The key to a good WebQuest is in its design.  Contrary to my prior understanding, a WebQuest is much more than a search through designated resources on the Web.  A useful Webquest requires students to analyze and record only the relevant information, select a graphic that appropriately illustrates the gathered information, and apply all learning to a culminating event that transcends traditional assessments. (Loparino 2005).

However, my fear is that while searching for information the student will scroll through the site looking for relevant headings, and once a relevant heading is found, skim through the text to find specific information.  How effective are the use of Webquests in promoting learning acquisition?  There is also the possibility that this fosters a lack of patience and decreased attention to detail.  This was shown when students in a study were required to navigate through a variety of pages to find the necessary information.  The article, however, suggests that this may be a result of it being too cognitively demanding to maintain the conceptual connections when navigating a new space is required.

Traditional instruction is often criticized for being too structured and for developing learning compliance rather than critical thinking and self-regulated learning skills that are highly needed for today’s fast changing information world.  WebQuests are often learner-centered, focusing on open-ended learning goals using a variety of authentic resources that are not specifically designed for completing the specific tasks.  Rather than learning via listening to a lecture or reading a textbook, this challenges students to be engaged and interpret information (MacGregor   2004-2005).

The aim is for students to engage in transformative thinking, combining their innate creativity and curiosity with the vast array of resources on the Internet, to create an original product to demonstrate their new knowledge.

Loparino discusses the role of the teacher as a facilator of the students’ learning, and thus in this capacity instead observed the needs and assess student accomplishments. 

On the contrary, MacGreggor mentions that although teachers were confident that their designed WebQuests were perfect, the process deemed to be more challenging.  During the implementation, teachers found that their assistance was needed by the children more frequently than they expected.

This task could prove to be too daunting of a task to teachers who are already overloaded.   Not only does this type of resource-based learning require much, careful design of the Webquest but also, the teacher must provide ample supporting activities and materials.

Assessment is an important topic of discussion in many schools. WebQuests, through the use of detailed scoring guides or rubrics, enable students to check their progress throughout their work. In addition, WebQuests teach students accountability for their work because students are provided assessment guidelines from the very beginning.  This seems to be a definite advantage since aren’t we all seeking to teach students this valuable life skill of being accountable for their work.

Assessments could incorporate both traditional – handouts & questions and alternate – informal observations, group and individual discussions and portfolio collections (Loparino 2005).  This seems to achieve a mean between both practices, perhaps lending towards an easier transition.

MacGregor  shared that by providing students with a variety of means at which they could demonstrate their learning through WebQuests deemed positive. “ Students were seen to reach high performances, way above their grade levels.” 

The advantages of using WebQuests are numerous. A final obvious benefit is that WebQuests allow gifted students to take their project to tremendous intellectual and creative depths—depths that typical assignments and projects would never reach. Although see And, because WebQuests can be tiered easily, a classroom teacher can build a WebQuest that all students will find engaging and worthwhile (Schweizer 2007) .

MacGregor, S. Kim; Lou, Yiping (2004-2005). Web-Based Learning: How Task scaffolding and Web site design Support Knowledge Acquisition. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, v37 n2 p161-175

LoParrino, Camille A. (2005). A Transforamtional Process: Faciliating WebQuests Online Submission. 2005 8 pp. (ED490748)

Schweizer, Heidi; Kossow, Ben (2007). WebQuests: Tools for Differentiation . Gifted Child Today, v30 n1 p29-35  (EJ750569)

Camtasia allows one to achieve more, but Jing proves to serve a very similar function.  The best thing is that it’s absolutely FREE!!!  Without the cost, students now have access to yet another tool! 

www.webquests.org

Here is an interesting site that I came across this site describing various uses of webquests.  

I’ve always heard many describe the work involved to be long and tedious, later discovering that students complete the task in a matter of minutes.  What then is the efficacy of using inquiry based learning model through the use Webquests?  I’d love to hear from anyone who has any first hand experience using this learning tool at the highschool level?  Has anyone had any success in using webquests in their classroom?