As more students gain access to the Internet,
there is growing pressure on teachers to help their students use this valuable
resource as an effective study tool.
Defining a webquest
Bernie Dodge of San Diego State University was one of the first people to
attempt to define and structure this kind of learning activity. According to
him, 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..."
This definition has been
refined over the years, and adapted for various different disciplines. Philip
Benz (See Further reading) describes a webquest as follows: " A
"WebQuest" is a Constructivist approach to learning (...). Students
not only collate and organize information they've found on the web, they orient
their activities towards a specific goal they've been given, often associated
with one or more roles modeled on adult professions."
Essentially, webquests are mini-projects in which a large percentage of the
input and material is supplied by the Internet. Webquests can be teacher-made
or learner-made, depending on the learning activity the teacher decides on.
Reasons for using webquests
There are many compelling reasons for using webquests in the classroom,
including:
They are an easy way for teachers to begin to incorporate the
Internet into the language classroom, on both a short-term and long-term basis
- no specialist technical knowledge is needed either to produce or use them.
More often than not, they are group activities and as a result
tend to lend themselves to communication and the sharing of knowledge - two
principal goals of language teaching itself.
They can be used simply as a linguistic tool, but can also be
interdisciplinary, allowing for crossover into other departments and subject
areas.
They encourage critical thinking skills, including: comparing,
classifying, inducing, deducing, analysing errors, constructing support, abstraction,
analysing perspectives, etc. Learners are not able to simply regurgitate
information they find, but are guided towards a transformation of that
information in order to achieve a given task.
They can be both motivating and authentic tasks and encourage
learners to view the activities they are doing as something 'real' or 'useful'.
This inevitably leads to more effort, greater concentration and a real interest
in task achievement.
Structure of a webquest
Webquests have now been around long enough for them to have a clearly defined
structure. However, this structure - whilst being unofficially recognised as
the definitive schema for these activities - should only really be taken as a
basic guideline and you should design your webquests to suit the needs and
learning styles of your students. There are usually four main sections to a
webquest:
The Introduction stage is normally used to introduce the
overall theme of the webquest. It involves giving background information on the
topic and, in the language learning context, often introduces key vocabulary
and concepts which learners will need to understand in order to complete the
tasks involved.
The Task section of the webquest explains clearly and
precisely what the learners will have to do as they work their way through the
webquest. The task should obviously be highly motivating and intrinsically
interesting for the learners, and should be firmly anchored in a real-life
situation. This often involves the learners in a certain amount of role-play
within a given scenario (e.g. you are the school social organiser and have to
organise a trip for your class to an English-speaking country...)
The Process stage of a webquest guides the learners through a
set of activities and research tasks, using a set of predefined resources.
These resources - in the case of a webquest - are predominately web-based, and
are usually presented in clickable form within the task document (it's
important to bear in mind that it's much easier to click on a link than to type
it in with any degree of accuracy). In the case of a language-based webquest,
the Process stage of the webquest may introduce (or recycle) lexical areas or
grammatical points which are essential to the Task. The Process stage of the
webquest will usually have one (or sometimes several) 'products' which the
learners are expected to present at the end. These 'products' will often form
the basis of the Evaluation stage.
The Evaluation stage can involve learners in self-evaluation,
comparing and contrasting what they have produced with other learners and
giving feedback on what they feel they have learnt, achieved, etc. It will also
involve teacher evaluation of the same, and good webquests will give guidance
to the teacher for this particular part of the process.
Producing a webquest
Producing a webquest does not entail any detailed technical knowledge. Whilst
all of the examples in the further reading are essentially web-based, it is
extremely easy to produce a professional-looking and workable design using any
modern word processor. The skill-set for producing a webquest might be defined
as follows:
·
Research skills
It is essential to be able to search the Internet and quickly and accurately
find resources. It is beyond the scope of this article to delve into the finer
points of using search engines and subject guides, but a good reading of their
respective help pages will dramatically improve the accuracy of any search.
·
Analytical skills
It is also very important to be able to cast a critical eye over the resources
you do find when searching. Make sure to visit any website you are considering
using thoroughly before basing any activity around it.
·
Word processing skills
You will also need to be able to use a word processor to combine text, images
and weblinks into a finished document. This particular set of skills can be
acquired in approximately ten minutes.
Before sitting down to plan
a webquest, it is always worth searching around on the Internet to see if
someone has produced something which might fit your needs. There are plenty of
webquest 'repositories' on the Internet, so there is little point in
reinventing the wheel. Use a search engine to have a good look round before you
do the hard work yourself.
In the event that you have to design and produce your own webquest, Tom March
(see further reading for more details) has produced a flow chart for the design
process
Essentially, the following guidelines will get you started:
Define the topic area and the 'end product' (Introduction and Task
phases)
Find web resources which are suitable content-wise and
linguistically (Resources)
Group the resources according to stages of the Task
Structure the Process - tasks, resources, lexical areas,
grammatical areas
Design the Evaluation stages and concepts
Once these tasks have been
performed, the webquest can be put together as a simple word-processed document
(add images and links to all the resources learners will need) or as a webpage.
Implementing a webquest
Shorter webquests can be used to complement coursebook materials - over one or
a small number of classes - whilst long-term webquests are perhaps more suited
to longer courses. In breaking down a webquest for use over several class
sessions, ensure that your learners are aware of what they are doing - of why
they are doing it, and of the benefits to them. It's all too easy for them not
to spot the benefits and to consider regular visits to the computer lab as a
waste of time. The self-evaluation proposed in the model above can go some way
towards mitigating this situation. Suggested questions for learners to consider
include:
How effective was my contribution to the group work?
What did I learn about the topics we researched?
How did my English improve doing this project?
What did I learn about using the Internet?
Conclusion
However you decide to work with webquests, you should find that well-chosen and
motivating topics, coupled with up-to-date websites and access to the wealth of
material on the Internet will provide lively, interesting and learning-rich
classes for you and your learners.
Gavin Dudeney and Nicky
Hockly, Educational Consultants, Spain
Further reading
Benz, P. (2001). Webquests, a Constructivist Approach. http://www.ardecol.ac-grenoble.fr/english/tice/enwebquests.htm
Marzano, R.J. (1992). A different kind of class: Teaching with
dimensions of learning. Alexandria VA: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development
March, T. (1997). The Webquest Design Process -
http://www.ozline.com/webquests/design.html
Dudeney, G. (2000). The Internet and the Language Classroom. Cambridge
University Press.
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