Lesson 6: Webquests!

Here's a link to my webquest:  http://questgarden.com/147/11/7/120804060110/

During this week I was asked to create my own webquest that I could legitimately see using in my classroom this year.  I actually have experience with webquests already and so I already had preconceived notions about how they are used.  When I completed undergraduate work, one of the things we had to do was create our own webquest.  This was done using Microsoft Word and creating templates that we used over and over again.  We would hyperlink to each additional page and save our pages as html files in order to use them as a web application.  If anything I have said seems difficult you will understand when I first thought about this task I kind of rolled my eyes a bit.  It’s not that the task of thinking up a webquest is too difficult, but the process of making one is rather long. 

If felt much better after reading on in the directions and understanding that we were going to use an online application in Quest Garden.  From the Lesson Six reading I found some interesting information about webquests that I never paid much attention to.  I thought that when you use technology in such a way it would always be good not matter how you were assessing.  Our reading states that webquests are designed to imitate higher order thinking activities that adults would do in the workplace or at the very least a real task they would perform.  This idea along with my new views on creating more cognitive thinking activities I see that webquests, when used properly are great ways to influence learning in the students.  When they are not used properly they are those fun activities that we do, but don’t get much out of.  Even fun things with little to no purpose will lose engagement from students.

So the actual process I took when completing the webquest came about fairly quickly because I already had an idea on a webquest I would like to do.  I got an idea from a fellow teacher this past week while cleaning up my room and she had previously taught 6^th grade social studies the year before.  She said she completed this activity on the elements of maps using the school map and having the students make it into a more professional looking map.  She said the administration really enjoyed the activity and so I was already keen on using the activity.  I decided to turn this into a webquest and make the students look for the information necessary to complete the activity on their own instead of me presenting all the information to them.  When they find the information on their own it will better placed to memory. 

When using the Quest Garden application I found it to be a blessing and a curse at the same time.  I enjoyed having a layout for how to put everything together and having everything already online instead of making my own links and html formats.  The main problem I had was the lack of choice when choosing a color.  I think color is a big thing for students because it’s something that catches their eye and draws them in.  Sight is the major sense in humans and to have better coloring would have been nice.  I also found it extremely frustrating when I thought I saved my work and when I would go to another section and come back to my tasks to reference back to and see nothing there.  That was a bit your lip moment to keep from lashing out irrationally.  However, I soon would click the save button three times before moving on and that seemed to make everything stay where it was supposed to be.  Overall I really enjoyed working on the webquest and it wasn’t difficult at all to complete the tasks.  I would like more choice in the editing of the webquest, but for streamlining the process I guess I won’t complain too much.