Overall I feel as though the Webquest turned out well. Our group; Kate, Diana, Lauri, and Debbie,
worked well with each other. Dividing up
the work helped alleviate a lot of stress and helped us manage the spent on the
project. We were all able to contribute
and create useful pages that were visually appealing and informational. I’ve always heard about Tasmania but never
knew anything about it, which was one of the determining factors when deciding
a location to do the Webquest on. So basically
everything I learned was new to me. We
discovered that Tasmania was a little island off the coast of Australia and
that Tasmania promotes its self as the Natural
State.
Creating a joint Webquest was pretty difficult when trying to put it all together. Using NVU was pretty much the easiest part because it is a familiar program. The process of getting each person’s page they had created involved them saving their work on their USB drive, using their USB drive to open up their project on each group member’s computer, and then that group member saving their project into their own account or USB drive. Then once I had all the pages I had to link each one to another, starting with the page titled “Projects”. Then that page needed to be linked to “Project 4” which included a reflection as well as a link into the Webquest. I wasn’t difficult to link each page but it was time consuming. My real difficulty came when publishing the Webquest. I unfortunately must have had broken links. I then had to go back in page by page and browse to make sure every link worked and fix the ones that didn’t.
Creating a Webquest is very similar to creating a Virtual Tour of a place. These both serve as interactive tools for teacher s and students. The Webquest enhances ideas content beyond a text book. It also serves as a way to explore a place that students would never be able to explore because of budget or location. Instead of taking a costly field to see the Erie Canal, the teacher can use a Webquest or Virtual Tour. It is also a hands on way to involve students. Creating a Webquest can be very beneficial for teachers because once one teacher creates one another can use it; they can be shared. Overall creating a Webquest in a classroom is a very beneficial way to enhance content in a visually appealing and informational way.