Definition

A WebQuest is an exercise using the Internet to point students/users toward one web site or cluster of web sites related to one major concept which should be studied in depth.

Here's a more detailed description of the six essential components of an effective WebQuest at "The WebQuest Site." 

Please study these six parts in order to decide if the samples below have all 6 or how well the sample uses each part that it does have.   For example, do you agree that the role-playing element usually contained in a WebQuest introduction is essential?  What could be the role-playing element--or real task--in the samples below?  (Hints:  Here are links to the two samples at the "introduction" page of "The WebQuest Site":  immigration and save a whale.)

A Sample for Students

This page, which introduces students to the William Faulkner site at Ole Miss, was made by the teacher who introduced me to the concept of WebQuests.  Try to find the six parts listed above for a WebQuest on this scrolling page. 

• Would you advise this teacher to revise the page?
• Or has the teacher wisely varied the WebQuest model
• Or stuck to it precisely?

A Sample for Faculty

• Background: Major theories that have impacted education during the 20th Century have included behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism.  In this exercise, the first step is to read over a summary of an article by educator Judith Boettcher, who is also introduced in the credits at the end of the page. 

• Study:  This exercise is best done as homework so that you can take your time with it, but spend at least an hour sampling the collection of readings at this web site from the University of Colorado (Denver).  Your task is to decide which of two perspectives is the more sensible--

  • Are behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism three viable theories of education from which faculty should choose eclectically to ground suit principles to instructional design?    OR

  • Is constructivism evolutionarily superior to behaviorism and cognitivism which ran their course earlier in the century but were not suitable for explaining education for the next century?

• Write: Of course, learning isn't yours until you use it.  So after you've invested some time in this exercise, draft a written response to the question above.  As you may suppose, this is a debatable issue; that is, there isn't a single "right" answer.  Your task is to make a logical answer based on your teaching experience and study of the sources at the CU website.

• Advanced Option:  Post your written response at Teacher Talk, a 1998 JSR forum open to the Web.