Dear Readers
I had no idea that webquests were so involved. Creating a good webquest would be very time consuming as it would require a teacher to do a lot of planning. If that was the case then it would need to cover as many KLA's as possible to make it all worthwhile. Initially students would be excited about a webquest and the trick would be to keep them engaged for the duration of the assignment (not always an easy task).
I see this type of learning fitting in with Siemens (2004) Connectivism: a learning theory for the Digital Age.
Siemens asserts that connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, and complexity and self-organization theories. Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements – not entirely under the control of the individual. Learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing.
He further goes on to say that connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired. The ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital. The ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday is also critical.
Siemens, G. (2004) Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age
Retrieved 17 August, 2009 from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Kay
Hi Kay
ReplyDeleteYes I agree WebQuests would be very time consuming but the rewards would be worth every minute. Once you have created your WebQuest most of your work for the term is done. You won't have to be concerned with daily lesson plans. From that point you can monitor learning, guiding your students towards critical thinking and inquiry based learning.
other benefits of WebQuests are:
Tomorrow's workers will need to be able to work in teams.
Individuals will move through several careers in the course of a lifetime.
The issues facing citizens will become more and more complex, and societal problems will resist easy fixes or black-and-white categorization.
The amount of information available to everyone will grow at an accelerating pace; much of it will come directly from a growing number of sources without filtering or verification.
Educational Broadcasting Corporation(2004). Concept to Classrooms, What are the benefits of WebQuests? Retreived on 18 August, 2009 from:
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index_sub1.html
Hi Deb
ReplyDeleteHere are a few more reasons why WebQuests can be brilliant. By the way, did you check out Scot's Webquest. If we can achieve one tenth of what he has created then we should be getting a HD for our next SOSE assignment!
• Webquests are a way to let students work at their own pace, either individually or in teams.
• A webquest lets students explore selected areas in more depth, but within limits that you have selected. This makes webquests ideal for classes which combine students with different ability levels.
• Webquests offer a different, more dynamic approach to teaching the value of research.
• Webquests can also increase the "comfort level" of students using the Internet for learning activities. While your students are probably already computer literate, a properly designed webquest can help students become creative researchers rather than simply "surfing" from one site to another.
Kay