03.27.08
WebQuest vs WebDilemma
Almost everybody knows how to use the internet these days, granted some more than others, but we don’t always use it in the most effective means possible. By the time I begin full time teaching, students, if they don’t already, will have years of experience using the internet and search engines like ‘Google’. The article by Robert Parkes looks at WebDilemmas as an exciting new alternative to WebQuests. WebQuests have become almost a fixture in online teaching, being around for ten years, they have provided a great variety of online tasks. But amid their benefits, WebQuests can be very time consuming especially if you don’t have a lot of access to technology. This is where WebDilemmas come into the fore, allowing teachers to incorporate online tasks with the benefit of promoting higher order thinking in students. Following the “Think-Pair-Share” process, WebDilemmas expose students to intellectual challenge, social support or assisted practice, and engagement. These online learning sites allows students to access information from internet sites chosen by their teacher, so not to waste time on ‘fruitless’ search engines. This information gets students to THINK about a particular topic, considering either the affirmative or negative side to a real world problem that has significance beyond the classroom. From this students PAIR up and discuss what they’ve learnt to make a conclusion to the topic, which is then SHARED amongst the class. The use of WebDilemmas, as opposed to WebQuests or search engines, has become a prominent online learning tool that allows the teacher to scaffold the lesson which ensures that the overall aim of the lesson is achieved.
