The Webquest Assignment

I just completed the most intense assignment for my Ed Tech & Design class so far. I hope you have a chance to go look at my WebQuest on fables. This assignment walks small groups of 4th grade students through researching fables, and putting on a presentation for their class retelling the fable they chose. It was a great experience and something I'd really like to use in a classroom. This project is so interactive and really has the students collaborating to accomplish their end goal. I think I might supply popcorn on the day everyone does their presentations. It would be like seeing a live show with song and dance, and live acts performed.

It was a very involved assignment that required a lot of attention to detail. As intense as I described it as being, it was also a great learning experience. I had no idea that I'd ever be able to create a website, let alone one like my WebQuest that would potentially add so much excitement to a lesson for a classroom. I believe being able to work as a group, largely on their own, on projects like this will appeal greatly to students who are already very computer savvy.

During my computer technology and design class, one thing that was made clear: I am a digital immigrant. My students will be digital natives. If I want to teach them on their terms, I need to add a lot more digital and computer knowledge to my repertoire of teaching skills. The old days of lecturing by the teacher and regurgitating information by the students is in the past. Good riddance, I say. I don't know if anyone was ever truly inspired in that type of an environment. I have been inspired by what I am learning in this class and can't wait to put it into action. No wonder students, with all of the imagination of youth, can't get enough of it!

Other school projects using WebQuest can be found online at sites such as A new twist on an old tale

Photo credit: Kathy Seibel personal collection