Journal #6

Webquest, What's That?!

Instead of writing another blog post about my most recent chapter I decided to do something a little different. I looked into different Webquests designed around technology.

You may be asking yourself, what is a Webquest? I know this is exactly what I was asking myself when I was first given this option for my week six journal. So, I decided to do a little digging. According to the Webquest homepage that is linked above, a Webquest is "an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web."

Now that you know what a Webquest is, a little history lesson. It all began when an educator named Bernie Dodge- with the help of colleague and friend Tom March, formed the model in 1995, within the walls of San Diego State University where they were both employed. Since its inception thousands and thousands of teachers all over the world have embraced this new way of integrating lessons into the 21st century mind set.

The Creators

Photo credit Link
I looked at a Webquest designed by Melissa Fox for 3rd to 5th grade students. It is basically designed to teach them basic computer parts. It's introduction states, "Do you know what a computer is? Do you know it has special parts? Do you know what these can do for you?". While exploring the different tabs of the Webquest I found that it left much to be desired. The information given was very vague and the pictures used were very generic and poorly spaced. I thought that it would have been better suited for students in 1st or 2nd grade, rather than 3rd to 5th as she suggested. When she listed the different parts of the computer she listed on part as "blank paper" which is used to put into the printer. I thought that could have definitely been omitted. I think even first graders know what blank paper is. I also found that she used the same graphics more than once on different tabs. There are so many different photo sites available to anyone with access to the internet that I thought it was interesting she reused the same fix or six graphics.


Below is a video on how to create a Webquest if anyone is interested in making their own. Maybe it will be more successful than the one I have critiqued above.