Review of WebQuest

This post will be examining the pros and cons of WebQuests.

What is a WebQuest?

Dr. Bernie Dodge, the creator of WebQuest explains what it is in the video.



In summary, a WebQuest is a lesson that requires students to synthesise the information they found from the various websites provided by the teacher to produce a piece of work set out by the teacher. The important thing to note is that a WebQuest is not suppose to be a mere creation of various pieces of information found on the Internet. The task that the teacher designs needs to ensure that students process the information they have read and sieved through, and create something new using that information.

I find this site to be a good example of a well-designed English Language WebQuest. It hits all the right notes in terms of synthesising information and creating something out of it. Moreover, through doing this WebQuest, students horizons are broadened as they learn about other cultures and how to appreciate them. Teachers can extend the lesson further by using this as a stepping stone to discuss other related topics, like globalisation, or even culture and identity (depending on the level of students being taught).

Uses

Well-designed WebQuests are cognitively challenging as the task demands students reach the higher levels of critical thinking skills in Bloom's Taxonomy, i.e. analysing, evaluating and creating. In today's world, these critical thinking skills are extremely important, and very much in line with MOE (Singapore)'s 21st Century Competencies of producing students who are "Critical and Inventive Thinkers".

WebQuests can be used for Task-Based Learning as students have to complete a task using the resources they have sieved out from the websites given to them by the teacher. For example, students can be asked to design a travelogue, or create a presentation about a particular aspect of the topic. In this way, students are able to practise at least two skills at one go - reading and writing - on top of using English itself to communicate with their team members.
 

Disadvantages

Having said that, designing a good WebQuest is not exactly the simplest task. The teacher has to put in many hours designing a task that requires students to produce something original (and not a mere copying of information off various websites), looking for good websites that the students can use to gather the knowledge to complete the task, and also create a set of rubrics that is detailed enough so that students are aware of the criteria they need to fulfil. The fact that so much is demanded of the teacher might be off-putting for some, since having an abundance of time is a luxury for teachers.

Advantages

In spite of that, a well-designed WebQuest is like any course material; it can be recycled and reused many times over with little or no modification required (barring any major hiccups or changes to the curriculum). In my opinion, even if there is a change to the curriculum, an English Language WebQuest would likely still be valid - assuming the original task is to produce something that is along the lines of one of the four skills - since changes to the curriculum is unlikely to exclude any of the skills. Moreover, as English Language teachers, WebQuests are very much in line with language learning outcomes, since students are required to utilise language to create a meaningful and coherent product, thereby improving on their language ability in accordance to Swain's Output Hypothesis.

Conclusion

All in all, it would do well for the students to be exposed to a WebQuest at least once for the reasons mentioned above. Teachers can go to QuestGarden to either create one or look for existing WebQuests, though discretion has to be exercised when searching for a pre-existing WebQuest to use as not all WebQuests were created equally.