Webquests

The concept of a Webquest is one that is relevant for both students and educators. I can examine the idea of webquests from both angles. As an educator I'm on the fence about webquests. When done correctly they are great asset to a teacher’s bag of tips and tricks. However, when done poorly I believe webquests do more harm than good for the student. I make this rather strong statement because more time than not the student will deviate from the intended assignment. Let's face it kids will be kids when given the opportunity. Webquests allow for a great deal of freedom on the Internet and more time than not students will wonder from the assignment and you will find them on the latest and greatest social media site (that’s if it isn’t blocked yet). Moreover, a poorly done webquest won’t truly engage the students’ critical thinking sills. Rather students will be scrolling through the website just looking for the answer just for the sake of getting the assignment done.

Now, when done correctly students can be fully engaged in the content and become experts. Students are able to answer those difficult crucial thinking questions and are pushed to analyze, synthesize and evaluate. Not to mention when done correctly students can learn more in a short period of time about a certain subject than they can from a PowerPoint or a textbook. Additionally, webquests are very versatile as well; it can be used to initially “teach” the content or used as a review tool when you have covered a lot of content in a short amount of time.

As a student, I always enjoyed a webquests that I was asked to complete. Maybe this is because they were always well thought out and very informative. They allowed me the freedom of the Internet and it was a nice change of pace from the PowerPoint or lecture. I’ve only completed a handful of webquests, because the concept of it is still relatively new in comparison to other teaching techniques. Looking back I now know how much work it takes to create a well thought out webquest that makes students answer critical thinking questions.