A WebQuest

A WebQuest is an inquiry-based learning activity for students to use to explore a topic. It seems to result in a product that demonstrates mastery of that topic. However, of the WebQuests that I've seen, the best one is the following: Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
Sure, the layout may not be the best, but the idea behind it, or the idea that I got out of it, was that the students begin to recognize the value of education. It is a math lesson, to be sure, but the real-world application is very apparent. And who, who especially among the population that I teach, doesn't want to be a millionaire? This is a thought-provoking assignment. Evaluate, in cold, hard numbers, the value of your education.

Yeah, other WebQuests that I've seen have been interesting projects, but that seems to be all they are: projects. Projects plunked down on the web, could be ok in practice, but don't seem to have much connection to anything or are dressed up to be a fun, engaging activity that will capture students imaginations and minds. I feel like my students, if I gave them a WebQuest about The Great Gatsby or developing an art gallery , they would like it for about 5 minutes, and those 5 minutes would only be enjoyable because they would be on a computer. While some of these projects are favorably enhanced by putting them on the web (like the art gallery one, very useful for just looking at pieces of art and seeing what goes into a museum), most are just everyday projects that I can do in my classroom without the web. Some of them, I have done in my classroom, using 1 computer occasionally, but mostly encyclopedias...like this travel brochure one.

What is the POINT? Why should this be called a better, more engaging way to learn than the more traditional prompt: "Write a paper on the symbolism in The Great Gatsby" (which, if you look carefully, is in that WebQuest anyways)? I'm with Jann'l on this. Why can't we just give our students the assignments that white, suburban kids are given? Why does everything have to be fun and exciting? Why don't we teach students canon and things that they will be expected to know (whether or not those expectations are any good and should be in place is beside the point, for the moment) like how to write an English paper? Sure, they probably won't need to know how to write an English paper for their job, but in the professional world, that kind of experience is expected. And the skills that go along with knowing how to write an English paper (analyzing skills, coherent and structured writing, critical thinking, editing skills) are valuable anywhere, in any job.

Granted, I'm sure that there are white, suburban students getting the WebQuests as well (especially given the point that I make below), but why do them? Just give them the research project and freakin' call it a research project. Because that is what most of these WebQuests are. Don't give it a buzz name and make it sound different and new and exciting, because it isn't. Newsflash: Research projects are inquiry-based. WebQuests ask a student to research a topic based on a question and produce some sort of paper/presentation/report. That sounds awfully inquiry-based to me and awfully like a RESEARCH PROJECT. The only real difference seems to be is that the instructions and the rubric and the research is all posted on the web and the teacher has sanctioned which websites to use. THAT is a good way to teach students HOW to do research, what is a reputable source, how to cite, etc., but it is not new and improved that much and the task itself is often meaningless.

The other problem with WebQuests is that my school doesn't have the necessary equipment. Sure, later, if I move to another school, that could change. But I still feel like this is a relatively meaningless change in vocabulary for educators to make us sound like we are doing something new and trying to meet the needs of a younger generation, when in reality we're dumbing down material. Making an art gallery might be a fun, one day activity to begin to look at art, but let's move to critiquing the art, shall we?

Sure, the web is a great tool. And yes, research on the web needs to be taught, but the projects that these WebQuests are putting forth would be more meaningful, in my opinion, if they were not dressed up as something they are not. It's like a thirty-year old is dressing up as an eighteen-year old or vice-versa. No one is fooled, least of all our students.

So, let's stop pretending, shall we, and get back to the REAL, meaningful, thought-provoking assignments.