Saturday, January 16, 2016

Webquest = Student Engagement

Last year (2015) marked the 20th anniversary of the WebQuest model. The question here is why this technique is still rocking. In 2012, I wrote a blog about Webquests asking a similar question http://learningxxi.blogspot.com/2012/06/webquests-webquests.html -
Several people responded the blog, and posted their websquest. Some of them were my students, which first prepare the webquest as an assignment, but then, after they use it on their students, they can see how this simple technique engage them.
Webquest has so many benefits and it is so simple to create that any professor or teacher can benefit for it. I have made one special for my doctoral students, in which they learn how to do research. I modify each time, but they all love the activity. I think the reason we still using it, and educators and students enjoy them is because a good webquest has critical thinking, cooperative learning, authentic assessment, and technology integration
One of the major benefits of webquest is student engagement. Several researchers have found that engagement is one of the major predictors of achievement. In this era of common core, we have to put more attention on how we engage our students. I challenge you to prepare your own webquest and use it on your classes and learn more about webquest http://webquest.org/ .
Think about how the uses of webquest can help your students learn better!
 
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