Olga LaPlante

As with many phenomena these days, you have options. One option is to take a ready-made webquest and use it in its entirety intact with your students. If the Webquest not perfect or doesn’t suit your class for some reason, you can modify it. The proper way to do so if you intend to then republish the webquest (post if online for anyone to see) will be to first ask permission from the author of the original webquest, and link back to it, so anyone can access it. Usually, educators don’t have a problem with this. Sometimes that permission may even be posted somewhere on the site. If it isn’t, the best will be to assume the author wants you to request it.

Adapting and Enhancing a WebQuest

And a third option is creating your own from scratch - because nothing you have dug out on the web so far is even close to what you are doing with your students.

WebQuest Process Checklist

Downloading a site:

You may find software to download the entire website at http://httrack.com (for Windows). You can also save each page of a website separately using a web browser, like Firefox. (For Safari users, older versions of Safari DO NOT download the whole page, only the html code, so you will be missing the images and such.)

However, even though it appears that changing a couple of things in the original shell is easier and quicker, it’s not necessarily true. Sometimes, rethinking the webiste and re-building it in your “words” proves to be by far more practical and more customizable.

Create your own Webquest using iWeb

Create a new site, and add pages that match the parts of the WebQuest. (Introduction, Task, Process, Evaluation, Conclusion - and a Teacher page).

Use a Template

Download a template from Bernie Dodge’s website - great and easy and clean pages that guide you through a particular process best suited for the type of task you have in mind. Use html editors (like Mozilla Composer, TextEdit, NVU, or DreamWeaver) to change the text, add pictures and links.

WebQuest Design Patterns

Create your WebQuest in Pages - or other word processor - print it as PDF, and your links will be live. That’s very easy!

Relax and have fun! How to build a web page in 25 steps

Instant WebQuest: Free online!

A free, web-based engine that allows you to create a webquest without having to know any html.

InstantWebquest

What is a webquest?Before you are ready to answer the question, let’s experience a webquest ourselves, first-hand, like your students would:A WebQuest about WebQuestsWe’ll use the following online resources:

Introduction to WebQuests (eMINTS participant username and password required)Lots of resources for teachers, from Bernie Dodge

If you would like to share your experience and knowledge with your colleagues at school, and make the best of your early releases, this may be just the resource.

A complete online workshop (of excellent quality) on Wesbquests.

Okay, Google Apps - what is that about and why would we talk about this?

First, please share with me what you think we are going to talk about and what you would like to learn in particular? Post a comment please.

After that, we’ll use some of these links.

Like this one: Google Notebook

We’ll then break into groups, and you will study an application from Google Apps with a partner, and will then present it to the rest of the group. We’ll have about 4-5 groups. Your presentation will have to be limited to 5 minutes, and include suggestions for use in the classroom.

Your choices are:

Google Docs

Page Creator and Reader

Groups and Calendar

Searches: special searches, like scholar search

News and News Archive