N ET ADVANTAGE : USING ICT IN THE CLASSROOM Cristina Tejedor Martínez Isabel de la Cruz Cabanillas Cuenca, March-April 2011 WEBQUESTS

1. What is a webquest and what is it useful for? 2. What types of webquests are there? 3. How is the structure of a webquest? 4. Which are the design steps? 5. Where can I find further information on webquests?

W HAT IS A WEBQUEST ? Bernie Dodge from San Diego State University in collaboration with Tom March were the first to use webquests for educational purposes in early You can read more at A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. What are the key aspects of webquests? 

W EBQUESTS 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

U SE OF WEBQUESTS WebQuest is an option for ESL teachers to engage students in authentic and meaningful activities while learning English language at the same time. WebQuests allow learners to receive input in the form of aural and written information, such as reading information on web pages or participating in group discussion in the target language. The learners then attempt to test their language hypotheses by generating output in the form of oral or written production, such as writing scripts for a presentation or preparing a brochure for a topic.

U SE OF WEBQUESTS This process allows learners to reuse newly integrated language hypotheses and check their understanding. And if the language production leads to misunderstanding, learners will negotiate meaning and try to produce the more intelligible language. Learners then should be exposed to a range of target structures which are within the learner’s grasp and have opportunities to receive input and output to develop fluency, accuracy, and complexity of the target language. WebQuests allow learners to engage in activities that encourage social interaction and collaboration so they have opportunities for communication in the target language.

U SE OF WEBQUESTS Welcome. You've arrived at the most complete and current source of information about the WebQuest Model. Whether you're an education student new to the topic or an experienced teacher educator looking for materials, you'll find something here to meet your needs.

WHY WEBQUESTS? Student Motivation & Authenticity Developing Thinking Skills Cooperative Learning Process & Access: T he most important factor related to student learning and technology use is how teachers relate the technology-based activity to other learning activities. Therefore, it's important to clearly link your WebQuest to previous and subsequent activities, so that the WebQuest is not an isolated experience disconnected from the rest of your curriculum.

R EASONS 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.

T YPES OF WEBQUESTS Short term webquests The instructional goal is knowledge acquisition and integration. At the end of a short term webquest, a learner will have acquired a significant amount of new information and made sense of it. A short-term webquest is designed to be completed in one to three class periods. Longer term webquests The instructional goal is about extending and refining knowledge. After completing a longer term webquest, a learner would have analysed a body of knowledge, transformed it somehow, and demonstrated an understanding of the material by creating something that others can respond to. A longer term webquest will typically take between one week and a month in a classroom setting.

S TRUCTURE OF A WEBQUEST 1 1. An introduction that introduces the theme, provides background information on the topic and offers key vocabulary and concepts the learners will need to complete the tasks. 2. A task that should be motivating, interesting and related to real-life situations. There should be clear goals. 3. A set of information sources needed to complete the task. Many of the resources are embedded in the webquest document itself pointing to information on the World Wide Web. A description of the process the learners should go through in accomplishing the task. The process should be broken out into clearly described steps.

S TRUCTURE OF A WEBQUEST 2 4. Some guidance on how to organize the information acquired. This can take the form of guiding questions, or directions to complete organizational frameworks such as timelines, concept maps, or cause-and-effect diagrams. It can involve self or peer evaluation (with evaluation criteria), giving feedback on what students have learned, as well as teacher evaluation. 5. A conclusion that brings the quest to an end, reminds the learners about what they've learned.

There are five basic components of an average WebQuest: set the stage for the activity. catch the reader's attention to draw them into the quest provide background information state what the students will be required to do avoid surprises down the road detail what products will be expected and the tools that are to be used to produce them give a step-by-step description, concise and clearly laid out provide links to Internet sites interwoven within the steps

display a rubric to measure the product as objectively as possible leave little room for question summarize the experience allow reflection about the process add higher level questions that may be researched at another time give food for thought as to where they can go with the info they have learned, using it in a different situation

T YPES OF T ASKS Retelling tasks. Compilation tasks. Mystery tasks. Journalistic tasks. Design tasks. Creative Product Tasks. Consensus Building Tasks. Persuasion Tasks. Self-Knowledge Tasks. Analytic tasks. Judgement Tasks. Scientific Tasks. 

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

D ESIGN STEPS 1. The first step is to become familiar with the resources available on-line in their own content area. 2. The next step is to organise one's knowledge of what's out there. will guide the teacher in organising the resources in their discipline into categories like searchable database, reference material, project ideas, etc. 3. Following that, teachers should identify topics that fit in with their curriculum and for which there are appropriate materials on-line. 4. A template that guides the teacher through the process of creating a webquest is available at

DESIGN PROCESS  Excellent guide to help you create your own webquest.  Webquest.org is the most complete and current source of information about the WebQuest Model.

C ONSTRUCTING A QUEST  InstantWebQuest - InstantWebquest is a web based software for creating WebQuests in a short time. When you use InstantWebQuest, you will not need any of writing HTML code or using any web editor software. InstantWebQuest creates all the necessary files and puts them into the server free. Hosting and registration are Free. InstantWebQuest Teach-nology provides a WebQuest GeneratorTeach-nology provides a WebQuest Generator - Fill in the sections on this page with required information for each step. Be specific and clear. To help you with that process, each section of the generator spells out what should be included. As you begin to write WebQuests for your own classroom, you may find that adapting the work of another teacher gets you off to a good start. To that end, Dr. Dodge has provided instructions on Adapting and Enhancing Existing WebQuests. and Enhancing Existing WebQuests

S OME EXAMPLES OF W EBQUESTS  Designed by Spanish teachers.  Webquest on how to become a tourist guide with explanations for teachers and students.  This URL provides a whole list of webquests you can benefit from.  More webquest links on the teaching of English as a foreign language. 