Internet-Based Projects
Dudeney and Hockly (2007) explain in How to Teach English with Technology that Internet-based projects are projects that require students to use the Internet to communicate, find, process and report back on information found on external web sites.
Reasons to do Internet-Based Projects
The authors suggest that using internet-based activities provides a structured way to integrate the Internet into the classroom through short-term or long-term projects. This provides learners with the opportunity to participate in collaborative tasks using authentic material and to develop critical thinking skills without having specialist technical knowledge. What's more, they can cross into other departments or subjects.
Steps to prepare a web-based project
1 Topic: Choose a topic for the project
2 Task: Set clear tasks
3 Resources: Find the resources you want your students to explore
4 Outcome: Decide your project's outcome
WebQuests
Dudeney and Hockly (2007) describe a specific type of internet-based project called Webquests. Webquests are online resources created by teachers to help students developed higher-level reasoning skills.
They can be either short-term or long-term. Short-term webquests invite students to make sense of new information, lasting just a couple of classes. On the other hand, long-term webquests invite students to deeply analyze information to later on transform it into new products such as interviews, presentations, surveys, etc. These may last from several weeks up to a whole term.
No matter their duration, both types of webquests follow the same structure:
1 Introduction: In this section, the overall theme is introduced and background infromation is provided.
2 Task: In this section, tasks, resources and activities are explained.
3 Resources: Resources are usually web-based and provided in advance.
4 Process: In this section, the learner's journey through the tasks is outlined. This includes resources and activities.
5 Evaluation: In this section, students will find the criteria of evaluation regarding the task. This could be done through a check list, rubric or any other type of format.
6 Conclusion: In this section, the goal is to encourage reflection and closure in the learning process through self-evaluation, comparisons and feedback.
References
Dudeney, G., & Hockly, N. (2007). Chapter 4 How to Teach English with Technology. Pearson Longman.