Web Quests

During this week, I have been reading quite a bit about creating and using web quests in the classroom. I have heard of web quests in the past, however, I, as an educator, have never been taught how to use one or create one.

Web Quests are used take students through a process where they are given the opportunity to take learning into their own hands. There are seven parts of a web quests and they are: introduction, task, process, evaluation, conclusion, credit, and teacher page. Web Quests are broken up in seven parts so that students are able to follow the quest in order for them to actually learn from the experience and not being overwhelmed by the process. The point is not to confuse the students or to see if they can figure it out, however, it is for them to be able to navigate in order to learn and produce a desired result.

Initially, I was overwhelmed by the topics that could be chosen in order to create a web quest. After thinking about it I realized there are so many topics in math that I believe are overlooked and I have a great opportunity one quarter out of the school year called core plus where I am able to teach or remediate basic math skills. I chose to focus on check writing and budgeting.

After I decided on my topic, I realized that I could not only have it to be a web quest but that they can use another form of technology by inserting and organizing their results into a power point. They could then show their peers their power point and given an oral presentation. The students could evaluate all power points and reflect on each groups budget by comparing and contrasting salaries, education, and the life that each group chose to lead.

While web quests are very benefical for students if done correctly, they are very time consuming and so much more goes into creating one than I anticipated although I look forward to creating more web quests in the future and my hope is that the more practice I have creating them, the more beneficial they will be for my students.