Lesson 6: The Wonders of WebQuests!

In lesson 6 of Educational Technology I have learned all about Webquests.  Before this lesson, I have to say that I had never heard of such a thing.  Our assignment was to create a Webquest that the age group of students we plan on teaching would benefit.  So first, I did the reading on Webquests.  By doing the reading on Webquests, I understood them as putting assignments and learning activities on a certain subject in different steps and categories.  I believe that many Webquests start with a subject and slowly provide more challenging “activities” for the student to do.  The reading that was given to us on WebQuests described them as scaffolding learning.  This refers to a teacher taking what the student already knows, and then introducing new concepts using the student’s prior knowledge.   I believe that by doing this, it can give the student the ability to learn at their own pace.  No matter the student or learning style, all students will have the same activities to do, but will be able to go at their own pace and always be able to go back and look at what they previously did.

            Before I started my own Webquest, I researched various Webquests done by other teachers on the Internet.  I found everything from Webquests on the Solar System, to ones teaching about Fractions, and others about Literature.  After going over five or more Webquests at all different grade levels, I was so happy to know that absolutely any subject or grade level could benefit from one of these. 

            I started my own Webquest a couple weeks ago, and boy,  am I glad!  This was a very time consuming thing to do.  It wasn’t difficult to do, however it took a little while to get the hang of the process.  I was really pleased that there were many examples on the Quest Garden website that I could go over and model against my own.  I chose to do a WebQuest on Rhyming.  I did this because my plan is to teach Kindergarten through 2^nd grade.  Rhyming would be a very good subject that students at this age level would be introduced to.  Throughout my Webquest, the student will be introduced to what “rhyming” means, given a picture matching game of rhyming words, and then two Rhyming games to play on the Internet.  I am confident that after a student would do my WebQuest, they would be very proficient in identifying Rhyming words.  Below is a link to my very own Webquest: 

http://questgarden.com/109/25/1/100920183730/

I think the biggest challenge in creating my WebQuest was just getting the concept on how to make them.  I felt a lot of me making the WebQuest was a lot of trial and error.  I would make a page, and then Preview it and have to change it all.  After inputting the first activity it was much simpler for me to do the other two.  I know that the next WebQuest that I make will be a lot easier to make since I have experience with it now.  I really enjoyed this lesson and feel as though it will be a communication/learning tool that I will use in my future classroom.  Thank you Educational Technology!