Web Quests

Early in 1995, Bernie Dodge and Tom March of San Diego University defined a WebQuest as

"an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web."

Their intent was to free students from the searching by providing necessary resources in one place, allowing students to focus on higher-order, critical thinking skills. Of course, over the years, searching has become much easier. And in today's Web-based society, Internet search skills are critical! Still, a well-designed WebQuest can offer students sites to begin their information search, help in the searching, and maximize student computer time in the classroom.

Not every WebQuest is educationally sound, however. Some are no different from automated workbook pages. In our quest to build contextual learning environments that offer students authentic, open-ended, complex, higher-order tasks, we have found the instructional methodology of problem-based learning lends itself to achieving these goals.

Click here to download a copy of IDE's Quality Web Quest Scale.

For a course on how to design a Web Quest or to check out our Global Issues Web Quest, join the IDE Portal.

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