WebQuests

WebQuests are inquiry-based approaches to learning which use the Internet to help learners discover information rather than just having it transmitted to them by a teacher or reading about it in a book. It is a learner-centered method which requires active engagement in knowledge acquisition.

PIAGET WEBQUEST (PWQ)

Everyone is required to engage in the WebQuest "Discovering and Uncovering Piaget" http://zunal.com/webquest.php?user=22695  You can access this WebQuest by clicking on the link or by copying and pasting the URL in your  browser address bar.

0500A Individual WebQuest

Required for students in 0500A but not 20500 (graduate students but not undergraduates.)      

Your in-class presentation, approximately 10 -15 minutes long, will involve BRIEFLY describing and walking us through the pages of your WebQuest and showing us at least one website you have linked.

At the Zunal home page http://zunal.com/  you can get a tutorial on how to create WebQuests using Zunal, and you can register to create your own WebQuest. You can also explore a wide variety of WebQuests on virtually all subjects and for students at many grade levels. You can use these WebQuests for your own students and/or you can use them to get ideas about how to create your own WebQuest. Zunal has templates which make it easy to create your own WebQuests. You are only required to create the following pages: Title, Introduction, Task, Process, Conclusion, Evaluation and Teacher Page. The other pages (e.g. Quiz, Google Map.) are optional.

GUIDELINES FOR CREATING YOUR IWQ

1.  Try to make the Title and Introduction appealing/intriguing so that they capture students’ attention

2.  Make sure the Introduction (and everything else except for the Teacher Page) is addressed to students not teacher

3. Task tells WHAT students will do.

4. Process guides students through websites and documents needed to accomplish the task(s).

5. The Tasks and Processes are expected to be substantive enough for minimum of 5 class periods. 

6. The Evaluation must include a rubric with at least two assessment categories (e.g. Product, Due Dates).                                                                       

For each assessment category, the rubric should systematically use the same criteria expressed using the same terms (e.g. score of 4 = thoroughly explains, score of 2 = superficially explains) .

The webquest can be part of a larger unit on a topic.

Please come see me during my office hours if you'd like feedback on how your IWQ is progressing. At the end of the semester, you will show us how to implement a small part of your Webquest in class.

This is a WebQuest created by a student of mine, Erinjean Jewell, during Fall 2010 for this assignment. It's especially useful because it shows what one of your peers created and the topic focuses on important issues for adolescents which are addressed in this course.  "Hot Issues, Cool Choices: Playwriting about Bullying, Peer Pressure, Popularity and Putdowns"  http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=71199

To learn more about WebQuests visit the site created by Bernie Dodge, who invented them http://webquest.org/  and/or Tom March, who has done extensive work on webquests and is mentioned in Ch. 2 of our textbook. Here's a link to his ClassAct Portalhttp://tommarch.com/writings/why_portals.phphttp://tommarch.com/writings/why_portals.ph

 Tips for Creating Your Own Individual WebQuests Using Zunal

    Zunal has a "timeout" feature, so you have to save your work frequently, such as every five minutes. If you work for a long time, or work and then just stay at the site for awhile and wait before saving, you may lose all your work!

    When creating a Zunal WebQuest, it's better to type your information into the Zunal template window than to copy and paste from Word or other wordprocessing software because doing so can risk problems at the time or later when you try to update a page.

    It's easier to create Internet links in Zunal using Internet Explorer than Firefox (which is my preferred browser).

    It's easier to create a Zunal site using a PC than a MAC. Zunal will not accept some MAC-based documents, such as their version of PowerPoint.

    Attached is a PowerPoint slide presentation which was developed by Michael Dreyfus,a CCNY Education student.