It is interesting to me in this course exactly how much new information I have gleaned that I was completely unaware of.
Even though I consider myself a complete and total Digital Native, I have never in my life even heard of the term "webquest" before last week. You may be wondering at this point, "what in God's name is a webquest??"
Bernie Dodge, of San Diego State University, is generally credited with being the original creator of the webquest concept. He defines it quite adequately as an "inquiry oriented
activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources
on the internet, optionally supplemented with videoconferencing."
To put it simply, the teacher is basically designing a small quest or "treasure hunt of information" that students will complete by searching on the World Wide Web.
To those who are intrigued by this concept, you may be wondering what the teacher's role is throughout the whole webquest. Basically, the teacher can choose a ready-made webquest for the students, or he/she can design a completely new one by choosing out of the many choices available on the internet. My personal favorite was Zunal.com. The teacher can then decide exactly how much information to provide the students with and how much to let the students find on their own.
Which brings me to my next point. The role of the students. Well, basically, the students will be doing most of the work. After all, the webquest IS for them. Webquests are a prime example of the kind of task that could be used in a task-based or "project-based" language learning approach to teaching. The students will be accomplishing activities and tasks that are relevant to their own lives, all while being exposed to many instances of authentic language.
In most cases, the students will be working in groups and collaborating with each other in order to accomplish the tasks. Completing the webquest, in most cases, is often a case of team work. It also requires a high level of critical thinking. The students should not be spoon fed every bit of information but must search for what they need themselves, employing their own faculties of judgement and criticisms to decide on what to use or not use.
As a future EFL teacher, I am quite intrigued by webquests. While I can clearly see their inherent value, if asked whether or not I would use them with my future students, I would have to answer, "it depends." My answer depends on a lot of factors. Would my students be interested in the first place? Would they enjoy the webquest and learn from it, or would they think that I'm just being lazy and want to waste their time? Would I be allowed to try a webquest on my students? Or would I be brutally rebuffed from even attempting it from the school/government administration?
If all these factors were in my favor, then I probably would indeed use webquests during lessons.
Even though I consider myself a complete and total Digital Native, I have never in my life even heard of the term "webquest" before last week. You may be wondering at this point, "what in God's name is a webquest??"
Bernie Dodge, of San Diego State University, is generally credited with being the original creator of the webquest concept. He defines it quite adequately as an "inquiry oriented
activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources
on the internet, optionally supplemented with videoconferencing."
To put it simply, the teacher is basically designing a small quest or "treasure hunt of information" that students will complete by searching on the World Wide Web.
To those who are intrigued by this concept, you may be wondering what the teacher's role is throughout the whole webquest. Basically, the teacher can choose a ready-made webquest for the students, or he/she can design a completely new one by choosing out of the many choices available on the internet. My personal favorite was Zunal.com. The teacher can then decide exactly how much information to provide the students with and how much to let the students find on their own.
Which brings me to my next point. The role of the students. Well, basically, the students will be doing most of the work. After all, the webquest IS for them. Webquests are a prime example of the kind of task that could be used in a task-based or "project-based" language learning approach to teaching. The students will be accomplishing activities and tasks that are relevant to their own lives, all while being exposed to many instances of authentic language.
In most cases, the students will be working in groups and collaborating with each other in order to accomplish the tasks. Completing the webquest, in most cases, is often a case of team work. It also requires a high level of critical thinking. The students should not be spoon fed every bit of information but must search for what they need themselves, employing their own faculties of judgement and criticisms to decide on what to use or not use.
As a future EFL teacher, I am quite intrigued by webquests. While I can clearly see their inherent value, if asked whether or not I would use them with my future students, I would have to answer, "it depends." My answer depends on a lot of factors. Would my students be interested in the first place? Would they enjoy the webquest and learn from it, or would they think that I'm just being lazy and want to waste their time? Would I be allowed to try a webquest on my students? Or would I be brutally rebuffed from even attempting it from the school/government administration?
If all these factors were in my favor, then I probably would indeed use webquests during lessons.
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