Teaching with Technology

I recently completed a WebQuest for my technology class and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the assignment. I didn't even know what a WebQuest was before our class discussion. I was quite skeptical of the value it held, especially for high school students. Most students are pretty tech savvy and have already learned to scour the internet to find information, products, and anything else they have a remote interest in understanding more fully. However, I realized there is an additional amount of knowledge and skills my students will acquire and use to complete the WebQuest.

High school lays the foundation for academic research. Native technology users (our students) know how to use Google and Wikipedia to search for everything they want but what they lack is the ability to acutely evaluate the information provided to build more knowledge and create new opinions, ideas, or products. Since these websites are the "go-to" resources, most students forget there is a sea of resources that offer incredible depths of information. The WebQuest provides students the opportunity to access information beyond Google and Wikipedia and explore the sea of research and informational resources that exist on the internet. Students use specific content websites, literary journal articles, audio recordings, videos, online library databases, and several other types of sources to compile their research for the WebQuest. The variety of resources provided builds students' research toolbox and allows them to consider numerous options when looking for more information about a particular topic.

Most students dread research papers and presentations but completing the WebQuest in a group allows students the ability to interact with their classmates, build autonomy (they choose their "role" within the group), and cultivates creativity. These are the main elements that take a research project from boring to enjoyable. Like any assignment, some students will continue to dread the work but with assistance from you (the teacher) and encouragement from their teammates they will come around and enjoy learning. After all, learning should be fun!