Working with Information

Tips Brochure WebQuest

Tips for managing WebQuests in the classroom

Introduction

WebQuests are ideal for teachers to use when they are planning engaged learning sessions for their classes. They are usually ready for use, with good ideas for collaborative learning. Does this mean that all WebQuests lessons will be a guaranteed success?

What can teachers do, or not do, that will quite likely sabotage the best-designed WebQuest? Are there tips that you could give a teacher to ensure that a WebQuest lesson is successful and enjoyable for the learners?

The Task

You are part of a team of four educators that has been invited by Microsoft Partners in Learning to develop a support brochure for teachers who will be using WebQuests. This brochure will be printed and packaged with the Partners in Learning CD. It must provide, in a nutshell, the most essential tips for classroom management of WebQuests. Owing to the lack of space you will have to choose your words very carefully and ensure that you provide only the most important and useful tips.

You can use Microsoft Word or Microsoft Publisher to produce this brochure.

The Process

Allocate roles to each of your team members.
Each member should first read his/her role description.
1. Organiser
2. Social engineer
3. Assessor
4. Processor
Meet as a group and discuss the task.
1. Clearly state what each member understands by the task and develop a consensus on what is required.
2. Each group member should explain how he/she will be contributing to this task and the team should endorse this role.
Split into separate roles and collaborate with other groups in the class to research and clarify the essential tips in each section of the brochure.
1. You should use this collaboration for finding information and discussing.
2. You do not need to reach a consensus with other group members.
Return to your groups and propose specific content for the brochure. Explain why you have chosen this content.

Evaluation

Criteria	Description	4	3	2	1
Collaboration across groups	You have cooperated well with your partners in other groups during the jigsaw sessions. You were prepared to listen to their ideas and share your ideas. You developed a good cooperative strategy to work efficiently in the restricted time.
Communication skills with the group	You participated well in your group. You were a good listener and expressed your ideas effectively. You were willing to work hard at reaching a consensus.
Synthesis of information	You were able to extract the most relevant information from the resources for the purpose of this brochure.
Accuracy of content	The information that you placed in the brochure was concise, accurate and sound advice.
Presentation of brochure	The brochure's parts form a logical unit together and the final presentation is professional and devoid of errors.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have produced a very useful resource for all WebQuest teachers. At the same time you probably have learnt new things about both participating in and managing WebQuests yourself.