WebQuests

This week’s post will be about WebQuests!

WebQuests are a tool where students work collaboratively in a series of activities to complete a task by making use of information provided to them from the web. By doing this, students practise their language, critical thinking and collaboration skills.

WebQuests seem to be linked to the notion of Task Based Learning which is a method developed from the social constructivist theory of language learning where language is believed to be better learned through social interactions and collaboration.

A good example of what WebQuests are can be found in the original website at http://questgarden.com/. The design does not look very modern but unlike most current online teaching tools, it does not contain a lot of unnecessary information that can sometimes distract users. It is simple and easy to navigate, and I find this particularly practical for contexts where students – and teachers – are beginners in the use of technology. See the image below for an illustration.

 

QuestGarden home page

 

•  How it works: task design

1. It follows the general principles of teaching, where planning is the first step. Here, the teacher will define all aspects that would be included in a common lesson plan, such as defining the topic, objectives, considering students’ profile, materials and resources available, time, etc. Special attention should be paid to assess the availability of the resources needed and students’ literacy skills as the tool requires browsing the web for specific information. The teacher also needs to make sure the task can fit into the design/format of WebQuests.
2. Think of a real word context where students would need to use language for and to find information to complete a specific task. It must be realistic and something your students will relate to.
3. Design the task and the process. Set the goal of the task, the kind of information needed and where it is to be found, the roles students need to take to find the information in an efficient way and what they have to do with the information they find.
4. Decide on how students will present (orally or written) their final product.
5. Design an evaluation sheet with clear criteria that will be used in marking.

 

• How it works: using the tool

You need to create an account on QuestGarden where you will get more information about WebQuests and learn how to create one. At this link you will find a sample WebQuest task, entitled Oh, the Possibilities!: Choosing an English Language Course Abroad.

 In this task students are asked to plan a trip for an immersion English course abroad, by completing a series of activities:

• Decide on which city to travel to;
• Assign roles and look for information accordingly (flights, accommodation, costs involved, etc);
• Write a proposal including a detailed plan of activities and budgeting;
• Present the proposal to the class and convince the audience to approve the plan.

I like the simple design of the site, with clear instructions on the left-hand side column where you can navigate through and get more details. I particularly like the Process part because it better illustrates how process shaped and collaborative WebQuests are.

  

Oh, the Possibilities WebQuest

 

The site has both Student and Teacher Page. However, apart from the Introduction, there is no information at all on the Teachers page.

 

Oh, the Possibilities WebQuest Teacher Page

 

Another aspect that does not sit well with me is the Introduction in the students page that looks more appropriate, in my opinion, to teachers. In fact, the same information is available on the Teachers’ page, as you can see in the previous picture, and I think a more student directed message should be added on the students page.

Oh, the Possibilities WebsQuest Student’s page

 

It seems that both users can access each other’s page. This is different from what we see in most learning platform today, where teachers have access to the students’ version and the opposite is not the case. I am not very sure whether this is good or bad, but I wonder if there is a specific reason for this and I would be interested to know what it is.

Another part I found interesting is the Evaluation section. Here we see information about how students will be evaluated in the task, and we can see that not only language skills per se are evaluated but other skills involved in accomplishing the task. I think it is an acknowledgement of the fact that language use is not only about using the right words and applying rules correctly, that there are others skills and it makes all the sense that those aspects are included in the assessment.

 

 

Oh, the Possibilities! WebQuest Evaluation Criteria

I hope you will agree with me that WebQuests are worth a try. They are not a new thing, but I find them very rich in the possibilities they offer to cater form different aspects of language learning and other skills associated to the process.

The advantages of WebQuests can be summed up as follows:  

• User friendly
• Process design
• Explores higher order skills
• Promotes collaboration
• There is integration of skills

Some aspects - that I would not call drawbacks - that you should bear in mind are:

• Web searching can mean internet costs.
• One has to have a paid account to make the most of the website’s functionalities, which can be an issue in context where schools are low resourced, and teachers have low income.  

Thank you for reading and let us know what you think in the comments.

 

See you next week,

 Cândida