Librarians Webquests: Some Thoughts About Webquests by Bernie Dodge

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Librarians Webquests!Some Thoughts About
Webquests by Bernie Dodge

• SAISD Library Media Services
• Laura Alfaro, Librarian Facilitator
• lalfaro_at_saisd.net
• February 22, 2006

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Reviewing Existing WebQuests

• WebQuest Search Page http//webquest.org/search/
  
• Search term library
• Look for a quest in your grade level range, i.e.,
  ES, MS, HS
• What do you find?
• What pattern do you see?
• What do you like/dislike about it?
• What does it appear that you need to know?

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Some Thoughts About Webquestsby Bernie Dodge,
1997

• Definition
• A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in
  which some or all of the information that
  learners interact with comes from resources on
  the Internet, optionally supplemented with
  videoconferencing.

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Critical Attributes

• To achieve that efficiency and clarity of
  purpose, WebQuests should contain at least the
  following parts
• Introduction
• Task
• Information sources
• Guidance
• Conclusion

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Non-Critical Attributes

• Some other non-critical attributes of a WebQuest
  include these
• Group activities,
• Motivational elements,
• Single discipline or Interdisciplinary.
• Longer term WebQuests can be thought about in at
  least two ways
• what thinking process is required to create them,
  and
• what form they take once created.

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Thinking Skills in a Long Term Webquest that
might be required

• Comparing
• Classifying
• Inducing
• Deducing
• Analyzing errors
• Constructing support
• Abstraction
• Analyzing perspectives

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Design Steps

• Learning to design WebQuests is a process that
  should go from the simple and familiar to the
  more complex and new.
• That means starting within a single discipline
  and a short-term WebQuest and then moving up to
  longer and more interdisciplinary activities.
  Here are the recommended steps

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Design Step 1

• The first stage for a teacher in learning to be a
  WebQuest designer is to become familiar with the
  resources available on-line in their own content
  area. Toward that end, we've prepared a Catalog
  of Catalogs of Web Sites for Teachers. This
  provides short list of starting points for
  exploration broken down by subject matter
  discipline.

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Design Step 2

• The next step is to organize one's knowledge of
  what's out there. Spending a few hours on
  Non-WebQuest 3 will guide the teacher in
  organizing the resources in their discipline into
  categories like searchable database, reference
  material, project ideas, etc.

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Design Step 3

• Following that, teachers should identify topics
  that fit in with their curriculum and for which
  there are appropriate materials on-line.

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Design Step 4

• A template is available that guides the teacher
  through the process of creating a short-term,
  single discipline WebQuest.

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Using QuestGarden 1.0

• Free registration until Sept. 1, 2006
• 20/2 yr. subscription
• Create username and password
• Login
• Overview,
• Create a New WebQuest
• Edit Profile
• Logout

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References/Bibliography

• The Webquest Page http//webquest.sdsu.edu/
• EdWeb, San Diego State University College of
  Education http//edweb.sdsu.edu/links/index.html
  
• Organizing the Resources in Your Discipline
  http//webquest.sdsu.edu/Non-WebQuest3.html
• Webquest Template from Mapacourse.com
  http//www.mapacourse.com/webquest20project/WebQu
  estActivity.pdf

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References/Bibliography

• TEKS Website http//www.tea.state.tx.us/teks/
• WebQuest Design Patterns http//webquest.sdsu.edu
  /designpatterns/all.htm