Friday the 13th PD Session

Introduction

For the past 30+ years, teachers around the world have used the World Wide Web to support their instruction. Some teachers have embraced the "WebQuest" to create inquiry-oriented lessons. But what exactly is a WebQuest? What does it feel like to do one? How do you know a good one when you see it? By the end of this WebQuest (designed especially for all of you =)) it is my goal that you will be able to answer some of these questions!

(You can insert pictures throughout your WebQuest!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can embed videos into your WebQuest:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzBCI13rJmA align:right]

Task

To develop great WebQuests, you need to develop a thorough understanding of the different possibilities open to you as you create web-based lessons.  One way for you to get there is to critically analyze a number of WebQuest examples. That's your task in this exercise.

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to answer these questions:

  1. Which two of example WebQuests are the best? Why?
  2. Which two are the worst? Why?
  3. What do best and worst mean to you?

Process

First, each participant will have a hard copy of the worksheet found at the bottom of this page. Break into groups of four. Within the group, each of you will take on one of the following roles:

 

 The Efficiency Expert: You value time a great deal. You believe that too much time is wasted in today's classrooms on unfocused activity and learners not knowing what they should be doing at a given moment. To you, a good WebQuest is one that delivers the most learning bang for the buck. If it's a short, unambitious activity that teaches a small thing well, then you like it. If it's a longterm activity, it had better deliver a deep understanding of the topic it covers, in your view.

 The Affiliator: To you, the best learning activities are those in which students learn to work together. WebQuests that force collaboration and create a need for discussion and consensus are the best in your view. If a WebQuest could be done by a student working alone, it leaves you cold.

 The Altitudinist: Higher level thinking is everything to you. There's too much emphasis on factual recall in schools today. The only justification for bringing technology into schools is if it opens up the possibility that students will have to analyze information, synthesize multiple perspectives, and take a stance on the merits of something. You also value sites that allow for some creative expression on the part of the learner.

The Technophile: You love this internet thang. To you, the best WebQuest is one that makes the best use of the technology of the Web. If a WebQuest has attractive colors, animated gifs, and lots of links to interesting sites, you love it. If it makes minimal use of the Web, you'd rather use a worksheet.

Individually, you'll examine each of the sites below and use the worksheet to jot down some notes of your opinions of each from the perspective of your role.

Here are the sites you'll be analyzing:

Grow School Greens Design a school garden
Where is my Hero? What makes someone heroic?
Unraveling the Underground Railroad Describe it from different viewpoints
We all Scream for Ice Cream Invent your own flavor
Ancient Egypt WebQuest Help the Eqyptian Tourist Bureau

When everyone in the group has seen all the sites, it's time to get together to answer the questions. One way to proceed would be to go around and poll each team member for the best two and worst two from their perspective. Pay attention to each of the other perspectives, even if at first you think you might disagree with them.

There will probably not be unanimous agreement, so the next step is to talk together to hammer out a compromise consensus about your team's nominations for best and worst. Pool your perspectives and see if you can agree on what's best for the learner. DO NOT JUST TALLY UP THE VOTES AND DECLARE A WINNER. Instead, begin to put aside your individual perspective and come to an agreement that takes into account all four perspectives.

One person in each group should record the group's thoughts.

When debriefing time is called, report your results to the whole class. Do you think the other groups will agree with your conclusions?

Worksheet

 

Your Name___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Your Role:

___Efficiency Expert ___Affiliator ___Altitudinist ___Technophile

Your Impressions

WebQuest Strengths Weaknesses
      Grow School              Greens             

 

 

 

 

 

 
Where is My Hero?       

 

 

 

 

 

 
Underground     Railroad         

 

 

 

 

 

 
Ice Cream         

 

 

 

 

 

 
Ancient Egypt         

 

 

 

 

 

 
Evaluation

 

 

Got It!

 

Getting Close…

 

Still Working…

 

Identify Mistakes

I identified all of Mr. Klingler’s mistakes.

I identified at least 2 of Mr. Klingler’s mistakes.

Oops, I identified one or none of Mr. Klingler's mistakes.

Fixed Mistakes

I accurately fixed all Mr Klingler’s mistakes and understand what he did wrong.

I fixed at least 2 of Mr. Klingler’s mistakes.

I fixed one or none of Mr. Klingler’s mistakes.

 

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have just finished our WebQuest! Hopefully you have gained some useful information which you will be able to use in your own classrooms.

 

Credits


Video Credits:

www.youtube.com

Photo Credits:

https://chivorn2013.wordpress.com/picture/cute-animal-tablet-wallpapers-1024x1024-16/

http://www.sandi.net/Page/52196

...and thank YOU for spending part of your afternoon with me!  I hope that you have taken away at least one or two useful bits of information from our time together!