A WebQuest is in essence a mini-project using authentic language and carefully staged steps, which, as learners work through them, reach pre-set goals and work towards the production of original output, which is finally cemented of a presentation of some kind. This, the participants will have arrived at by means of navigating the Web, while involved in a variety of skill enhancing activities.
With this lofty goal in mind, let’s take a brief look at just what exactly is involved:
Four main components of a well-built WebQuest:
- The first is an introductory phase, which like the lead-in to any good lesson, will engage learners in the overall theme of the project, deal with any key vocabulary or concepts necessary to deal successfully with the upcoming tasks, and set the overall context.
- Next will come a series of tasks which will be explained clearly so that learners will know exactly what is expected of them as they proceed through the project.
- Following the clear task guidelines, “the process stage of a WebQuest guides the learners through a set of activities and research tasks, using a set of pre-defined resources, usually presented in the form of a web link...the process stage will usually have one or more products which the learners are expected to present at the end.”
From the eventual ‘products’, an evaluation stage, which involves both self-evaluation as well as teacher evaluation, will round out the project and allow for feedback on both language performance and language learning based outcomes.
What does the teacher do?
The teacher maintains an essential role in this process as not only the one who would normally select or set up the WebQuest, but who also plays an important role as facilitator - providing support, feeding in language as necessary, monitoring and eventually, taking on a role in an evaluating capacity. In my experience, it is important to strike a delicate balance between helping students make their way through the project, and trespassing on their autonomy. Remember that it is such autonomy which is likely to boost learner self-confidence and motivation. There is also the implication that, as much of the project work takes place on the Internet, the teacher must ensure that all participants are sufficiently versed in basic navigation skills. This might even provide an opportunity for student teaching, as there will surely be some in your groups who can impart this kind of information and design some light practice activities.
The teacher maintains an essential role in this process as not only the one who would normally select or set up the WebQuest, but who also plays an important role as facilitator - providing support, feeding in language as necessary, monitoring and eventually, taking on a role in an evaluating capacity. In my experience, it is important to strike a delicate balance between helping students make their way through the project, and trespassing on their autonomy. Remember that it is such autonomy which is likely to boost learner self-confidence and motivation. There is also the implication that, as much of the project work takes place on the Internet, the teacher must ensure that all participants are sufficiently versed in basic navigation skills. This might even provide an opportunity for student teaching, as there will surely be some in your groups who can impart this kind of information and design some light practice activities.
What is the outcome?
As described above, learners will be asked to create one or more projects which are directly linked to the success of their task completion in the process stage. This is the tangible outcome of all their hard work and is the part which is subject to evaluation. This is an essential ingredient to a WebQuest, or any other project for that matter, and the criteria of this should be made clear and available to the students from the start. Clear teacher-learner evaluation criteria is a must, as it gives clear guidelines as to what is expected from the learner throughout the project as well as what learning outcomes are desirable. These guidelines can, and should be modified to distinguish between, and allow for both oral presentation and written work.
Typically, a well designed WebQuest will include an opportunity for learners to undertake self-evaluation as well, which may be guided by thought-provoking questions geared towards both what the student feels they have learned in the realm of language, as well as asking them to look at the type of experience they have just undertaken and how that relates to their progress as a whole. They might also be asked what they see as the advantages or otherwise using the Internet compared to a more traditional, classroom and printed materials approach. As described above, learners will be asked to create one or more projects which are directly linked to the success of their task completion in the process stage. This is the tangible outcome of all their hard work and is the part which is subject to evaluation. This is an essential ingredient to a WebQuest, or any other project for that matter, and the criteria of this should be made clear and available to the students from the start. Clear teacher-learner evaluation criteria is a must, as it gives clear guidelines as to what is expected from the learner throughout the project as well as what learning outcomes are desirable. These guidelines can, and should be modified to distinguish between, and allow for both oral presentation and written work.
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