[Lesson Plan] WebQuest

In this article, I'm going to talk about a tool that I just learned in class. Teachers can share their teaching plan and materials with colleagues via it. It makes teamwork among teachers from different contexts possible. Also, with student pages, learners can read and follow the instruction on their own. That is to say, students can have the least interruption from teachers. It's neither blog nor wiki. Do you know what it is? No? Then click on read more!

The answer is...

As mentioned above, WebQuest is such an interesting and inspiring tool. If you're an experienced teacher, you may want to try to spread your brilliant ideas. Even if you're not, just like me, you can also make an attempt to share some novel ideas, making progress through getting feedback. Honestly, creating one is a big, hard task for me now, for I do not have so much time and ideas to do. That's why I don't tell you how to create one for now. A good entry with concise instruction is here: http://goo.gl/PhUHsG. Hope it will help you establish preliminary knowledge about this tool. :D

Use any tool wisely

So far I've introduced you five useful tools. They can bring fun into learning/teaching, triggering more motivation from learners. However, it is essential for us to use the tools wisely and make an eclectic mix of approaches in our teaching contexts. Furthermore, despite the convenience and interest coming along with the ICT tools, teachers still play a pivotal role in ELT. We can't rely on them too much but stay conscious of every possibility from the employment of ICT tools. Anything could happen in teaching/learning process. That's the challenge and enchantment for being a teacher, isn't it.

Take a WebQuest for example

In the lecture, our tutor assigned us a group task to select a "better" WebQuest from a few entries:

1 Use your English
2 Oh, the Possibilities!
3 Shark Week
4 An English Holiday
5 Dangerously Delicious or Healthy and Nutritious?
6 Your Forecasting Future
7 Figurative Language
8 What's in a Word
9 I heard a Word

We ought to evaluate these WebQuests based on four aspects, including reading, writing, teamwork promotion, and autonomy enhancement. The one we selected as the better one was the fifth, Dangerously Delicious or Healthy and Nutritious?.

Regarding reading, all of the entries provide authentic materials. Learners can pick up vocabulary through the contexts. However, not every of them is attractive to learners or meets the target learners' actual needs. In this WebQuest, as the reading materials are the websites of restaurants, students are very likely to revisit them in the future. Also, learners can learn how to read the tables of nutrition facts, which can help reach pragmatic communicative goals in the real-life world.

Speaking of writing, learners in a group have to do brainstorming tasks before writing. Besides, they have to take readers' view into consideration when writing an advertisement. This is important to develop the fluency in writing. They are also required to narrow the content down; that is, they can learn how to make their composition concise for readers.

As the task involves collaboration among learners, the purposes of teamwork promotion and autonomy enhancement are both successfully fulfilled. Learners have to work with their group members to complete the task. Before the final presentation, they should work together, communicate constantly, and improve gradually. Hence, teamwork is the key in this lesson. Moreover, the student page is designed clearly, so students can refer to the instruction on their own if the teacher thinks them able enough. They can decide the roles to play and works to do in groups. From this view, students have high autonomy in their learning.

Consequently, our team thought this was the "better" one among the nine offers in the lecture.

Keep yourself as aware as possible

Trying to raise students' awareness in learning, as a teacher, you should keep yourself aware of not only the potential benefits but the underlying problems brought by these ICT tools. In teaching, no black-and-white area exists. Why I use "better" rather than "best" above is that I don't think there is a definitely appropriate teaching approach. When you encounter something new, don't embrace it recklessly or refuse it blindly. Instead, you should inspect it and share your viewpoints with colleagues so as to have a more comprehensive insight.

WebQuest gives us a venue to spread our teaching plans. It also provides a platform for us to improve our original thoughts by receiving constructive feedback from others. Just because of this mutuality, critical thinking secures a vital place in teaching, isn't it?