The Value of WebQuests

The value of WebQuests for teaching and learning is that they give students the chance to explore real-world problem solving skills in a way that presents pondering questions to them as well as allows them to work through a tutorial in order to learn these problem solving skills.

Tom March, creator of www.ozline.com, said in his article Why WebQuests (http://tommarch.com/writings/intro_wq.php) that,
“When students are asked to understand, hypothesize or problem-solve an issue that confronts the real world, they face an authentic task, not something that only carries meaning in a school classroom. Although you can't count on getting a response, when students do receive feedback from someone they didn't previously know, they join a community of learners and have their presence, if not their contribution, validated. When teachers choose a topic they know their students would respond to, they add to the relevance.” (1998)

I believe that WebQuests will greatly increase the motivation of students to learn because they present students with the opportunity of self-learning and are often more motivating when they are student-centered. Also, WebQuests often help students to create a community with their peers and thus feed off of each others desire to learn.

In this article found at: http://webquest.bmf.edu.hk/webquest/discol/essay/essay3_lfl_a.pdf, Zhou Yuxia concludes that WebQuests are designed to be self-learning and encourage students to reach for a higher level of skills through education. Although more research in this area is needed, through case studies it seems as though students do so when they encounter WebQuests that are less like traditional classroom teachings (i.e. lecturing).