Engaging Readers in Inquirybased Learning through Online WebQuests

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Engaging Readers in Inquiry-based Learning
through On-line WebQuests
Harry Potter and thePhilosophers Quest
Larry Bedenbaugh 2006 Just Read, Florida!K-12
Leadership Conference
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IRA Position Statement on Integrating Literacy
and Technology in the Curriculum

• The Internet and other forms of information and
  communication technology (ICT) are redefining the
  nature of literacy. To become fully literate in
  todays world, students must become proficient in
  the new literacies of ICT. Therefore, literacy
  educators have a responsibility to integrate
  these technologies into their literacy curricula.
• Adopted by the IRA Board of Directors, September
  2001

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Florida Legislative Rule 6A-5.065

• The Educator Accomplished Practices of the
  Florida State Board of Education
• 12) Accomplished Practice Twelve - Technology.
• (a) Accomplished level. The accomplished teacher
  uses appropriate technology in teaching and
  learning processes.

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Consider These Quotes

• Integrating 21st century skills into K12
  education empowers students to learn and achieve
  at the level necessary to succeed in this
  century. Education will become both more
  invigorating and relevant when it reflects the
  realities and challenges of contemporary life.
• John Wilson, Executive Director National
  Education Association

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Definitions of 21st Century Literacy

• Partnership for 21st Century Skills
• NCREL 21st Century Skills
• ETS ICT Literacy
• Pacific Bell/UCLA Initiative for 21st Century
  Literacies
• NMC 21st Century Literacy

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Definitions of 21st Century Literacy

• Basic literacy
• Scientific literacy
• Mathematical literacy
• Political literacy
• Economic literacy
• Historical literacy
• Visual literacy
• Media literacy
• Digital literacy
• Computer literacy
• Technological literacy
• Information literacy
• Information and Communications literacy
• Multicultural literacy

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21st Century Literacy

• Bottom Line
• 21st Century Literacy is about more than having
  good technology skills.
• It is learning core subjects and applying these
  learning skills by using ICT tools while
  maintaining a multicultural awareness.

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himself. Tomorrow's illiterate will not be the
man who can't read he will be the man who has
not learned how to learn.
Consider These Quotes

• The new education must teach the individual how
  to classify and reclassify information, how to
  evaluate its veracity, how to change categories
  when necessary, how to move from the concrete to
  the abstract and back, how to look at problems
  from a new direction - how to teach himself.
  Tomorrow's illiterate will not be the man who
  can't read he will be the man who has not
  learned how to learn.
• Herbert Gerjuoy
• Psychologist

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Project-basedLearning Description

• Project-based learning asks students to work in
  groups to solve a challenging problem.
• Project-based learning asks students to
  investigate issues and topics addressing
  real-world problems while integrating subjects
  across the curriculum.

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Project-based Learning Description

• Students decide how to approach the problem and
  what activities to pursue.
• Students gather information from a variety of
  sources and synthesize, analyze, and derive
  knowledge from it.

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Project-based Learning Description

• At the end, students demonstrate their newly
  acquired knowledge and are judged by how much
  they have learned and how well they communicate
  it.
• Throughout the process, the teachers role is to
  guide and advise, rather than direct and manage,
  student work.

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Project-based Learning Characteristics

• Curricular content
• Multimedia
• Student direction
• Collaboration
• Real world connection
• Extended time frame
• Alternative assessment

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WebQuests Bernie Dodge Tom March

• The WebQuest model was developed in early 1995 at
  San Diego State University by Bernie Dodge with
  Tom March.
• A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in
  which most or all of the information used by
  learners is drawn from the Web.
• WebQuests are designed to use learners' time
  well, to focus on using information rather than
  looking for it, and to support learners' thinking
  at the levels of analysis, synthesis and
  evaluation.

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WebQuestsStructure

• Introduction
• Task(s)
• Process
• Evaluation
• Conclusion
• Teacher Page

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WebQuestsStructure

• Introduction
• Sets the stage and provides some background
  information.
• The purpose of this section is to both prepare
  and hook the reader.
• Write a short paragraph here to introduce the
  activity or lesson to the students. If there is a
  role or scenario involved then here is where
  you'll set the stage. It is also in this section
  that you'll communicate the Big Question that the
  whole WebQuest is centered around.

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WebQuestsStructure

• Task(s)
• Is doable and interesting.
• The task focuses learners on what they are going
  to do - specifically, the culminating performance
  or product that drives all of the learning
  activities.
• Describe crisply and clearly what the end result
  of the learners' activities will be. Don't list
  the steps that students will go through to get to
  the end point. That belongs in the Process
  section.

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WebQuestsStructure

• Process
• This section outlines/describes how the learners
  will accomplish the task. Scaffolding includes
  clear steps, resources, and tools for organizing
  information.
• To accomplish the task, what steps should the
  learners go through?...Learners will access the
  on-line resources that you've identified as they
  go through the Process.... In the Process block,
  you might also provide some guidance on how to
  organize the information gathered.

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WebQuestsStructure

• Evaluation
• This section describes the evaluation criteria
  needed to meet performance and content standards.
  
• Describe to the learners how their performance
  will be evaluated. The assessment rubric(s)
  should align with the culminating project or
  performance, as outlined in the task section of
  the WebQuest. Specify whether there will be a
  common grade for group work vs. individual
  grades.

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WebQuestsStructure

• Conclusion
• The conclusion brings closure and encourages
  reflection.
• Summarize what the learners will have
  accomplished or learned by completing this
  activity or lesson. You might also include some
  rhetorical questions or additional links to
  encourage them to extend their thinking into
  other content beyond this lesson.

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WebQuestsStructure

• Teacher Page
• The teacher page includes information to help
  other teachers implement the WebQuest, including
  target learners, standards, notes for teaching
  the unit, and, in some cases, examples of student
  work.

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WebQuestsExamples

• Heres the Holiday for You
• http//yorkcountyschools.org/mes/Holiday20Webques
  t/index.htm
• Who Was the Real Shakespeare?
• http//garnet.acns.fsu.edu/srl03e/eleven.htm

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WebQuestsLevels

• Short Term WebQuest
• Is designed to be completed in one to three class
  periods.
• Has an instructional goal of knowledge
  acquisition and integration.
• At the end of a short term WebQuest, a learner
  will have grappled with a significant amount of
  new information and made sense of it.

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WebQuests Critical Attributes

• Short Term WebQuest
• An introduction that sets the stage and provides
  some background information.
• A task that is doable and interesting.
• A set of information sources needed to complete
  the task.

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WebQuestsLevels

• Longer Term WebQuest
• Typically take between one week and a month to
  complete.
• Has an instructional goal of extending and
  refining knowledge.

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WebQuestsLevels

• Longer Term WebQuest
• After completing a longer term WebQuest, a
  learner would have analyzed a body of knowledge
  deeply, transformed it in some way, and
  demonstrated an understanding of the material by
  creating something that others can respond to,
  on-line or off-.

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WebQuestsCritical Attributes

• Longer Term WebQuest
• A description of the process the learners should
  go through in accomplishing the task.
• Some guidance on how to organize the information
  acquired.
• A conclusion that brings closure to the quest,
  reminds the learners about what they've learned,
  and perhaps encourages them to extend the
  experience into other domains.

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WebQuestsAdvantages

• Students
• Familiarity
• Motivating
• Accessible outside the classroom

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WebQuestsAdvantages

• Teachers
• Familiarity
• Encourages effective/structured use of Internet
  time
• Accommodates learners diverse needs (individual
  or group)

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WebQuestsDisdvantages

• Available WebQuests may not meet specific needs
• Creating own requires teacher time/ technical
  skills
• Necessary pedagogical skills
• Requires computers/Internet access
• Broken links
• Readability level of linked resources
• Web focus ignores other resources

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WebQuestsBernie Dodge Tom March

• The WebQuest Page
• http//webquest.sdsu.edu/webquest.html

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WebQuestsBernie Dodge Tom March

• The WebQuest Portal
• http//webquest.org

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QuestGarden

• QuestGarden 1.0
• http//webquest.org/questgarden/author/

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QuestGarden

• QuestGarden 1.0
• Step-by-step prompted guidance on creating a
  WebQuest
• Browser-based no software needed
• Emphasis on sharing resources and advice

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QuestGarden

• QuestGarden 1.0
• WYSIWYG text formatting
• Ability to upload pictures and supplementary
  files
• Based on design patterns

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QuestGarden

• QuestGarden 1.0
• http//webquest.org/questgarden/author/

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QuestGarden

• Future
• Free until September 1, 2006
• 20 for a 2 year subscription after that
• 30 day free trial
• Access to published WebQuests will always be free

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Contact Info

• Larry Bedenbaugh
• FLaRE Center
• UCF - Teaching Academy Suite 403
• 4000 Central Florida Blvd
• Orlando, FL 32816-1250
• lbedenba_at_mail.firn.edu