Tag: webquest

WebQuests Meet Argumentation

My Instructional Design and Technology class a week or so ago was discussing WebQuests as an example of a scaffolded information problem-solving task. I assume folks who read this blog have memories of the popularity of WebQuests. I say memories because even good educational ideas seem to fade as newer things come along.

I conclude my classes by having a student volunteer or me when no one has something to present offer a short description of a tech tool or service they feel educators should explore. A student described Parlay – a tool intended to help educators structure discussion. We noticed some similarities of the structure of a Parlay discussion and WebQuest and decided the Parlay approach might be a way to extend a WebQuest into a discussion or a debate.

A Parlay “design” is organized into four components – goals, content, discussion questions, and peer responses. Parlay offers a collection of lessons within what the service describes as the Parlay Universe.

You can also choose to create your own lesson and assign it to a class or maybe eventually contribute it to the Parlay Universe.

I have a favorite WebQuest called the “Snow Goose Dilemma” I created many years ago. I redid this exercise using Parlay and a YouTube video I found within Parlay.

This example can be found at https://go.parlayideas.com?invite_code=4m1@8BhsY. A lesson can be found by sharing a code or a link. This is the link option.

Parlay generates pseudonyms for participants so responses to the discussion questions are anonymous (the teacher has access to a dashboard that provides actual identities and other information about student activity). Other students are then invited to offer feedback (respond) to the question responses. Depending on the content and discussion questions this could easily become a format for lessons in argumentation.

Parlay offers educators a free trial with a cost of $160 per year. This price likely will put many off because it may seem a service one would use occasionally. The company sees things differently. It is too bad there are not other more intermediate opportunities for participation.

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QuestGarden – First Year Review (NECC 06)

A conference is a kind of competitive environment. I tend to be drawn to sessions that I have found beneficial in the past. Because I assume many folks operate in this fashion you have sessions that draw hundreds of people and some that draw much less. The organizers know this and schedule some sessions in very large rooms and others in smaller rooms. I wonder who makes such decisions and if presenters are aware of relative room size.

Bernie Dodge is one of those large room people and an individual I have followed over the years. I have listened to Bernie present on several themes, but the topic that made his reputation (in my opinion) and continues to be a major focus of his work is the WebQuest. Bernie has a sense of humor regarding his “claim to fame” and has titled his personal blog One Trick Pony.

I think I can trace the evolution of the WebQuest phenomenon – first there was the concept, then there was the online WebQuest directory, then there was the attempt to promote design patterns, and finally QuestGarden.

Today’s presentation was a one-year review of the QuestGarden project. I would describe QuestGarden as an example of a more socially-based site – users have accounts, WebQuests are built with the aid of specialized design tools and design guidelines, and participants have the opportunity to repurpose/extend WebQuests developed by others.

Turning an idea free and seeing it grow must be very gratifying. It also seems to lead to some frustration – a kind of “that is not what I meant” feeling. The issue that seems to generate the frustration involves the type of thinking activities promoted through WebQuests. The goal is to encourage analysis and above (Bloom’s taxonomy). Bernie would prefer other tasks based on the general model to be called web exercises.

QuestGarden will require a subscription fee as of Sept. 1. The fee ($20 for two years) is low and intended to defray server and bandwidth costs. Access to WebQuests will continue at no cost and a brief no cost experience will be available to support college courses intended to introduce future teachers to WebQuests.

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WebQuest Portal

Bernie Dodge presented about WebQuests at NECC. For the next few months you can view this session online.

This session was interesting to me for two reasons. First, it is always interesting to understand how someone associated with a process or product understands his/her own vision. When you are acquainted with ideas indirectly, you may acquire a personal perspective that is different than originally intended. I use the word “different” to indicate that each of us brings our personal experiences to the interpretation of abstract ideas and the result may be more or less useful than the original. The opportunity to interact allows moving toward a shared vision (a social constructivist kind of thing). However, after listening to Bernie on multi-occassions, I am also convinced his own ideas drift (grow/change) as I am sure is true of all of us. Anyway, if you are interested in WebQuests, you will benefit from this presentation.< The second reason I liked this presentation was the focus on a “community.” This is an idea many of us have played with and considered how to develop. Dr. Dodge has made the assumption that those individuals interested in WebQuests represent a potential community and the collective wisdom and time of this community exceeds his own. The goal is to find a way to tap into this collective wisdom and time for the benefit of all. His present effort to do this is represented in a web site – WebQuest.org.

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NECC

There is never enough time to see what you want to see and hear what you want to hear at a major conference like NECC. We end up splitting our time between presentations and the exhibit hall. Here are samples from each.The exhibits hall at NECC very possibly contains the largest collection of vendors focused on the education market of any conference. It is immense and one could spend the entire conference talking with the sales people and sitting through short instructional presentations.

NECC Exhibits 2oo2

This is our opportunity to learn about new products and services. We often spend a lot of time at some of the smaller booths that attract our attention. Jeff Patterson of Gaggle.Net told us about new online service for schools (and gave us permission to use his picture). We had heard about Gaggle.Net before, but this was an opportunity to speak with someone from the company. Not every school operates an e-mail service for students and schools may find limitations if they tried to use services such as Hotmail. Services such as Hotmail may not be appropriate because unsolicited email may contain inappropriate content and because students cannot be monitored when using the e-mail service. If classroom teachers were to remake Hotmail, they might create something like Gaggle.Net. This service allows the school to deal with the concerns of inappropriate content and student responsibility.

Gaggle Booth

If you use one of our books, you are familiar with Dr. Bernie Dodge and WebQuests. We attended Bernie Dodge??s session on WebQuesting in 3D (http://webquest.sdsu.edu/wq3d/ – this may not be immediately operational due to some technical difficulties). The presentation challenged teachers and software developers to consider how education can compete with other experiences in students?? lives and explored the tension educators interested in technology feel between the educational and entertainment components of edutainment. Bernie presented a soon to be released technology from Adobe ( Adobe Atmosphere) that allows the development of 3D multi-user online environments (some of you who enjoy computer games may recognize this terminology). He demonstrated how it may soon be possible to extend 2D WebQuests into online 3D and how certain applications would allow some very exciting experiences for learners. We have always been interested in exploratory learning environments (see of present chapter on instructional software) and Adobe Atmosphere and what it might allow looked pretty cool.

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