As defined by Bernie Dodge, San Diego State University and creator of this concept, "A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation."

Completion of the pre-assignment is critical to the success of this training.  For successful completion of this assignment, participants will received an additional .2 hour for a total of 2.0 hours technology CEU’s.   Some counties may require pre-approval to receive credit. 

• Visit the website WebQuest Reading and Training Materials and read the article by Bernie Dodge, Some Thoughts About WebQuests.  List and define the six critical attributes of WebQuests on six different pages in a word processing program (you will use this file in the next activity.)
• Enter the section Building Blocks for WebQuests from WebQuest Reading and Training Materials and explore each of the six essential components of a WebQuest.  Read each section and visit at least one referenced site for each of the components.  Use the pages created on the file in the first section to make notes of additional information and ideas discovered during this activity.
• Be aware of these WebQuest reading and training materials as you plan your WebQuest:
  • Taskonomy: A Taxonomy of Tasks Describes 12 categories for describing what  you ask learners to do, 11 of  which can lead to higher level thinking.
  • Taskonomy in Pictures Mary Vieira's terrific set of clickable image maps that show the important characteristics of each task type. 
  • Design Process A flowchart showing the steps involved in designing a WebQuest.
  • Process  Checklist   A list for self- or peer-review of the Process portion of your WebQuest.
  • A Rubric for Evaluating WebQuests Is your  WebQuest as good as it could be? This rubric allows you to score it along eight dimensions to see where it might be improved.
  • Fine Points Describes 14 little things you can do to improve the aesthetics and professionalism of your WebQuest (or any) pages.
• For the WebQuest in you application:
  • List the North Carolina Standard Course of Study Goals and Objectives that will tie into the WebQuest
  • Collect a variety of resources that will enhance the WebQuest (ex: textbooks, reference books, and URLs for websites (participants may wish to bring a bookmark file of URLs)
• Netscape Communicator will be provided on the computers in the lab at most sites for web page authoring. If you are familiar with and prefer to use another piece of web authoring software please feel free to bring that on a personal laptop. 

___    Two printed copies of your notes on the six critical attributes of WebQuests
            (include name on printed copy that will be submitted for credit)

___    WebQuest Topic and related North Carolina Standard Course of Study

___    Resource materials for unit of study

___    Optional - laptops, diskettes, and web authoring tools

11/19/05 04:47 PM