Project-based learning and Webquests

Many a time I am amazed at the prehistoric picture people have of Namibia, lions roaming free with people running from elephants, that are found around every corner. Hahahaha. Yet I felt quite the dinosaur when we started. Every week I am pleasantly surprised at how technology can liven up teaching. This week we learned about webquests. I asked my colleagues and students if they knew webquests? Only to learn it is a term not known and an activity not used.

This week I learned about valuable tools, project-based learning [PBL] and webquests. Susan Gaer, describe PBL as a dynamic way of teaching. Imagine, teaching becoming vigorous, energetic, and full of life! Indeed PBL and webquests open a new world of learning. The teacher is not the central component but the student. A real student centered practice. The student is given a real problem and allowed to explore ways to solve the problem or create a product. The student becomes a creator in its learning process simultaneously developing different skills, like language. Dr. Bernie Dodge of Santiago State University defines a webquest as an inquiry-orientated activity that uses resources on the World Wide Web (www.zunal.com). The picture that comes to mind is not the one of the teacher with a stick, but of a teacher standing with the world in its hand presenting it to the student with the instruction, “Here, use it, explore, learn and have fun creating.” With webquests, students become independent learners, learning at their own pace. In the process they unconsciously improve/ develop language skills while focusing on developing a project. Students can work on their own or in groups further developing interpersonal and social skills. The best part is the student is motivated to finish the project.

Since I want my teaching to be full of life, I will most definitely incorporate webquests and PBL as part of my curriculum next semester. I concur with Susan Gaer’s article title, Less Teaching and More Learning, cause surely the time has come for teachers to step back and allow student greater autonomy in their learning process.

I found it quite daunting to create a webquest but the instructions on www.zunal.com
were clear and made it easy to create a webquest. The best part of this site was the access to already created webquest with the option to adapt them for your class.

Would you believe, I actually created a webquest. I still have to add some more pictures but it is there. the experience was worth the time. It was not even difficult. If you plan to create a webquest, I would advice you first find all the pictures, music, videos and quizzes you want to use. I am very excited and can't wait to use this new tool. Believe me it was an absolute joy creating the webquest. Try it for yourself, www.zunal.com.

Let’s throw those spoons away and give our students the globe, step back and enjoy their learning.

Regards
Jules

http://www.ncsall.net/?id=771&pid=385

http://susangaer.com/studentprojects/

http://www.zunal.com/part1.php