WebQuests

WebQuests

Colin McNeil, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Definitions and background

A WebQuest, as defined by Dodge (2001), is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources found on the Internet. These activities must be based on a compelling topic around which teachers and instructors can build a learning task (Alshumaimeri & Almasri, 2012). The concept of the WebQuest itself was originally designed by Bernie Dodge and Tom Marchin in 1995 in an attempt to effectively integrate the World Wide Web into classrooms (Alshumaimeri & Almasri). The standard structure of a WebQuest includes the introduction, a task, information sources, a description of the process, guidance on how to organize the information, and the conclusion (Kurt, 2012). Typically a collaborative venture, a WebQuest requires students to work in groups, often with particular assigned roles (Allan & Street, 2007). WebQuests can be short-term projects, lasting one to three class periods, or long term, ranging from one week up to one month (Kurt).