Building a WebQuest
with InstantWebQuest Templates

(based on the templates by Bernie Dodge, provided at the WebQuest site http://webquest.sdsu.edu/LessonTemplate.html, adapted by Christine Bauer-Ramazani and Paula Emmert for their Mini-Workshop at TESOL 2006)

Index/Cover page | Teachers | Introduction | Quest/The Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits and References
(Click on the link to be taken to the bookmark and the instructions within this page.)

Based on the training materials provided by WebQuest creators Bernie Dodge and Tom Marsh, a WebQuest follows a particular format.  Here are the steps to follow.

1.  Access the free InstantWebQuests site (http://www.instantprojects.org/webquest/main.php) to host your WebQuest.  Click Log-in/Register, choose a username and password. 

You will see the main components of a WebQuest listed.  These components are the Index or Cover page,  Introduction, Teachers  Quest/Task, Process,  Evaluation, Conclusion, and Credits and References. 

At the bottom of each page, please make a link to the next page in the process, either by stating the title of the next page, or by writing Next and linking to the next page in the process.  For example, at the bottom of the cover page for your WebQuest, type Teacher Page or Next and link the text to the Teachers page. 

Some sample WebQuests for ESL:

.

2.  Cover/Index page

This is the first page in your account and should follow this layout. Please copy and paste this into your own Cover page in your WebQuest Web Site.

Put the Title of the Lesson Here

A WebQuest for xth Grade (Put Subject Here)

Designed by

Put Your Name Here
Put Your E-mail Address Here
Put your institutional affiliation here.

 Put some interesting graphic representing the content here.

Put a link here to the next page (Introduction).

Based on a template from The WebQuest Page (Bernie Dodge)

Cover/Index page |  Teachers | Introduction | Quest/Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits and References

3.  Teachers

A.  The Learners

  • This is the page to be used for teachers who would like to use your WebQuest with their own class.  Describe what the lesson is about. 

  • Include a description of the class. Specify native language background, language proficiency level, grade level (middle, elementary, early childhood, etc.), class size, content area (mathematics, language arts, etc), class needs or goals.

  • Specify the standards and objectives--content, linguistic, computer literacy, social/cultural, and academic--to be met by this WebQuest.  List by subject area (WebQuests should be interdisciplinary projects)

  • Describe what preparations/steps/activities need to be carried out before the project can begin.  Give clear instructions. If you have identified or prepared guide documents on the Web that cover specific skills needed for this lesson (e.g. how to brainstorm, how to prepare to interview an expert), link them to this section. 

B. Preparation

  • What skills does a teacher need to prepare in order to pull this lesson off? Is it easy enough for a novice teacher? Does it require some experience with directing debates or role plays, for example?
  • What skills or information do the learners need to have before they can complete the task?  Examples include exchanging email addresses of the group members, familiarity with Word (or PowerPoint), the peer review process, effective group work, etc.
  • Describe what steps/activities need to be carried out before the project can begin.  Give clear instructions.  If you have identified or prepared guide documents on the Web that cover specific skills needed for this lesson (e.g. how to brainstorm, how to prepare to interview an expert), link them to this section. When preparing activities, consider the different learning styles of your students; see Learning Styles and Learning Style Inventory or The VARK Inventory.

C. Standards and Objectives

State objectives and the expected outcome for each .  For K-12 teachers in the U.S., these should be tied to the standards set for each state (use the drop-down menu for the Standards by State--http://www.education-world.com/standards/state/index.shtml). The expected outcome should be performance/achievement-based and measurable through an assessment procedure--see Evaluation below).  Consider the following objectives for ESL/EFL:

  1. Content objectives
  2. Language objectives
  3. Computer literacy objectives
  4. Cultural/social objectives (e.g. work collaboratively)
  5. Academic objectives

Cover/Index page |  Teachers | Introduction | Quest/Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits and References

4.  Introduction

This document should be written with the student as the intended audience. Write a short paragraph here to introduce the activity or lesson to the students, i.e. give some background information. If there is a role or scenario involved (e.g., "You are a detective trying to identify the mysterious poet."), then here is where you'll set the stage. If there's no motivational intro like that, use this section to provide a short advance organizer or overview. Remember that the purpose of this section is to both prepare and hook the reader.  Include some warm-up activities.

It is also in this section that you'll communicate the Big Question (Essential Question, Guiding Question) that the whole WebQuest is centered around. 

  •  

If your WebQuest is about a place, include some general information, a picture, and/or audio files. 

  •  

If it is about a person, describe something about the person that gives general background to the students.
  •  

If you are creating a scenario with opposing points of view, describe the views briefly.  

Cover/Index page |  Teachers | Introduction | Quest/Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits and References

5.  Quest/Task

The task "provides a goal and focus for student energies and it makes concrete the curricular intentions of the designer. A well designed task is doable and engaging, and elicits thinking in learners that goes beyond rote comprehension" (Dodge, 1999).
Describe crisply and clearly what the end result of the learners' activities will be. The task could be a:
  • problem or mystery to be solved;
  • position to be formulated and defended;
  • product to be designed;
  • complexity to be analyzed;
  • personal insight to be articulated;
  • summary to be created;
  • persuasive message or journalistic account to be crafted;
  • a creative work, or
  • anything that requires the learners to process and transform the information they've gathered.

See the WebQuest Taskonomy: A Taxonomy of Tasks for more explanations of these tasks and examples.
If the final product involves using some tool (e.g. a word processor, e-mail, PowerPoint, the Web, video), mention it here.  Don't list the steps that students will go through to get to the end point. That belongs in the Process section.

To accomplish the task, what steps should the learners go through? Use the numbered list format in your web editor to number the steps in the procedure automatically. Describing this section well will help other teachers see how your lesson flows and how they might adapt it for their own use, so the more detail and care you put into this, the better.  Remember that this whole document is addressed to the student, however, so describe the steps using the second person.
 
  1. First you'll be assigned to a team of 3 or more students...
  2. Once you've picked a role to play....
  3. ... and so on.
What are the guiding questions that students need to keep in mind in order to accomplish their task? What is the task that the student(s) must undertake? Why is the job necessary? What are the circumstances surrounding the task or the question that may cause conflict? What led up to this circumstance? Is there more than one way of looking at this. Can you see conflicting roles for people--such as environmentalist and industrialist?

Roles: This is the heart of an ESL/EFL WebQuest! A good WebQuest generates some tension or conflict that must be resolved so you should try to develop three or more roles.  Remember that you want this to be a collaborative activity for students.  Explain that students who have similar roles may work together to compare ideas based on the factual information they have collected, or that students may continue to pursue their role individually until the conflict generated by the original guiding question(s) forces them to resolve the issue with the entire group.  Note: You may want to dedicate a separate page for each Person/Role, but don't forget to link to each one.  Learners will access the on-line resources that you've identified as they go through the Quest/Task. You may have a set of links that everyone looks at as a way of developing background information, or not. If you break learners into groups, embed the links that each group will look at within the description of that stage of the process.

Person 1:

Person 2:

Person 3:

Person 4:

Cover/Index page |  Teachers | Introduction | Quest/Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits and References

6.  Process

  1.  
 In this part, students will be asked to accomplish what was stated in the objectives.  This must be done through carefully scaffolded activities, which may be handouts, exercises, links, etc.
  1.  
 Organization:  Describe briefly how the lesson is organized. Does it involve more than one class? Is it all taught in one period per day, or is it part of several periods? How many days or weeks will it take? Is it single disciplinary, interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary or what? 
  1.  
 Activities: Describe the activities for each part of the process (i.e. each day), giving clear instructions and links to resources, worksheets/handouts, etc. If students are divided into groups, provide guidelines on how you might do that.
  1.  
 If there are misconceptions or stumbling blocks that you anticipate, describe them here and suggest ways to get around them.
  1.  
 Variations: If you can think of ways to vary the way the lesson might be carried out in different situations (lab vs. in-class, for example), describe them here.
  1.  
 Describe what steps/activities need to be carried out before the project can begin.  Give clear instructions.  If you have identified or prepared guide documents on the Web that cover specific skills needed for this lesson (e.g. how to brainstorm, how to prepare to interview an expert), link them to this section. 
  1.  
 Group work: Once the students have understood their roles and investigated the background material necessary to make informed decisions, then it is time for them to come together as a group and to discuss the issue(s). Group work should result in a consensus document or presentation.
  1.  
 Give the students directions on this group work. 
  1.  
 Roles: Be sure that they understand that their role may place them in conflict with another person's role.
How should they resolve this conflict?  What overall idea should they keep in mind that will allow them to compromise?
Is there a greater good?

Resources (Equipment/Materials)/Media: Describe what's needed to implement this lesson. Some of the possibilities:

  1. Computer needs (software, hardware)
  2. Other equipment/classroom materials
  3. Handouts/worksheets (electronic files)/exercises/guiding questions

Note: If the lesson makes extensive use of specific websites, it would be appropriate to list, describe, and link them here. It would also be helpful to link the names of books suggested to Amazon or other online sources.

Describe also the human resources needed. how many teachers are needed to implement the lesson. Is one enough? Do you need to coordinate with a teacher at another school? With a partner in industry or a museum or other entity? Is a field trip designed in as part of the lesson?

Outcome: Provide options for how students may present their information to the group.  Here are some ideas:

Flowcharts Brochure/newsletter/letter
Multimedia Presentations Written piece--summary, essay, paper
Debates Concept Maps/Venn Diagrams
Web Site/Page Summary Tables

Cover/Index page |  Teachers | Introduction | Quest/Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits and References

7.  Evaluation

Specify

  1. what will be evaluated (Outcome). This must be tied to the objectives and standards above
  2. how students will be evaluated, i.e. what measurements will be used (quiz, presentation, performance rubric, individual assessment, peer review, collaboration, etc.)
  • Provide students with a clear understanding of the grading criteria which will be used to evaluate their learning as well as their performance.  Include an evaluation of each of the objectives you stated.
  • Assessment: Provide links to online rubrics which will allow students to know upfront what grading criteria will be used.  Make sure you assess all of the components of your students' learning specified in the objectives.  

Examples of rubrics to choose from can be found here:

See also Creating a Rubric for a Given Task and Designing Scoring Rubrics for Your Classroom (Mertler, 2001).
For various types of assessment, see Teaching Tips--Assessment.
  • OR  Create an online rubric with RubiStar.  Include a phrase such as, "Please click here to review the criteria on which your individual grade will be based."
  • OR State the criteria in a sentence like "You will also receive a collaborative grade. Please click here to review the criteria which will determine you collaborative grade."
  • Explain how the grades will be counted or averaged.

Cover/Index page |  Teachers | Introduction | Quest/Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits and References

8.  Conclusion

Put a couple of sentences here that summarize what they will have accomplished or learned by completing this activity or lesson. You might also include some rhetorical questions or additional links to encourage them to extend their thinking into other content beyond this lesson.

Explain to students how the conclusion will offer the opportunity to engage in further analysis. For example:

  •  
 Ask students how their roles could have been interpreted in a different light?
  •  
 Ask students if they had interpreted their roles differently, how might the outcome have changed?
  •  
 Ask students if they were flexible enough to compromise with the group and attain resolution, or did they yield to group pressures?
  •  
 Ask students what new questions did the issue(s) generate? Why would these new questions be important in answering the original question(s)?
  •  
 Include follow-up activities, such as homework assignments (in-class, out-of-class, individual, collaborative)
  •  
 Discuss any problems technical, learner, language, group) that could be anticipated and provide possible solutions.  Please see "The 4 P's of Lesson Planning, Potential Problems and Pitfalls.

Cover/Index page |  Teachers | Introduction | Quest/Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits and References

9.  Credits and References

  •  
 List here the sources of any images, music or text that you're using. Provide links back to the original source. Say thanks to anyone who provided resources or help. Follow Copyright laws.  See the TEACH Toolkit--An Online Resource for Understanding Copyright and Distance Education
  •  
 List any books and other analog media that you used as information sources as well.
  •  
 Include a link back to The WebQuest Page so that others can acquire the latest version of this template and training materials.

© Christine Bauer-Ramazani
Last updated on January 02, 2014