CREATE YOUR OWN WEBQUESTS
by Bonnie Bruno
Stepping onto the Web for the very first time can either feel like a researcher’s dream – or worst nightmare. There you’ll discover an informational smorgasbord with an ever-growing tangle of inroads (search engines), each claiming to possess the fastest, most efficient route to the data you need. A child in a hurry to write a school report may feel overwhelmed, unless he plans his topic carefully before heading to the computer. Admittedly, it takes organization and determination to resist the pull of those inevitable detours – time-hogging side trips to related topics. If, on the other hand, your family is simply seeking some educational fun, have you considered Webquests – online expeditions suited to your kids’ ages and interests?
Say, for instance, your first-grader is big on bugs. Sure, you could send him to one or two insect-related websites, a stack of library books, or to your neighbor’s uncle, the entomologist. If you’re into gleaning every click’s worth out of your computer, though, you could create a customized web adventure that your little bug lover will want to visit often and share with friends, too. Webquests are nothing new; the concept has been floating around for years, and is commonly associated with interactive school projects like KidProj.
According to Bernie Dodge, Professor of Educational Technology at San Diego State University, the ideal Webquest is made up of several attributes, including: an introduction to the topic at hand; a purpose or goal that is reachable; and some guidelines on how to organize the information. A family genealogy Webquest, for example, could be built around a timeline of data and family photos, immigration details; bits of family trivia; and Weblinks to various countries and cities where branches of the family originated. How much or how little you delve into a particular topic is up to you.
To begin a Webquest, first decide if you’d rather create a family project, or individual Webquests for each member of your family. List pertinent keywords to use at a meta search engine like Metacrawler or Mamma . A meta search engine will send your request for information to a dozen or more major search engines at a time, saving you time and energy. Next, decide how you’re going to present the resulting URLs, or Website addresses. Will you build a Webpage with graphics, sound, and URLs to map out your Webquest? Will you make it accessible for visitors, or just create a Webquest directory for your eyes only? If you choose the latter, create a directory on your hard drive with topical sub-folders. Assign each Webquest a unique name. Make your format as elaborate or simple as you like. If you don’t want to mess with HTML, don’t. Use a word processor and simply list selected URLs, much the way you bookmark favorite Websites so you can return to them later. Handle your URLs much the way you plan a trip’s itinerary, and store them in a logical sequence that works best for you.
Compile a list of questions to lend challenge to your Webquest, too. What do you hope to learn? How can you apply it to life away from the computer? What types of hands-on projects could enhance your Webquest? How might you connect with other families (either on-line or off) to share and compare findings?
A family Webquest is like an interactive treasure chest – a boredom buster that can be opened added to regularly as you run across additional information. Once you experience the excitement of building your first Webquest, I doubt that you’ll stop at just one.