Sandra’s ICT Blog

On finding out that i am going to actually make my own WebQuest in ED4134 i am completely freaked. After merely being introduced to WebQuests i cannot fathom how i am going to put a fullt-fledged WebQuest of my own together. To get more of a feel for WebQuests i decided to completely ‘the WebQuest about WebQuests’ (who named this! how lame! lol). I suppose i can conclude that after spending my precious time completing this WebQuest i am starting to get more of a feel for the elements of a ‘good’ WebQuest as opposed to a poor one. This little tutorial greatly helped me with the portfolio item that i just completed! I think that once you complete a WebQuest and then analyse one you tend to take for granted the amount of work and effort that has been put in (which kind of scares me, for i dont want to complete a WebQuest that i would rate as poorly as the ’shocking sharks’ one i examined). I want to be able to create a WebQuest that facilitates inquiry based learning, guided discovery and problem based learning so that students will be able to go beyond, completely extending themselves intellectually as to a specific topic.

According to Mark Lee “the WebQuest model focuses on having students use Web-based resources supplied by the teacher/WebQuest designer, as opposed to having students find resources for themselves.” On reflection of my primary school experience i recall the majority of WebQuests that i engaged in being more of the comprehension-rote learning style, not having me find my own resources and such. In regards to Mark Lee’s comment there are both advantages and disadvantages to the modern WebQuest approach. Firstly, in regards to advantages with students having to use the resources they have questions posed to them which cannot be answered simply by viewing a site and regurgitating the information that it provides. Also, by using the resources higher order thinking is facilitated so that students are able to fufil the criterion of analysing, synthesising and evaluating through a simple internet task sooner rather than later. Further i think that by ‘using’ resources rather than having to sift through all the endless crap provided by search engines e.g. AltaVista this saves ample time that can be dedicated to analysing the information provided. Though in regards to disadvantages and this approach i think that children should be able to have the choice to find internet sites that may be better suited to what they are seeking out, as some teachers may not be the best judges of relevant and accurate sites in relation to information.

I sincerely do not think that WebQuests are suitable for for all types of learning situations and scenarios as i tend to feel that for younger grades in primary especially a more hands on approach is needed for some tasks. I dont think that young children can particularly focus long enough on a task to be able to complete a WebQuest thoroughly enough, especially in the hot weather. I think that WebQuests do have their merits but in my future classrooms they would be a rarity because lets face it, they take quite a while to make and they dont exactly develop the motor skills that young children need to. I believe WebQuests would be more predominant amongst the secondary year groups rather than primary schoolers, where it is more about comprehension as compared to high order analysing, synthesising and evaluating.

 (Advanced). How do WebQuests support Constructivist learning?  According to Funderstanding, “Constructivism is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that, by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live in. Each of us generates our own “rules” and “mental models,” which we use to make sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences.” I think that by understanding constructivism one can link WebQuests to the Constructivist approach as by taking part in ‘using’ resources one can analyse, synthesis and evaluate, all constructivist approaches rather than regurgitate.

Mark Lee proposed the question: What is meant by scaffolding (c.f. the work of Lev Vygotsky), and why is it important within the context of a WebQuest? To be honest i had no idea what scaffolding actually was, that was until i did a little research of my own. I found out that scaffolding is defined as “A process by which adults or more able peers provide supportive structures to help children learn and play. Scaffolding occurs at a time when children are faced with a challenge that they can solve with a simple hint, question, or prompt”, thankyou google! So therefore scaffolding is important to WebQuests in general beacause a WebQuest provides a structure that allows children to interactively learn while under the illusion of playing on a site. By ‘using’ resources and ‘transforming’ and ‘configuring’ answers from the information they are unknowingly participating in Vygotsky’s notion of scaffolding…

Anyway to end on a good note… i finished my portfolio item yay! sadly the Newcastle Knights lost to Parramatta!