Evaluating Webquests!

What is a Webquest?

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”
- Confucius

According to Bernie Dodge (1995), ‘a webquest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet.’

Critical thinking skills are guaranteed when learners use trusted internet resources to complete tasks by answering open-ended questions. The better webquests allow learners to take on different jobs or perspectives to achieve these tasks. These perspectives may be a politician, principal, scientist, student on one given topic. Learners gain better understanding of a task when they have opportunities to practise skills, ask questions and see the results of their work.

Webquests usually require the learner to examine current controversial global issues and transfer this knowledge by relating it to the local setting. Some of these issues may be on the environment, healthy eating, energy, pollution etc.

A webquest can be a win-win for both students and educators; designing a webquest also gives teachers and educators better ICT skills, more understanding of a topic and in turn they pass this information on to other educators.

A webquest follows a formula to promote higher order thinking.
According to Bernie Dodge, these are the six building blocks of a webquest:
1. The introduction – orients students and captures their interests.
2. The Task – describes the activity’s end product.
3. The process – explains strategies students should use to complete the task.
4. The resources – are the web sites students use to complete the task.
5. The evaluation – measures the results of the activity.
6. The conclusion – sums up the activity and encourages students to reflect on its process and results.



Evaluating Webquests

1

The first Webquest which I will evaluate according to Bernie Dodges Rubric is Exploring Simple Machines which is found at: http://www.lakelandschools.org/EDTECH/Machines/Machines.htm.
I am undertaking this unit this term. I will score the Webquest based on the Rubric scoring system. I have also made brief comments under each score. (There were problems uploading tables so the Evaluation Rubric is not included in this blog)

2

I will evaluate the second Webquest according to Tom March’s Best Webquest Matrix.
I chose Designing a Park Webquest as we studied State and National Parks / Local Environments last term. This webquest is found at: http://www.tenafly.k12.nj.us/~teisenberg2/mapquest/
(Evaluation Matrix not included in this blog)

This webquest scored 18. This would give it 4 stars.
This webquest did have some valuable links; however, the links were sites that required the learner to read through a lot of information. This webquest is certainly for upper primary. As this unit is for stage 2 and the activities are stage 2 based, I felt that the resources were at a higher level. The creators should have had links which were not so wordy; otherwise this webquest would require ongoing teacher support and less independence for the learner.

3

As our school has a healthy eating policy, I felt that a Webquest based on healthy eating would be beneficial. The webquest is Chocolate Chip Cookies: To eat or not to eat. It can be found at: http://collier.k12.fl.us/weblessons/cookiewq/index.htm

I will again score the Webquest based on the Bernie Dodge’s Rubric scoring system.
(Evaluation Rubric not included in this blog)

This webquest could have been improved. There needed to be some links to other sites; possibly sites about healthy eating, fats, obesity, statistics etc.
The site also lacked an appealing introduction to grab the reader’s attention.
I did enjoy the sites ease of use. It was very simple to navigate your way through, making it appealing for younger learners. I also found the idea of giving the children clues to nurture their thinking skills and encourage the learner to ask questions.
Perfect for younger children!