WebQuests for Teachers - Part 3 - Creating an Original WebQuest
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In the first
part of this
series, I introduced you to the concept of WebQuests. In the second
part, I guided
you through reconstructing the CMX sample WebQuest "Time
Machine MTV". With background knowledge behind you, it's now time to
create original WebQuests for your students and children. It is not that
hard--especially if you use a template--but there are a number of "gotchas" and
technical aspects to keep in mind as you develop your lesson in a Web
page.
Strategies for developing your WebQuest content
You've got a great idea for a WebQuest, but don't know quite how to begin.
Here are a few strategies to help you develop a great lesson for, or with,
your kids or students.
Figure 1 - Inspiration - concept mapping software that
many schools use to help students and teachers develop ideas.
Images for your WebQuests
Web pages are pretty dull unless there are images and media. Everyone knows
that all you need to do to make any Web image your own is to right or control-click
on it and choose save image or download to disk.
And if it's for educational use, you don't have to worry about copyright issues,
right?
Wrong! If your WebQuest never goes beyond your own computer, and no one sees
it but you, it is probably not going to be a problem if you help yourself to
images. The minute you upload the WebQuest to the Internet, share it at an
Open House, or make it public in any way, you can become a party to copyright
infringement.
Educator World offers this online article about copyright and "fair
use in education": http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr280.shtml.
Fair use does not mean you can take anything you want and all you want. For
instance, for audio clips, fair use in education states that you may use 30
seconds or 10 percent, whichever is less. You might also want to read "10
Myths of Copyright Law" at http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html.
You can circumvent part of the problem and use one of the many Web sites that
offer free images. Usually the site asks only that you give it credit. Students
balk about adding such credentials, but it is not that hard. The easiest way
to keep track of where images come from is to keep a word processor running
in the background. When you find an image you would like to use, download it,
then copy the Web address to your document. Type a short description of the
image so you'll remember which one goes with each address.
If you are visiting a Web site that offers free images, look for a statement
of use. Free for personal or educational use usually means that you can use
the image on your personal Web page or in a school project. You cannot resell
the image or use it in a commercial product--even one that only gets sold to
other students--without paying for the right to do so.
Web sites that offer free images
Here are some good places where teachers and students can find free images
for use in their WebQuests. Pics for Learning is a particularly good
education resource. (Thanks go to Kim Cavanaugh for providing many of these
links).
Free images of composers: http://www.8notes.com/pictures/composers.asp
Pics for Learning: http://www.pics4learning.com/
Image Library: http://www.multimedialibrary.com/FramesML/
Free Stock Photos http://www.freestockphotos.com/
Free Foto: http://www.freefoto.com/index.jsp
MorgueFile Free Stock Photos: http://www.morguefile.com/ver3/
Geek Philosopher: http://www.geekphilosopher.com/MainPage/photos.htm
Free Graphics: http://www.freegraphics.org/
Free Holiday clipart: http://www.myfreeclipart.com/
Web graphics: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/freeimages/
Education Clipart: http://school.discovery.com/clipart/
Evaluating Web Pages
Another important part of the WebQuest is developing a good list of links
for the guided research. There is no quality assurance department running around
the Web putting stamps of "accurate information" or "a load
of garbage" on Web pages. How can you find the best information on a topic?
When assessing Web pages, ask yourself lots of questions:
- What kind of page is it ? Is it personal? Is there a tilde in front of
the user name (often an indicator that the page is a personal one) in the
URL? You'll often see personal sites with Geocities/Yahoo, Earthlink, or
AOL as part of the link address. Does this mean that the information is not
valuable? It is possibly excellent information, but you do need to ask more
questions about such pages.
- Look at the extension or suffix at the end of the URL. What is its domain?
.gov? .edu? .com? .org? Government and education sites usually take extra
care in assuring that their information is accurate. Organizations are often
experts in a topic, but you do need to be careful that there is not a particular
bias.
- Have you ever heard of the group who sponsors the pages? We all have heard
of The Washington Post or The Kennedy Center. We have our
personal views on the legitimacy of any information we glean from such entities.
- Is there a date on the page to indicate that it is current? If you are
studying copyright and fair use in education, you do not want to rely on
a page that is dated from 1997. Look for last updated on
the page you are considering using.
- Does the author have credentials? (Check the "about" or "resume" sections
to find out more about the author.) Again, a talented hobbyist can know as
much or more than an expert, but it does take more discrimination on your
part to discern the validity of the information.
- Are there related links? If you are researching dance and go to The
Maryland Council for Dance Web site, you'll see a long page of other
dance links. These links are included after the board studies them to make
sure they are appropriate. This should give you a good sense that MCD is
a central dance site, and its information is probably pretty accurate.
- Check to see if other reputable sites link to the pages. Use Google for
a link search. In the address field, type link: and
then the address of the site. If lots of other sites link to a particular
site, it often indicates that the pages are considered a good source of information
on a particular topic.
- Are there lots of dead links on the pages? This indicates that the information
is probably old, the site owner is not working on keeping the site up-to-date,
and you should probably be wary of the information you find here.
- Is this source as good as what you would find in the library, the newspaper,
or magazines and periodicals? Find the best links on a topic. Otherwise,
it is probably more productive to use traditional resources.
- Evaluate the purpose of the page. Is the page a barely disguised attempt
to advertise? For instance, if you are researching a health topic, does the
site sell herbal remedies and thus have a dubious motive? Is the page objective?
If not, be careful about using the link for your WebQuest's guided research.
Here are some respected academic research sites to help you find great links
for your WebQuests:
Roadblocks on the Super Highway
After years in the classroom, I have identified some archetypal Web page mistakes
that students make over and over. Alerting students and teachers before they
make these common mistakes prevents frustration and frees their creativity
to create a great WebQuest.
Figure 2 - Students sometimes "spoof" the image
format by manually typing in .jpg or .gif without actually making a conversion.
Whether you're helping your own children or your students and/or other teachers,
you're bound to see some of the following errors:
- Students will forget to make sure that images and other media are in the
same parent folder with the HTML pages. Most often, stray dependent files
are in the Documents folder far, far away
from the site's root directory. A Web page is a kind of recipe that includes
ingredients that can't be left behind when the WebQuest goes up on the Web.
Students need to mix all of their ingredients in the same bowl--and bake
them together.
- Images are linked, not embedded in the HTML pages. This is a common misconception
in a world that relies on Microsoft Word and its embedded image model. Students
must also maintain the integrity of the link by not moving the image-to-page
relationship. They must always include the images when they transport the
WebQuest by floppy, CD, or jump drive. They must always include them when
they move files onto a Web host.
- Another common error is the rose by any name syndrome. Students
find an image somewhere, and after I tell them to use only JPG or GIF formats
in Web pages, they merely delete the original extension (usually .bmp or
.psd) and manually type in .jpg or.gif after
the image name. No actual conversion has taken place. Soon these students
are vigorously waving their hands to complain that a broken image icon is
appearing on the page. I get info or open
the image in Photoshop and reveal the true identity of the imposter.
- Make sure students don't disturb the links at the top of the page (such
as the intro, task, and process). These are internal links that go to specific
spots within the page. Students have a tendency to accidentally delete the named
anchor symbol.
- If students want to prepare text in a word processing program first, and
then copy and paste it into the WebQuest template, they should use a plain
text editor like Notepad. If they must use Word, make sure they do a save
as and choose plain text as the option in the popup menu. Using
Word is a slippery slope, however.
- For teachers and students lucky enough to have Dreamweaver, make sure that
anyone creating a WebQuest always defines the site first. This is a universal
error that recurs even after many reminders.
Sharing your WebQuest
After much care and hard work, you've done it. You've created a great WebQuest
that helps students or families productively use the Internet to learn more
about a subject. What are some ways you can share your WebQuest? Let's review
the common options, as well as look at some teacher-specific ones:
For Home Use
- Your ISP probably offers free space for members to post personal Web sites.
- If you're really ambitious, you can purchase a domain name and professional
hosting space for your WebQuest. There are many very inexpensive Web hosts
out there.
For Teachers
- Use a teacher-oriented Web host such as Teacher Web: http://teacherweb.com/ A
teacher can purchase an account for $25 a year, and many school systems buy
accounts for all of their teachers. This host also includes a WebQuest section
that allows teachers to easily create a WebQuest from a Teacher Web template: http://teacherweb.com/AK/Appleton/WebQuest/
- At Trinity University, we use the free Scholastic service for our student
teachers: http://www.scholastic.com/ After
creating their WebQuests, our education majors can add them as attachments
to the online activities section of their Web sites.
- Ask your technology support staff if you can upload your WebQuest to the
school's Internet or Intranet server.
- If all else fails, there's always "sneaker net." Put your WebQuest
on a floppy, CD, zip cartridge, or jump drive, slip on your sneakers, and
walk over to each computer to which you wish to copy the WebQuest.
Figure 3 - TeacherWeb provides a special WebQuest section
on its site.
Conclusion
I hope this series has given you some ideas for creating great WebQuests for,
or with, your family and students. If you do create an original WebQuest, I
would love to hear from you. Drop me a line at sheri@communitymx.com.
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Keywords
Dreamweaver, Netscape Composer, WebQuest, Web Quest, education, teachers, teaching, students, home school, homeschool
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