Learning about Webquests

I think that the activity we did with webquests was helpful in a lot of ways. First off, I learned what a webquest was, what it looked like, and how we use it. One aspect of the activity that I thought went well was the collaboration between my group. We were pretty open-minded and efficient about delegating roles. When working in groups, I think it's very important to be open-minded about the different possibilities that can take place, as well as the different kinds of people you'll have in your group. I think that as a group we communicated pretty well. Furthermore, I think that sharing our information and feedback and being able to see things through another person's perspective was insightful. As a teacher, being able to see different activities through multiple perspectives will help me plan things better by not being "stuck" in my fixed perspective.

There really wasn't anything that went badly in our activity. I guess my biggest complaint is that I was the Efficiency Expert. It was a little challenging in that I myself have trouble being efficient. At the same time though, being the Efficiency Expert helped me realize how I would use time efficiency and productivity in my classroom. Another drawback or con was that there were certain web quests that asked for so much effort and attention, such as Growing Garden Greens. I felt that even if the activity was used for older grades, it would still require a lot of attention. Maybe in the future there could be "better" examples of a webquest.

I love web quests in the fact that they can really be customized and tailored for any subject and for any specific event. As a teacher, I would create and use a webquest for different topics. For instance, I would create a webquest for reading in which a group of students would be assigned to work together, read texts, and then answer some critical thinking questions. I really liked the webquest on the Underground Railroad, and I think the set-up and method is very effective for a history or social studies activity. For younger grades, I could create a webquest for colors or any activity that required them to name things, places, or people. Like I said, you can use webquests for just about any grade level and task. It really just depends on what area you want to focus on and how you form your own webquest. 


If I were to complete this activity again, I would probably take on another role, not just because there might be one closer to my interest, but also to see things from a different perspective. Also, I would probably try to determine what grades corresponded the best to all the different webquests.  Furthermore, I would probably spend more time exploring the teacher pages rather than being so fixated on the actual webquests.