How to create Webquest?

Task Webquest

Describe crisply and clearly what the end result of the learners' activities will be. The task could be a:

• problem or mystery to be solved;
• position to be formulated and defended;
• product to be designed;
• complexity to be analyzed;
• personal insight to be articulated;
• summary to be created;
• persuasive message or journalistic account to be crafted;
• a creative work, or
• anything that requires the learners to process and transform the information they've gathered.

You may wish to peruse the WebQuest Design Patterns site, which gives specific examples of how instructionally sound Webquests can and should be created.

If the final product involves using some tool (e.g., HyperStudio, the Web, video), mention it here.

Don't list the steps that students will go through to get to the end point. That belongs in the Process section.

Process

To accomplish the task, what steps should the learners go through? Use the numbered list format in your web editor to automatically number the steps in the procedure. Describing this section well will help other teachers to see how your lesson flows and how they might adapt it for their own use, so the more detail and care you put into this, the better. Remember that this whole document is addressed to the student, however, so describe the steps using the second person.

First you'll be assigned to a team of 3 students...
Once you've picked a role to play....
... and so on.

Learners will access the on-line resources that you've identified as they go through the Process. You may have a set of links that everyone looks at as a way of developing background information, or not. If you break learners into groups, embed the links that each group will look at within the description of that stage of the process. (Note, this is a change from the older WebQuest templates which included a separate Resources section. We feel that the resources belong in the Process section rather than alone.)

In the Process block, you might also provide some guidance on how to organize the information gathered. This advice could suggestions to use flowcharts, summary tables, concept maps, or other organizing structures. The advice could also take the form of a checklist of questions to analyze the information with, or things to notice or think about. If you have identified or prepared guide documents on the Web that cover specific skills needed for this lesson (e.g. how to brainstorm, how to prepare to interview an expert), link them to this section.

Evaluation

Describe to the learners how their work will be evaluated. Specify whether there will be a common grade for group work vs. individual grades.

If you decide to use a rubric in evaluating the student work, you may wish to use the table found below. Note that care should be taken to create a rubric that will provide accurate feedback to the learner, as well as being resonably simple to fill out. For a quick (5-10 minute) tutorial on how to create effective rubrics for webquests, see Creating a Rubric (San Diego City Schools). You may also wish to read an article from The Interactive Classroom on creating rubrics in collaboration with your students.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Very Good 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Stated Objective or Performance	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of performance.
Stated Objective or Performance	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of performance.
Stated Objective or Performance	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of performance.
Stated Objective or Performance	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of performance.
Stated Objective or Performance	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting a beginning level of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting mastery of performance.	Description of identifiable performance characteristics reflecting the highest level of performance.

Conclusion

Put a couple of sentences here that summarize what the learners will have accomplished or learned by completing this activity or lesson. You might also include some rhetorical questions or additional links to encourage them to extend their thinking into other content beyond this lesson. A webquest should not be a completely isolated experience, but instead should be simply one part in a series of learning experiences for the student.

Teacher Page

When developing the teacher page, think about what a teacher should absolutely know to make this an effective learning experience for all participants.

Enter in any information that would help other teachers utilize the resources found here. This may be in the form of credits and references for content used, or perhaps a description of how this webquest is intended for use in the classroom.

You may also wish to include the prerequisite skills which students should have before attempting to complete the webquest. It may also be helpful to include the intended duration of the webquest (one week, one day, etc.), additional materials needed, whether a mini-lab or full computer lab would be appropriate as well as any other information you feel would be helpful for the teacher to know.