Tips .....................................................................9

Practice ................................................................................................13

Resources.............................................................................................14

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Purpose of the Module WebQuests are inquiry-based teaching units that prompt students to ask questions, to practice using information rather than searching for it and to look critically at material. During a WebQuest, students focus on an achievable task that uses pre-defined Web resources as a basis for research. This module centers on the elements of a successful WebQuest and the ways teachers can implement WebQuests for optimum student learning. This session encourages eMINTS teachers to select, evaluate and use WebQuests that meet the specific needs of their students, their curricula and their state standards.

Module Objectives • Learners will understand the key elements of a WebQuest and the ways

WebQuests contribute to inquiry-based learning.

• Learners will deepen their understanding of the process of choosing good WebQuests to support inquiry-based learning in their classrooms.

• Learners will select and teach existing WebQuests that meet the needs of their students.

ISTE NETS-T Meets Technology Operations and Concepts I.A. Teachers demonstrate introductory knowledge, skills and understanding of concepts related to technology. Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences II.C. Teachers identify and locate technology resources and evaluate them for accuracy and suitability. Social, Ethical, Legal and Human Issues VI.D. Teachers promote safe and healthy use of technology resources.

Supports Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences II.A. Teachers design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners. II.B. Teachers apply current research on teaching and learning with technology when planning learning environments and experiences. II.E. Teachers plan strategies to manage student learning in a technology-enhanced environment.

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WebQuests: An Introduction What would it be like to be a detective trying to solve the mystery of King Tut’s death? Or to travel back in time to create an old-fashioned radio play? How about figuring out what Jupiter really is anyway? Sound intriguing? WebQuests make all of these adventures possible. In these inquiry-oriented activities, learners use information drawn from the World Wide Web to produce authentic products based on meaningful research. Cooperative learning, critical-thinking skills and cross-curricular connections are all key components of WebQuest activities. This module focuses on how toenhance the student educational experience by using technology as a tool for learning through the use of WebQuests in the classroom, thus creating an environment where creativity and higher-order thinking go hand in hand.

What is a WebQuest? Bernie Dodge, professor of educational technology at San Diego State University, developed the WebQuest lesson format. WebQuests are, essentially, inquiry-based curriculum units. With inquiry-based activities, students do not just memorize facts and retell them to the teacher. They take the information they discover and transform it into new knowledge that has meaning to them. With WebQuests, students create meaningful projects that they share with others through oral presentations, posting to the Web and so forth. WebQuests differ from other Web-based lessons and experiences because they focus on engaging students with achievable tasks. WebQuest tasks go beyond simply answering questions; they require higher-order thinking skills such as creativity, analysis, synthesis, judgment and problem-solving. The task in a WebQuest can take almost any form. For example, a WebQuest might ask students to design a monument representing one of the branches of government or to write, perform and record a radio play. At the outset, a WebQuest may seem like a time-consuming activity; however, they are set up to make efficient use of student time. For instance, WebQuest creators pre-select all of the Web links students will use. This practice lets students focus on processing the information rather than looking for it. Many teachers avoid using Internet resources with their students because of the time it can take students to find useful information on the Web. Teachers also worry about students accessing inappropriate sites. WebQuests avoid these roadblocks because the Internet resources are identified and evaluated by the WebQuest designer ahead of time. WebQuests provide teachers with a structured environment where they can integrate technology into the curriculum and make it beneficial to the students.

Why Use WebQuests? So why would a teacher want to use a WebQuest instead of a more traditional teaching method? First, using WebQuests tends to heighten student motivation and when students are motivated, they are likely to exert more effort. In addition, their minds will be more alert and ready to make connections. Several aspects of WebQuests contribute to this increased student motivation. Many WebQuest tasks address problems or issues that exist in the real world, making their

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tasks authentic. In WebQuests, students use real, timely resources instead of dated textbooks and materials presented from one point of view only. Often, a WebQuest is cooperative in nature, requiring students to take on roles in a team in order to accomplish the task. Each student must become an expert on a certain topic and share this information with the group. Students know their teammates are counting on them to contribute to the completion of the final task. Students also know they will have to share their results with others in some format, often on the Web, giving them a real—sometimes worldwide—audience. This awareness that the audience is wider than the classroom motivates most students to do quality work. In addition, WebQuests prompt higher-level thinking. The questions posed to students require more than just finding and parroting information. Students must take the information they research and transform it into something else. Often, students have to evaluate a variety of information sources that contain multiple opinions. Before the Web, it was difficult for teachers to provide resources with varying perspectives.

How Do WebQuests Meet Diverse Learner Needs? Varied Resources WebQuests offer multiple online and offline resources. They meet learner needs—such as reading levels, learning preferences and linguistic difficulties—by offering students a variety of resources. If a particular student or group of students requires additional resources, the teacher can add those resources to the existing WebQuest by listing them on the classroom website. Scaffolds WebQuests guide inquiry through sequential steps. Many of the steps provide optional materials or scaffolds to assist students with potentially difficult areas. Students who need assistance get the support they need when they need it because the scaffolds are readily available to them. Cooperative Groups Students often work in cooperative groups to complete WebQuests. Cooperative groups provide peer support for a variety of learner needs, particularly when the cooperative groups have strong interdependence. A WebQuest can help students develop that sense of interdependence because in order for the group to successfully complete the task, all members of the group must contribute and do their parts. Students with strengths in specific areas provide support to other students.

Key Elements of a WebQuest WebQuests consist of five main components: an introduction, task, process, evaluation and conclusion. Introduction The introduction usually describes the activity to the students in a short paragraph. It often involves the presentation of a scenario or role. The goal of the introduction is to excite students and engage them in the WebQuest task.

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Task The task, the most important part of a WebQuest, informs the learners about the end result or culminating project. The WebQuest Taskonomy (http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html), developed by Dodge, provides explanations and examples of the different types of tasks often used in WebQuests. Take a look at the different types of tasks and corresponding WebQuests. The Types of Tasks handout, which will be passed out during this session, summarizes the same information. Process The process identifies the steps students should go through to accomplish the task. It includes the online resources students will need and provides scaffolding for organizing the information gathered. Evaluation The evaluation describes for students how their performance will be evaluated and often takes the form of a scoring guide. Conclusion The conclusion summarizes what the learners will have accomplished by completing the WebQuest and often provides additional opportunities to extend their thinking.

Additional WebQuest Elements WebQuests are usually a group activity. WebQuests generally work best for groups of three to five students, with each group working cooperatively on the task. Usually, the group members work on different aspects of the task. WebQuests often include role-playing. By incorporating role-playing, students learn to look at issues from multiple perspectives. Each group might take on a particular role or each student in a group might take a role and become an expert on a particular topic. The group or class then synthesizes the information found and creates a product that demonstrates what has been learned. WebQuests can be single discipline or interdisciplinary. WebQuest lessons can focus on just one subject, but they easily can cover multiple subject areas.

WebQuests in the Classroom Thousands, perhaps millions, of sites posted on the Web claim to be WebQuests. Many of these sites simply offer scavenger hunts asking fact-based questions. Beware of the online activity that calls itself a “WebQuest” but is not a WebQuest at all. Critically review a WebQuest prior to selecting it for use in the classroom based on the criteria that follows.

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Higher-Level Thinking in WebQuest Tasks WebQuests are not the best choice for teaching factual information. Instead, good WebQuests involve tasks that are open-ended, invite creativity and require students to apply information to multiple solutions. When choosing a WebQuest, look for one that requires students to think at the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy: analysis, synthesis and evaluation. On the WebQuest Taskonomy site (http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html), Dodge states, “If the task requires looking for simple, sure answers to pre-determined questions, then the activity is clearly not a WebQuest even if the answers are found on the Web. These are just worksheets with URLs.” Some tasks that seem to reach a higher level may, upon careful examination, not require more than the simple retelling of information. Compilation tasks that ask students to take information from many sources and put it into a common format, such as creating a cookbook of healthy snack recipes, are only higher-level activities if the students make the decisions about what goes in the collection and how to format the final product. If the WebQuest structure offers too few choices, it lowers the level of thinking to simple comprehension.

Additional Criteria for Selecting a WebQuest Many WebQuests posted to the Web lack the necessary components for a good learning activity. In addition to selecting a WebQuest that includes a high-level thinking task, choose WebQuests with the following attributes. Compelling for Students A good WebQuest has a task that students find interesting and motivating. An engaging hook will capture student interest and entice students to proceed. In some instances, a WebQuest topic will look fantastic—it may seem like a surefire way to interest students. However, upon first glance, the task may not appear to be related to a specific curriculum topic. Do not necessarily toss the idea aside. Be sure to look closely because there may be concepts, skills or overarching understandings related to multiple standards embedded within the WebQuest. Before ruling out a WebQuest based on the topic alone, review the teacher page and task to determine whether the WebQuest will address desired curriculum standards. Timely Use of the Web The Web offers opportunities that text-based research cannot supply. Students can easily view primary source materials or interview experts. Learning can be interactive and highly visual. Good WebQuests capitalize on both the timeliness of the Web and the visual aspects it can provide. Standards-based vs. Activity-filled When choosing a WebQuest, use one that addresses state and curricular standards. Examine the process and determine if all activities are meaningful and address the desired standards. Some WebQuests are filled with activities without a real learning purpose or have more activities than the desired goal requires.

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Detailed Process Many posted WebQuests were written by college students to fulfill education-course requirements and have not been tried with students. Examine a WebQuest to ensure the process is sufficiently detailed and clearly stated. Provide additional instructions if necessary. Sufficient Resources Examine the resources provided to ensure students can actually complete the task with the available materials—or make additional materials readily available. If necessary, additional Internet resources can be listed on a classroom website or provided through another means such as library books, maps, directories, pictures or videos. Meaningful Collaboration Examine the role each student will play as outlined in the process. If students are working in groups, is there individual accountability, as well as positive interdependence? Some WebQuests assign students to groups but the end product is just a quilt of separate products completed individually by each student. Students are not required to work together to complete any part of the task. A good WebQuest requires students to compile their individual work to complete one cohesive final product. Accurate Evaluation The scoring guide provided with a WebQuest is often its weakest aspect. The evaluation should clearly assess what the WebQuest asks of the students in the task. If the WebQuest asks students to persuade, persuasion should be a component of the evaluation. If it is not, it effectively reduces student work to a collection of facts rather than a persuasive argument. Some scoring guides place too much emphasis on the technology or the appearance of a project. Under such rubrics, a product displaying very little thinking or information could score well if it was neat and attractive. Closely examine the evaluation to ensure it thoroughly assesses the intended goals of the WebQuest. Authentic Situations Some WebQuests stretch reality in an attempt to provide a compelling task. Usually a more authentic task is better than a fabricated one. Many persuasive tasks fall into this trap. For example, asking students to determine which planet should be colonized because the Earth is being destroyed by a comet is not an authentic task. Earthlings cannot realistically reach or colonize planets. This assignment cannot produce real persuasion and probably provides students with an inaccurate picture of our universe. Persuasive tasks are better based upon real situations that require true persuasion. Is Jupiter actually a planet or is it a different type of celestial body? How does Jupiter compare to the other planets—what qualities are the same, what qualities are different? These questions, actually being debated by scientists, offer a more realistic exploration of the solar system.

Implementation Tips Selecting a good WebQuest is the first step toward implementation. After a WebQuest has been selected, there are preparation and facilitation details to consider. The

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eMINTS staff offers the following tips to aid in the successful implementation of a WebQuest. Preparation Even good WebQuests may require some modification and planning to meet the diverse learner needs of individual classrooms. In preparation for using a WebQuest in the classroom, teachers should review the WebQuest and make adjustments based on student needs. Items that may need to be considered during preparation are listed below. Content and Diverse Learner Needs Carefully look over the WebQuest and plan ahead. Students will access a variety of resources and work through a process that leads to an outcome. Consider the following items while reviewing the content and process of the WebQuest.

• Check the websites included in the WebQuest and evaluate the reading level. • Make sure students have the necessary background knowledge to understand

the content and vocabulary included on the websites. • Assess whether or not additional handouts are needed to help students who

may struggle with the content or process. • Consider other learner needs such as linguistic difficulties and varied learning

styles. If additional resources are necessary, locate the resources and provide access to the additional materials.

Resource Management Students will need access to various materials and resources to complete the WebQuest. They will need a method for organizing and storing their work. Consider the following questions when planning resource management.

• What materials will students need to complete the WebQuest? • How will students organize their materials and keep track of their research

work? • Should electronic or physical folders be provided for each group? • Will the groups use shared folders on the school or classroom network? If so,

how will students access the shared folders? Time Management Time management can be a big issue when completing a WebQuest. Students who are not accustomed to completing projects that extend over time may struggle with time management. Set clear expectations or a WebQuest may drag on for an extended period. Hints for managing time include the following.

• Plan a realistic time frame for the completion of the WebQuest and, when possible, stick to the deadlines.

• Set up target dates for the completion of different parts of the WebQuest. The goal should be helping students learn to develop their own action plans for completing the work on time. An action plan should outline the responsibilities of the group members and the time frame in which those activities will be completed. If the class is not ready to develop its own plans, gradually work up to it. The following list offers some tips for guiding students through the development of WebQuest action plans.

o Prepare an action plan for the first WebQuest. Leave spaces for the students to fill in the name of the person who will complete each task.

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o During the next WebQuest, develop an action plan with the entire class. The class should determine who will complete each task (who will play each role in the WebQuest) and plan a time line for reaching the deadline provided. The groups can then fill in the names of the people who will take the roles.

o During subsequent WebQuests, allow groups to develop their own plans. Provide the deadlines for the completion of the project or parts of the project and allow students to plan ways of getting the work done. Visit with groups to ensure the work has been divided fairly and realistically.

Students Finishing Early More than likely, some student groups will finish the task before others. Plan ahead for activities these students could be doing while other groups continue to work. Students who finish early might:

• Help a student who has been absent catch up on the WebQuest process. • Help other groups that are struggling with the task. • Be a technical assistant to other students working with technology. • Complete extra activities as outlined in the conclusion section of the WebQuest.

Many WebQuests include supplemental activities. • Explore some additional websites provided by the teacher that extend the topic

of the WebQuest. • Extend the WebQuest product above and beyond the requirements. • Read books provided by the teacher on the WebQuest topic.

Facilitation As students begin working through the WebQuest, there are points a teacher should consider to ensure successful progression through the learning experience. Consider the following ideas. Alternate Plan The Internet is a wonderful tool but it can be unavailable on a day slated for students to work on a WebQuest. Have an alternative plan in case Internet access is not working. Printing and keeping a paper copy of the WebQuest and some of the resources might help. If Internet access goes down, consider giving students printed copies of the webpages. Frustration is Good! WebQuests require students to think for themselves and solve problems. This process can sometimes lead to frustration on the part of students. Teachers often feel their role is to help students learn and when students are frustrated, teachers can feel like learning is not going well. Frustration is actually good, as it means students are thinking. Do not jump right in and help students out of a bind. When frustration occurs, try the following:

• Practice using good guiding questions to get students moving when they are stuck.

• Allow groups to share their ideas with the class. Discuss the positive aspects and pitfalls of each group’s ideas, then encourage the groups to revise their plans based on class feedback.

• As a last resort, give some small hints to get a frustrated group going again.

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Helping Too Much Good WebQuests ask students to apply information they find when researching. Students are doing more than simply retelling information in report form. This process can challenge both teachers and students. Students may struggle to produce a quality product. Teachers may be tempted to provide too much help. For example, when a WebQuest asks students to make a persuasive presentation, a teacher might be tempted to provide a PowerPoint template outlining the entire presentation so students only have to fill in facts they find on the Internet. Another teacher might provide an idea for a game students are to create, resulting in every game in the class being substantially alike. Providing students with this kind of guidance can help the product look better but tends to remove student thinking and creativity. A good WebQuest with a higher-level task can become an exercise in retelling information if the teacher provides too much help. To avoid giving too much help, try the following.

• Provide scaffolding that guides students but does not dictate what their final product will look like.

• Provide extra scaffolding only to students who need it to complete the work. Facilitate with Questions, Not Answers To facilitate a WebQuest with a student-centered approach, a teacher should ask good open-ended questions. Instead of pointing out to students that their idea will not work, ask questions that allow them to defend their ideas and possibly see their weaknesses. Try questions like the following: “What are you doing?" and "Tell me what you're thinking." Instead of telling students how to solve a problem, ask them, "What do you think would happen if ...?" For a list of additional questions that promote inquiry, visit this website: http://tlc.ousd.k12.ca.us/~acody/inquiryquery.html. Paraphrase Instead of Praise Respond to students by repeating and paraphrasing their comments. Try not to praise or criticize. Refraining from judgment will encourage students to think on their own and use original ideas instead of trying to figure out what might please the teacher. Absent Students Frequent absences can pose problems when a class is completing a long-term project like a WebQuest. Some suggestions for dealing with an extended absence include the following:

• Check to see if the family has an Internet-connected computer. If so, see if the student can complete at least part of the WebQuest at home.

• Print the WebQuest and some of the Web resources or find books that provide portions of the research information. Send these resources home for the student to use. If possible, arrange to have the absent student’s work brought to school and provided to the appropriate group.

• Provide an alternative product for the student to complete, such as a poster. • If a student misses a group presentation, consider having the student present

at least part of the work to the class after returning to school. • Have students who finish early help the returning student catch up. • Provide an alternative assignment related to the topic being studied. Use this

option as a last resort only when all other options have failed.

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Assessment Teachers often find WebQuest assessment challenging. If students work on a WebQuest for two weeks and are only assessed using the scoring guide at the end of the WebQuest, feedback that might help students is not available until the project is complete. Ongoing assessment during a WebQuest can help ensure students remain on task, understand the requirements of the project and experience success.

• Visit with groups each day and use a daily checklist to assess progress. Students who develop their own action plans can include daily checklists for the teacher to use.

• Require group members to assess group and individual progress. • Break the WebQuest into parts, assess the parts and provide feedback to

students. • Assess scaffolding completed by students during the WebQuest. • Interview group members with a few questions about the research they are

conducting. Ask each member of the group a different question and make sure groups understand that everyone is responsible for all of the information. Use a checklist during the interview to provide an assessment for the group.

• Ask students to journal about their experiences and their growing knowledge each day. Assign each journal entry a score.

Practice Select a WebQuest to use in the classroom. Follow the directions on the Selecting a WebQuest handout to evaluate and select a WebQuest for classroom use. Choose a WebQuest from the following website or another online source: http://resources.emints.org/modresources/links/introwebquests.shtml. Use the WebQuest in the classroom. After completing the WebQuest, discuss overall impressions, reflection and evaluation with the eMINTS facilitator.

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Resources Dodge, B. (2002). WebQuest Taskonomy: A Taxonomy of Tasks.

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/taskonomy.html Explanations and examples of the different types of typical WebQuest tasks.

Dodge, B. The WebQuest Page. San Diego State University Educational Technology Department.

http://webquest.sdsu.edu/ Bernie Dodge’s website, which contains many resources related to WebQuests. Database of WebQuests included.

Educational Broadcasting Corp. (2004). Concept to Classroom: WebQuests.

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/ An online WebQuest workshop.

March, T. Ozline.

http://www.tommarch.com/ozblog/ Tom March’s website, which includes many WebQuest resources and a database of WebQuests. March is a former teacher and currently designs web-based educational experiences.

WebQuest Collections Dodge, B. WebQuest News.

http://webquest.org/ eMINTS National Center. WebQuests Created by eMINTS Teachers.

http://www.emints.org/webquest/ Internet Innovations. (2000). WebQuest Training Page.

http://www.biopoint.com/WebQuests/Welcome.html March, T. (2002). Best WebQuests.

http://bestwebquests.com/ Database of WebQuests from Tom March’s website.

Matzat, C. The WebQuest Place.

http://www.thematzats.com/webquests/collections.html Rollins, D. WebQuests. TechTrekers.

http://www.techtrekers.com/webquests/