WebQuests

Wow…..that was a lot of information to process. Although most of it was refreshing my memory, as this is one technology where I actually knew what it was before I read all about it! I have had some experience with WebQuests for our SOSE course in my first year, as we had to design a WebQuest for a year level to complete. I found this very exciting to use as you could use a variety of tools, to engage the students in the task and give them roles to play along with.

WebQuests can be shared amongst school, as the WebQuest includes all the information which the students need for it to be completed. One of the issues which can occur when using WebQuests in the classroom is lack of resources. Most schools have an allocated time in the computer room each week, however 1 hour a week is not enough for students to complete a large WebQuest. This is when it would be beneficial for students to work in small groups through the WebQuest. Each student can complete a different part of the WebQuest and when students do not have access to computers they can be teaching and completing the tasks with the other members of the group.

As I have talked about in my other Blogs we are teaching the 21st century learners who are media savvy and digital natives (Pesce, 2008). For teachers using WebQuests they need to be Futures Orientated (Knight & Rowan, 2001) and teach the information in a way the students are familiar with and can relate to. WebQuests are a great tool for this as they can be done online and students can be creative in the tasks they complete. When creating a WebQuest the linking websites needs to be safe for the students to access and the information be relevant to what the WebQuest is about. Students will being applying their knowledge learnt to solve the problem the WebQuest intends.

When we were creating our WebQuest for SOSE, I was unsure how to publish it on the internet. I have leant how to publish WebQuests and this information has been every helpful, easy to follow and understand.

- Natalie

Reference List

Knight, A., & Rowan, L. (2001). Researching Futures Oriented Pedagogies. Retrieved August 12, 2009, from http://www.e-contentmanagement.com/books/133/researching-futures-oriented-pedagogies

Pesce, M. (2008). Those Wacky Kids. Retrieved August 12, 2009, from http://www.viddler.com/explore/mpesce/videos/14/3.926/