WebQuest Reflection

The idea alone of a WebQuest scared me to death before this project. Perhaps that was partially because I really didn’t know what a WebQuest was, or perhaps it was because students who had taken the technology class previously had all laughed dryly and said some variation of “Oh God, the WebQuest…” whenever the topic arose. Whatever the reason, my defenses remained high in the face of this topic, and I was weary and reluctant to begin working on it. I cleared the entire calendar the weekend before, packed a meal, and staked out a site in the library where I camped for three days straight. It turned out to be everything I had dreaded: it was time consuming, parts of it were tedious, and there was a list of about 42 things that we were to “keep in mind” throughout the process. Making sure everything worked smoothly, aligned, and was airtight was by far the most frustrating part—as soon as I dared entertain the idea of being finished, I realized there was some gaping hole in the project that required an extra 45-minute fix. Professor Bray’s warnings to avoid perfectionism rang faintly in my ears, but the truth is that it was impossible to be a perfectionist in this project. No matter how much time, effort, blood, sweat, and years of youth go into making a WebQuest, I’m convinced it cannot and will not be flawless. Ever. I actually think it may be programmed to insert an imperfection somewhere in the WebQuest when the threat of perfection looms anywhere in the foreseeable future.

But that’s a story for another day. The point is, creating a WebQuest is frustrating, and its complexity is trying. However, I must say that the feeling of creating such a broad yet focused, intricate yet interconnected quest for students is one of satisfaction and accomplishment. It felt fulfilling to know that I had crafted, from scratch (well, almost, thanks to Zunal’s well-structured guidance), a multiple-part challenge that students would have to navigate themselves through premeditated, scaffolded activities, without the direct guidance of the teacher. Although it requires a lot of overhead time investment, the experience that students gain from delving into a seemingly independent project will inevitably stick with them throughout their learning experience because it is unlike any other type of instruction. The power is shifted from the hands of the teacher to the hands of the student, and they actively seek knowledge themselves, perhaps without really knowing it. It is a rare opportunity for students to be able to learn on their own, and it is a rare opportunity for teachers to see students learning on their own, yet the WebQuest is a technological tool that allows this type of learning to take place.

At first, I was skeptical as to the frequency with which WebQuest could be utilized effectively. I did not originally think WebQuest provided a meaningful experience that justified the efforts on the part of the teacher. However, after creating my own WebQuest and seeing the ideas of classmates, I realized that it is a tool that can be applied to any subject, grade level, and educational topic. It is a fairly novel, innovative way to engage students—all students—in the content and get them critically thinking about and learning the material. Unlike the dry, to-the-point text usually found in a textbook, WebQuests incorporate the fun, engaging, exciting portion of the content along with the factual information (such as in the letters from soldiers who fought in the Civil War) and opens students’ minds up to aspects that would not necessarily be covered in the traditional lecture-based classroom. Although the WebQuest required a lot of time and effort, I think the benefits do outweigh the challenges, and it is a surefire way to capture students’ attention and get them invested in a subject in which they might not have otherwise persued.