Class 36: Designing and writing components of introduction, tasks and process for your webQuest

Today we will focus on designing your introduction, tasks and process for your webQuest.
Now that you have an idea for your WebQuest, how will you design the entire process section for your learners? What are the major components of a WebQuest and what is the role of each in the learning activity?

The Building Blocks of a WebQuest page will help you to better understand the purpose of each.So, how do you get started writing your own WebQuest?

The WebQuest Design Processflowchart created by Tom March is a great way to keep track of what you are doing.Now that you have an idea for content flow how do you put it all together into a web-based learning activity?
Introduction:
What is introduction in a WebQuest? How should I write it?

1. Provides background information and motivational scenarios like giving students roles to play provides an overview of the learning goals to students
2. The infusion from other media (prints, posters, models) and guest lecturers (other faculty members, parents, business leaders, experts, etc.) adds real-world components to online investigations. This is very important because depending on technology alone to convey the meaning of a lesson tends to create a sense of unreality.
3. Adding "introductory" types of information and material throughout the duration of the WebQuest keeps students fully engaged.

A sample of introduction

Task:

1. A formal description of what students will have accomplished by the end of the WebQuest.
2. To create a task the teacher must find resources for a particular topic on the Web.
3. The teacher must devise an activity for the students that incorporates the information from the various sites.
4. Developing this task -- or the main research question -- is the most difficult and creative aspect of creating a WebQuest.
HINT: A task should be visually and aesthetically appealing, inherently important (global warming, acid rain, welfare policy, etc.), and fun for the students.
5. A successful project can be reused by the teacher several times (either with a different class or the next semester).

A sample work of Task description


View the WebQuest Taxonomy of Tasks to determine in what category your original WebQuest will fall. Share with the class your idea for a "hook" or introduction and your WebQuest category.

Process:

1. This is a description of the steps learners should go through in accomplishing the task, with links embedded in each step.
2. The demonstration takes the students through the process step-by-step and reinforces written directions.

A sample work of Process