WebQuests: Learners' Learning Expeditions

[Source: Pixabay]

Who would not like to retreat from daily monotonous classroom activities and put on an imaginary costume of a brave sailor and sail their ship through the blue ocean to a mysterious island with the desire of exploring hidden treasures? Could learning ever be that fun?

Imagine, if learning were as enjoyable as travelling to another country, if group work were as thrilling as embarking on an adventure, if class activities were as interesting as solving mysteries, would learners still find school boring? Absolutely not! That is exactly what a WebQuest does. It makes learning more interesting and enjoyable. 

What is a WebQuest?

(Source: www.webquest.com)

WebQuests are online learning resources that can make learning easier and delightful since they include interesting activities that require learners to collect information and conduct their research online. WebQuests are valuable language learning platforms since they facilitate language learning through a reading to writing process via internet and lead to the production of substantial outputs (Kocoglu, 2010). 

WebQuests can adopt different styles and forms and can include a variety of activities. Usually they are divided into a few sections such as, introduction, task, process, evaluation and conclusion. These WebQuests are generally descriptive and include guidelines in details that are sufficient for learners to undertake these activities on their own, however, sometimes teachers may need to guide and facilitate a bit. 

QuestGarden

I love creating WebQuests because it is so much fun! It does not require you to do a lot, if you create your WebQuest on QuestGarden. QuestGarden provides you with a number of templates, you can basically select any template and get to work. The first time it might take you long, but then you will be able to create WebQuests over your lunch break! 

The only drawback of QuestGarden is that its navigation system is not as much advanced as many other educational software, like- the undo button may not work, it will not automatically save your work unless you click on the "save" button, you may not be able to change the format of your fonts easily and copy-pasting is the hardest task of all. Still, QuestGarden is more convenient and better organized in comparison to other WebQuest creators. 

Check out the WebQuest that I created on QuestGarden: A Walk Down the History Lane.

There are many other WebQuests that are available on QuestGarden, An excellent example of a learner-friendly and learning-inducing WebQuest is given below.

An English Holiday

This WebQuest is all about travelling and exploring. The purpose is to enable the learners to learn more about England through creating a travel brochure. The task involves group work  and each of the group members has a particular role to play and they have different interests. It also has a touch of a story-telling pattern to it which makes it even more intriguing.

Layout and Navigation

The layout of this WebQuest is simple and well-organized. There are very few pictures but elaborate descriptions. The guidelines are given on different pages in a very well-designed and well-organized manner. Since the guidelines are given on different pages with appropriate labelling, it is very easy to navigate. The navigation controls are also easy to understand and can be operated smoothly without facing many troubles. 

Target Group of Learners

The target group of learners are fifth graders, which means the WebQuest has been designed for young learners. The interactive description and the story-telling way of giving instructions are very appropriate for learners of this age range. It also provides a lot of support, such as, website links and a detailed guideline about how to do the task, so that the young learners can do the task mostly autonomously.

Content and Language

The best feature of this WebQuest is that it mentions the renowned places of England and provides a particular website link for each of the places so that the students do not get confused when confronted by the flood of information available online. It poses a few questions about England on the very first page creating an eagerness in students to explore more. The second page contains a brief description of the task and the description is given in a very friendly and interactive way.

On the next page, the roles of each group members are described very specifically. The stages of the task are also mentioned elaborately. It further provides the students with a detailed guideline about how to create the brochure once they are done with their research and have collected necessary information. 

The WebQuest further includes a sample rubric for evaluation with detailed and coherent criteria to mark students' performance. Overall, this is a highly enjoyable activity which involves learners in learning in an unconventional but exciting way.

Limitations

There are a few limitations of this Webquest that could be spotted, such as:

1. Although the detailed description and elaborate guidelines are indeed crucial for students as young as fifth-graders, but too many guidelines can be monotonous and uninteresting. Even adult students would like to see fewer guidelines, young learners in that place, would not be willing to do an autonomous task as WebQuest happily following too many guidelines.
2. Since the target students are fifth graders, therefore, the webQuest could be more colourful and full of pictures. I think more pictures, a colourful layout, maps or animated characters, video descriptions would have been great mediums of giving instructions that could make the whole activity more interesting and convincing.

How Can English Teachers Use a WebQuest?

English teachers can use WebQuests in many different ways. Some of these are as following:

Flipped Classroom

WebQuests can be used by language teachers as effective materials for flipped classroom. Students do not need their teachers' constant help to work on a WebQuest. They can be assigned a WebQuest as flipped classroom homework and can be instructed to share their findings with the whole class during the next lesson. It can also be used inside the classroom with the teacher monitoring the activity but not giving them constant instructions rather letting them understand the task on their own. 

Vocabulary, Grammar and Research-based Activities

WebQuests can be used as activities to improve vocabulary knowledge, awareness of sentence structures, ways of describing people, things, places and teamwork skills. It at the same time can be used to enable learners to engage in research, critical thinking and problem solving autonomously. Learners in this way will become more aware of the metacognitive process and skills.

For Learners of All Levels

It might seem that since WebQuests include fun activities, they are meant to be used only in young learner classrooms. In fact, WebQuests can be designed for learners of all levels and ages. A carefully and thoughtfully designed WebQuest can work equally well in a young learner classroom as well as in an adult learner classroom.

How to Create WebQuests?

Creating WebQuests is not a Herculean task. Any teacher can create their own WebQuests following a few simple steps. Creating a WebQuest is not only for improving learners' learning experiences, but also significant for improving teachers' knowledge of using online tools to facilitate learning. Using a WebQuest and creating one could be helpful for the individual development of both learners and the teacher. To make learning more authentic, learners' contexts should be kept in mind and while designing WebQuests contents that link back to learners' individual contexts should be included.

There are many tutorials on creating a WebQuest on the internet. There is also a WebQuest on making a WebQuest! To check it out, click here. 

Also, the following video illustrates the steps of designing a WebQuest elaborately.

The Learning Adventure

In short, WebQuests are powerful tools that can facilitate learning, make the learning activities more engaging and promote learners' autonomy. It is a fun learning task, not only for students but for teachers as well. Studies suggest that, both teachers and students enjoy using WebQuests since it is an innovative way of engaging in the teaching and learning process (Gaskill, McNulty & Brooks, 2006, p. 136). 

It is always a good idea to try something creative and innovative in classroom. So if you are a fun-loving teacher, looking for an opportunity of doing some interesting activities in your class, you can choose WebQuests to do something exciting with your learners today. 

References: 

1.  Gaskill, M., McNulty, A., & Brooks, D. W. (2006). Learning from webquests. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 15(2), 133-136. Retrieved on 31 January, 2019 from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10956-006-9005-7

2. Kocoglu, Z. (2010). WebQuests in EFL reading/writing classroom. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 3524-3527. Retrieved on 31 January, 2019 from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042810005859