designing great webquests higher level learning for gt students (and all students) on the world wide...
TRANSCRIPT
Designing Great WebQuestsHigher Level Learning for GT Students
(and ALL students) on the World Wide Web
Based on: FOCUS: Five Rules for Writing Great WebQuests by Bernie Dodge
Learning & Leading with Technology, May, 2001.
TCEA State Conference, February 6, 2002
Ann McMullanInstructional Technology Officer
Klein Independent School [email protected]
What is a WebQuest? An Inquiry-oriented activity Most or all of the information used by
learners is drawn from the Web Designed to use learners’ time well Focus on using information rather than
looking for it Support learners thinking at the levels of
analysis, synthesis and evaluation
What’s the Appeal of WebQuests? Provide structure and guidance for both
students and teachers Engage higher level thinking skills Make good use of limited computer access
How do WebQuests differ from each other? Thousands of WebQuests can be found on the
World Wide Web Quality ranges widely
Some created hurriedly to complete a class assignment
Others developed over a longer time – thoughtfully refined
Some not WebQuests at all – merely worksheets with URLs (Internet Scavenger Hunts)
Johnny Appleseed
5 Principles for Creating Great WebQuests
Find great sites.
Orchestrate your learners and resources.
Challenge your learners to think.
Use the medium.
Scaffold high expectations.
FOCUS
FOCUS – Find Great Sites Master a Search Engine
Seven Steps Toward Better Searching Google; AltaVista; Vivisimo
Probe the Deep Web Thomas – a tool to search U.S. legislative information on the Internet Library of Congress American Memory Collection Bernie Dodge’s Specialized Search Engines and Directories
Don’t Lose What You Find My Bookmarks Backflip
FOCUS – Orchestrate Learners and Resources
“A great WebQuest is one in which every computer is being used well and everyone has something meaningful to do at every moment.”
FOCUS – Orchestrate Learners and Resources
Organizing Resources A single computer can be used to drive whole-class
discussion and exploration. One to 10 computers can be used as learning stations. If the only Internet access is in the lab – frontload the lab
visit with offline activities to prepare students for online lab time.
If all computers don’t have Internet access, create Web archives and save to hard drives. (WebWhacker; WebBuddy)
FOCUS – Orchestrate Learners and Resources
Organizing People – Use Cooperative Learning Strategies Positive interdependence: Learners perceive that they cannot
succeed without each other Promotive interaction (preferably face-to-face): Students help teach
and applaud each other as they wrestle with authentic work Individual and group accountability: The group is held
accountable for completing the task, and each individual is held accountable for his or her part in the process
Interpersonal and small group skills: Most children (and many adults) need to be taught how to work together.
Group processing: Conversation about how to improve the group's effectiveness is deliberately built into the process
Process Guides
FOCUS – Orchestrate Learners and Resources
Organizing People – Create Separate Responsibilities Have learners read different web pages Have them read the same web pages from differing
perspectives Divide production responsibilities in ways that parallel
production crews in real life (e.g. scriptwriter, graphic artist, producer)
“The trap to avoid is creating separate roles that do not result in information all members of the team will need to accomplish the end goal.”
FOCUS – Challenge Your Learners to Think
Take Your Learners to Task Focus not on the information, but what you
ask the learners to do with the information: Problem Solve Create Design Judge
WebQuest Taskonomy
FOCUS – Challenge Your Learners to Think
Types of Tasks: Design
Have students design a WebQuest
Museum of Egyptian Antiques
Journalistic Learners take on a persona and create a news
account
Witchcraft or Witch hunt
Types of Tasks: Persuasion Amid Controversy
Look for authentic controversies in the world as a vehicle around which to organize the study of a topic.
A Forest Forever
FOCUS – Challenge Your Learners to Think
FOCUS – Use the Medium“A WebQuest that’s fully flexing the model is one that could not be accomplished on paper.”
People Line up humans with expertise to share
Ask an Expert; ePals
Conversation Allow students to post their opinions; invite
others to participate QuickTopic
FOCUS – Use the Medium Selective Glitz
“Though it’s critically important to avoid distracting your learners with dazzle and noise that serves no instructional purpose, it’s also important to take advantage of audio, video and images on the Web when appropriate.”
FindSounds; Earthcam
FOCUS – Scaffold High Expectations
“A great WebQuest asks students to do things they might not ordinarily be expected to do…Scaffolding is a temporary structure used to help learners act more skilled than they really are.”
Reception Provide guidance in learning from a given resource
and retaining what was learned. Observation Guides Tips on how to conduct interviews Online glossaries and dictionaries
FOCUS – Scaffold High Expectations
Transformation Ask learners to transform what they read into
some new form. Provide help on: comparing and contrasting finding patterns among a number of similar
objects of study brainstorming inductive reasoning decision making
FOCUS – Scaffold High Expectations
Production“WebQuests commonly require students to create things they’ve never created before.”
Provide students with templates prompted writing guides multimedia elements and structures
“By doing part of the work for students, we allow them to go beyond what they would be able to do alone. Overtime they internalize the structures…until they can work autonomously.”
WebQuest – The Basic Framework
Introduction Task Process Resources Evaluation Conclusion
Building Blocks of a WebQuest
Let’s Try One WebQuest about WebQuests Task:
Which two WebQuests are Best…Worst, and Why?
Who are You? The Efficiency Expert The Affiliator The Altitudinist The Technophile
Let’s Try One WebQuest about WebQuests
Resources (WebQuests to be evaluated) A Stitch in Time Our Sun-Sational Star Journey Back in Time Dolphin-Safe Tuna? Penguins
Build Your Own WebQuest…or find someone’s that works for you
The WebQuest Page Matrix of Examples WebQuests Collections
Template to Build Your Own