Rosemarie Ziegler

 What it is:  Structured  Using information to apply it to a problem  Cooperative (but it doesn’t have to be)  Engaging!  Differentiated  What it is NOT:  Unguided roaming of the internet  Little Structure  Low-level thinking/basic knowledge  Complicated and difficult to use

 Students are presented with a problem and scenario.  A focus is placed on authentic real-world projects, but sometimes imaginary situations can be very effective.  By participating in the WebQuest, students are guided towards resources needed to solve the problem/create the product.  They know up front what will be expected of them and how they will be graded.

 Bernie Dodge (San Diego State University) is credited with the invention of the WebQuest as an inquiry-based learning method in 1995  A WebQuest About WebQuestsWebQuest  He created/owns Quest Garden which is free to browse, but not to create (we will use WikiSpaces for that!)Quest Garden

 Introduction  Sets the stage for the students  Gives necessary background info  Poses Problem  Task  This is what the students must actually accomplish by the end of the WebQuest to show their learning-can be thought of as objectives  Process  Steps students need to take to accomplish task.  Includes resources, links to sites, learning tasks  Evaluation  How student will be graded, typically a rubric  Conclusion/Credits  Wraps up the project, provides extension/enrichment, credits sources if needed  Standards can be included here.

 Box and Whisker Plots Box and Whisker Plots  Alien Creations Alien Creations  Native American Museum Native American Museum

 WebQuests are based on Backward DesignBackward Design  Begin with the end in mind  It is more efficient to create the WebQuest out of order:  Decide on Task  Decide how students will be evaluated and create evaluation tool  Now you’re ready to create the Process (learning activities and resources)  Intro and Conclusion can be created last

 You could use anything to create a webquest:  GoogleSites  Other Wikis  Free Websites  Paid Sites/generators  Code your Own (eww)  You could even make it on paper and have students type in URLsmake it on paper So WHY WikiSpaces????

 Student accounts can be created and managed by the teacher with a free educator’s account  *Wikispaces is asking for people to verify their account with a one-time $1 charge  Can create pages for the students to work/post products  Super-Easy Discussion Board  Posts can be moderated  Can lock some pages yet leave others for students to edit  Easy to use/look at, intuitive  Skills that students (and maybe adults) learn using the Wiki-Spaces editor can be transferred to other mediums like Google Sites which is harder for beginners

 Sign in to WikiSpacesWikiSpaces