WEBQUESTS—The Good, The Bad, and the Phenomenal

WEBQUESTS—The Good, The Bad, and the Phenomenal

If you have not yet had the opportunity to peruse the WebQuests for our assignments, I bid you good luck! I found all different types of web-based lessons, and in my opinion, most of them were adequate, per my rubric. However, there were two that need to be discussed. The first WebQuest falls into the exceptional category, while the second, well, you’ll see.

I found a WebQuest entitled: Zero Tolerance . It was created by two men; Rodd Lucier and Mike Taylor. They work in the Canada Catholic School system. The link is: http://www.ldcsb.on.ca/schools/cfe/rpt/RPT_Zero_Tolerance/student.html#
The description is simple. “Bullying is a problem that knows no boundaries. From schoolyards to computer chatrooms, young people deal with a wide variety of bullying situations. What can be done? Your class has been asked to learn about bullying both in the past, and in the present, and to create a one minute public service announcement that can help to reduce the incidence of bullying in your community.” I thought that the idea was excellent, so I went in to look around. I was amazed at the content. NONE of the links were broken, even though it was published six years ago. They included their contact information, the ability for hearing impaired students participate, and an online survey at the end for students for feedback on the project to their teachers. Zero Tolerance allowed for investigation, new discovery, and reflection. It was original, accurate and attractive. The navigation was easy, and promoted further inquiry into other questions. It scored the highest possible score on my rubric.

In contrast, I located a WebQuest entitled State the Facts of Colonial America by Blimie Guttman. http://bhihistory.4t.com/ The purpose of this particular WebQuest, "State" the Facts: Life in Colonial America, is to enrich the student's knowledge of life in the colonies. By researching the different aspects of life in the colonies and how each colony affected the state of today, the students enhance their knowledge and experience it hands-on through the creation of time capsules and performance of presentations that portray life in the colonies. The students are made to feel as if they are traveling back in time to the colonial era. It was submitted November 21, 2004. In order to find this one, you have to look at the side of the page. The navigation to this site was interesting, to say the least.

When I clicked on the link to the WebQuest, the first thing I noticed was the advertising. Advertising? On a WebQuest for students? Yes! There was inappropriate advertising on the introduction page! Not only was it inappropriate, but there was a picture of a girl in a bikini! Additionally, the background chosen was very LOUD and distracting. On the last page, there were so many advertisements that I could barely see the content. It did promote investigation, and led to some questioning on the part of the student, but overall, it gave me a huge headache. If the students can get through the loud advertising they might learn something. But why should anyone have to put up with that?

To sum it up, there are many resources available on-line to help our students become 21st century learners. As with anything, however, it is up to us to preview the material before we tell our students to use it. Remember, just because a WebQuest is published on a teacher site or teacher page, by a teacher, does not make it quality. Use your best judgment, and your student will thank you in the long run.