A webquest is...

After reviewing several sites about webquests, I found that Education World and Bernie Dodge's Taskonomy site explained webquests the best with easy to understand information. Bernie Dodge is considered the originator of the webquest concept and according to him, "A WebQuest,is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than on looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation."

Many times students feel that they are looking up information and writing it on paper for no other reason than to get a good grade. WebQuests give students a task that allows them to use their imagination and problem-solving skills. The answers are not given word for word, so the student must discover or create an answer based on information they find. Students use their own creative-thinking and problem-solving skills to find solutions to problems.

WebQuests are a great way to capture students' imagination and allows them to explore a subject through guided research chosen by the teacher. In order for our students to be prepared for 21st century jobs, we need to develop students' skills in communication, group work, problem solving, critical and creative thinking skills. Using this type of learning in my classroom will allow students to explore issues and find their own answers. A well designed webquest will allows students to process the information in meaningful ways and reach moral and ethical decisions guided by the facts they find. Because the webquest can be easily modified, it is easy for teachers to alter the tasks to the learner's level. For example, a student with special needs can be given  roles that are important and make them feel part of the group, while advanced students can explore further and do more than is required.

According to Bernie Dodge, there are six building blocks of a webquest:

• The Introduction orients students and captures their interest.
• The Task describes the activity's end product, and is the most important aspect of a webquest.
• The Process explains strategies students should use to complete the task.
• The Resources are the Web sites students will use to complete the task.
• The Evaluation measures the results of the activity.
• The Conclusion sums up the activity and encourages students to reflect on its process and results. To get started, you will need an outline of your content area, and there are several websites that have templates set up for you to create your own from scratch or modify someone else's.

The task is the single most important part of a WebQuest. It provides a goal and focus for student energies and reinforces the curricular intentions of the designer. A well designed task is doable and engaging, and requires thinking in learners that is beyond rote comprehension.

Resources identify the online resources available on the topic by brainstorming a list of related words and using the list to search for relevant sites. As the teacher is searching for sites, a hotlist of current, accurate, and age-appropriate sites is created that will engage students' interest and get them excited about learning.

I now have a pretty good understanding of what a webquest is. I definitely plan to use them in my class someday. Why not make learning fun and engage the students with tools they want to use?