English and Digital Literacies

Unit 6.1: Introduction to Webquests

Bessie Mitsikopoulou
School of Philosophy
Faculty of English Language and Literature
 What is a Webquest? (1/2)
• “WebQuest” is the name given to an instructional
model for web-based learning projects that draw
on information and communication resources on
the Internet.
• The WebQuest instructional design is based on
constructivist principles and is sometimes
referred to as inquiry-based learning. The
constructivist approach emphasises the role of
students as primary agents of learning.

Introduction to Webquests 2
 What is a Webquest? (2/2)
• Learners engaged in WebQuests find, analyse,
classify, synthesize and evaluate information
they source on the Internet, and integrate
new concepts into established knowledge
structures.

Introduction to Webquests 3
 Evolution of Webquests (1/3)
• Originally developed as a means of helping
school teachers integrate computer
technology into curriculum learning areas
(Dodge, 1995; 1997)
• WebQuests are now used widely in diverse
educational sectors and curriculum areas.

Introduction to Webquests 4
 Evolution of Webquests (2/3)
Primary goal: to instill in learners the capacity to
navigate the Internet with a clear task in mind,
retrieve data from multiple resources and use
them to produce a final product of value.

Introduction to Webquests 5
 Evolution of Webquests (3/3)
1st phase: 2nd phase: 3rd phase:
Dodge (1995) Dodge (1997, 1998) Dodge (1999)
Introduction Introduction Introduction
Task Task Task
Information Process Process
sources
Process Resources Evaluation
Guidance Evaluation Conclusion
Conclusion Conclusion Teacher Page
[Table 1]

Introduction to Webquests 6
 Types of Webquests
Two basic types of webquests in terms of their
duration and the different educational benefits they
can produce:
• short-term webquests
– designed to be completed in one to three teaching
sessions,
– focusing on knowledge acquisition and integration
of specific skills.
• long-term webquests to be completed between one
week and a month.
Introduction to Webquests 7
 How a Webquest Works
Students:
• retrieve and analyze a body of knowledge
about a topic,
• transform it in some way,
• demonstrate their in-depth understanding by
creating a final product on- or off-line for
others to respond to.

Introduction to Webquests 8
 Structural Parts of a Webquest (1/2)
A webquest consists of the following structural
properties:
• an introduction which sets the context, orients
students by providing some background information
and captures their interest.
• a task, which describes the final product that has to
be completed by the end of the webquest process.
• the process, which outlines specific steps learners
should follow to complete the assigned task.

Introduction to Webquests 9
 Structural Parts of a Webquest (2/2)
• a list of resources mainly from the Internet for
learners to find relevant information for the
completion of the assigned task.
• evaluation charts for students to measure their
performance.
• a conclusion which sums up and reminds learners
about what they have learned and more importantly
it encourages them to extend the experience to
other domains.

Introduction to Webquests 10
 Webquest as scaffolding
A webquest is a scaffolded learning structure
that uses links to essential resources on the web
and an authentic task to motivate students’
investigation of a central, open-ended question,
development of individual expertise and
participation in a final group process that
attempts to transform newly acquired
information into a more sophisticated
understanding.
Introduction to Webquests 11
 The Best webquests
• Inspire students to see richer thematic
relationships exploring web resources.
• Facilitate a contribution to the real world of
learning.
• Reflect on their metagognitive processes.
(March, 2003)

Introduction to Webquests 12
 A real webquest…
“… can create an authentic microworld where
pupils are engaged to the understanding and
exploration of real issues both independently
and collaboratively by taking on authentic roles,
sharing their beliefs, opinions and values to
solve a real problem. In this way, they assume
ownership in their learning.” (Kundu and Bain,
2006)

Introduction to Webquests 13
 What learners are asked to do
Learners are required:
• to collaborate as it is natural in the real world in
order to respond to the requirements of an authentic
task,
• to collect information from the internet and relate it
to their existing knowledge base of language/s and
the world,
• to process and transform selected information into
something else and to make sense of the new
knowledge and experience.
Introduction to Webquests 14
 Learning by doing… and more
The webquest learning experience goes beyond the
concept of learning by just doing and is considered
inseparable from social practice from participating
in social interactions… Children develop socially as
they continually transform the circumstances of
their environment, working jointly (Kundu and Bain,
2006).
Webquests promote learning in context (Laborda,
2009).

Introduction to Webquests 15
 Cooperative learning (1/2)
Webquests incorporate all the critical attributes
of cooperative learning which are:
• positive interdependence with respect to the
task, resources, roles and rewards,
• face-to-face interaction providing assistance
for students to complete the task.

Introduction to Webquests 16
 Cooperative learning (2/2)
• individual accountability for the completion
of the task making pupils aware that individual
work has a direct impact on the quality of the
final product (Hwee-Hwang et al, 2002: 3),
• small-group and interpersonal skills
developed through collaboration,
• group-self evaluation allowing pupils along
with their teachers to monitor progress and
achievement.
Introduction to Webquests 17
The role of teachers in the design of
Webquests
 Teachers need… (1/2)
• to use high quality authentic and interesting
web resources.
• to orchestrate both the resources and the
pupils.
• to secure access to a computer lab.

Introduction to Webquests 19
 Teachers need… (2/2)
• to take care of the class dynamics by creating
the groups collaboratively with students in
terms of their linguistic competences and
electronic literacies.
• to make students understand how important
it is to be accountable individually and within
the groups.
• to choose an engaging topic.

Introduction to Webquests 20
 The Webquest task under Keller’s
ARCS filter
The webquest task:
• should get students’ Attention,
• its topic should be Relevant to their needs, interests
and motives,
• should inspire pupils’ Confidence in achieving
success through effective support/scaffolding at all
critical steps of the process,
• should leave both pupils and the teacher after its
completion with a sense of Satisfaction in their
accomplishment otherwise none would be engaged.
Introduction to Webquests 21
 Authentic Tasks
Consequently,
tasks should be: Real
Rich
• real,
• rich and
Relevant
• relevant.

Effective Webquest Task

Introduction to Webquests 22
 References (1/2)
Carvalho, A. A. A. (2007). Guest Editor’s Introduction. Interactive Educational
Multimedia, 15.
Dodge, B. (1995, 1997). Some Thoughts About Webquests. Retrieved
November, 28, 2014.
Dodge, B. (2001). FOCUS: Five rules for writing a great WebQuest. Learning
and leading with technology, 28(8), 6-9.
Dodge, B., (2002). Webquest Taskonomy: A Taxonomy of Tasks. Retrieved
November, 28, 2014.
Sim, H. H., Lee, C. K. E., Chang, C. H., & Kho, E. M. (2004). Exploring the use of
WebQuests in the learning of social studies content. Teaching and
Learning,25(2), 223-232.

Introduction to Webquests 23
 Reference (2/2)
Kundu, R., & Bain, C. (2006). Webquests: Utilizing technology in a
constructivist manner to facilitate meaningful preservice learning. Art
Education, 6-11.
Laborda, J., G. (2009). Using Webquests for oral communication in English as a
foreign language for Tourism Studies, Educational Technology and
Society, 12(1): 258-270.
March, T. (2003). What WebQuests are (really). Retrieved November, 28,
2014.
March, T. (2005). The new www: Whatever, whenever, wherever. Educational
Leadership, 63(4), 14.

Introduction to Webquests 24
 Financing
• The present educational material has been developed as part of the
educational work of the instructor.
• The project “Open Academic Courses of the University of Athens” has only
financed the reform of the educational material.
• The project is implemented under the operational program “Education
and Lifelong Learning” and funded by the European Union (European
Social Fund) and National Resources

Introduction to Webquests 25
Notes
Note on History of Published Version
The present work is the edition 1.0

Introduction to Webquests 27
 Reference Note
Copyright National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , Bessie
Mitsikopoulou 2014. Bessie Mitsikopoulou. “Webquests
in Foreign Language Teaching”. Edition: 1.0. Athens 2014. Available at:
http://opencourses.uoa.gr/courses/ENL10/.

Introduction to Webquests 28
 Licensing Note
The current material is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
ShareAlike 4.0 International license or later International Edition. The individual works of
third parties are excluded, e.g. photographs, diagrams etc. They are contained therein and
covered under their conditions of use in the section «Use of Third Parties Work Note»

[1] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

As Non-Commercial is defined the use that:

The copyright holder may give to the license holder a separate license to use the work for
commercial use, if requested.

Introduction to Webquests 29
 Preservation Notices
Any reproduction or adaptation of the material should include:
 the Reference Note,
 the Licensing Note,
 the declaration of Notices Preservation,
 the Use of Third Parties Work Note (if available),
together with the accompanied URLs.

Introduction to Webquests 30
Note of use of third parties work (1/2)
This work makes use of the following works:
Image 1: Screenshot of QuestGarden Website, Copyright QuestGarden, Inc.
Image 2: Webquest - Dinosaurs Before Dark, Copyright Beth Szabo, Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike, QuestGarden.
Image 3: Webquest - Using your English, Copyright Karlee Ontiveros, Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike, QuestGarden.
Image 4: Webquest - Ferocious Predator or Soup of the Day?, Copyright
Rebecca Tibbey, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike,
QuestGarden.
Image 5: Screenshot of Zunal Webquest Maker Website, Copyright Zunal.com.
All rights reserved.

Introduction to Webquests 31
Note of use of third parties work (2/2)
Image 6: Webquest - Horror Stories around the World, Copyright Ana Maria
Silva. Permission is granted for others to print/distribute,share,use and
modify this WebQuest for educational, non-commercial purposes as long as
the original authorship is credited. Zunal.com.
Table 1: Based on a table from Carvalho, A. A. A. (2007). Guest Editor’s
Introduction. Interactive Educational Multimedia, 15.

Introduction to Webquests 32