WIT 2003

General Strategies

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Access to Technology:

Click here to evaluate your technology situation:
 

If you answered yes to a majority of the questions, you most likely have enough access to technology in order to implement your webquest.  Strategies for implementing a WebQuest with varying degrees of technology access can be found at WebQuests for Learning.

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Prior to WebQuest Implementation:

• Do a "dry run."  Perform the WebQuest yourself.  Then, have someone else (a friend, colleague, family member) perform the WebQuest.  They will be able to tell you if the instructions are clear, if there are any broken links, and how long the WebQuest took to perform.

• Poll your students to find out who has computer access at home, and who has internet access at home (you may be surprised at how many do).  This will not only indicate a potential higher skill level for those with at-home access, it will also save lab/computer time as the students may be able to perform some of your WebQuest at home.

• If you answered no to a majority of the three questions at the end of the worksheet (Student technology skill level), you will need to technologically prepare your students for working with computers.  If students do not have the skills necessary to perform basic computer functions, both they and you may get frustrated performing the WebQuest.   It will save time in a lab situation if you can go over the skills in the classroom first and then partner the more technologically advanced students with those who are less experienced.

• Determine how tech-savvy your students are.  Ask the following questions:  Who knows how to turn on/shut down a computer?  How many of you know what a browser is?  How do you save your work to the hard drive, to a disk?  How do you enter a URL for a website?  How do you cut and paste?

• Click on the following quiz links (from "Learning Web") to take basic computer skills and technology quizzes that you can then give to your students to assess their knowledge base prior to implementing your WebQuest.  Once you know what your students know about computers and the internet, you can determine how much prep work you will have to do before beginning your WebQuest, and thus save valuable computer/computer lab time.  (Use the "Back" button on the browser to return to this page.)

If, after having your students take these (or similar) quizzes, you discover that they have deficiencies, it will serve you well to go over with them the skills they will need to effectively follow your WebQuest.  You can either instruct them in the skills (such as saving to disk, typing URL's in to the location bar, etc...) or perhaps a technology teacher or lab personnel can give them the necessary tutorials.  Either will be time well spent and possibly spare you and your students frustration during your WebQuest.  Finally, consider giving the students a handout that outlines how to perform basic computer functions to which they can refer when they are at the computer.

• Prior to allowing your students to begin on the WebQuest, take the time in the classroom to prepare your students.  Link the WebQuest to previously covered material, their activities in other classes and/or the world they know.  Go over the expectations for the WebQuest and their conduct during it.  Discuss with them the timeframe and what to do if they encounter difficulties with any aspect of the WebQuest or its implementation.

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During the WebQuest:

• Make sure that the students are paired or grouped as you would like them.
• Make sure that the computers being used are working and that the students are starting at the appropriate place
• When students are in need of assistance, in order to minimize noise, try the following:
• Have students place a brightly colored cup on top of their monitor
• Have students raise their hand
• Have students quietly ask their partner/neighbor for assistance before trying to get your attention

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Post-WebQuest Activities:

• Oral presentations.  Students can present what they learned to their classmates (especially useful if groups of students have worked on different WebQuests), to their peers (in a History or Science Fair setting), to their parents (at open houses), or to the community (for Service Learning opportunities).
• Peer/Self Evaluations.  Students should be able to say whether or not they and their classmates have accomplished the goals defined by the WebQuest.  Consider using this form of evaluation as part of their overall grade.
• WebQuest Evaluation.  Have the students tell you what they thought of the WebQuest.  Give them an opportunity to offer feedback and give suggestions as to how the WebQuest could be improved.  They may find errors, broken links, etc... that have been thus far overlooked.
• Encourage your students to make cross-curricular connections.  Find out what they have done in other classes that tie in with your WebQuest and use this to reinforce your lesson.

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Working Around Technical Difficulties:

If one or more computers or the internet access are not working, have these back-up plans ready.

• Have students work in centers.  While one group is using the computer, another can do library research, a third pre-writing and a fourth group discussion.  Rotate to each station on a schedule.
• Print out the required web pages ahead of time for students to use.
• Plan an extended or extra visit to the computer lab.

If the sites to which the students are to go are not working, the following strategies may be useful.

• Have a prepared list of alternate sites for the students to access.
• Instruct the students to go to reliable, general research or learning websites such as National Geographic, LibrarySpot, Encyclopaedia Britannica, etc...

If you planned on getting into the computer lab, but cannot do so, here are some ideas.

• Have a related back-up lesson plan ready to put into place in the classroom.  This can include necessary vocabulary work, KWL (what I already know, what I want to know, what I learned) strategies, preparation for the presentation of the results of the WebQuest once they can perform it, etc...
• If you or your school have laptops available, consider having them on hand for classroom use.
• Have some "traditional" sources of information about your WebQuest topic available--books, magazine articles, a film, and/or pictures can all be used to stimulate discussion and related activities.

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