Alyson:

Discuss the webquest as a form of lesson planning. What are the advantages and disadvantages and why?

Webquests are an extremely good invention because they draw on students’ recreational love of and ability with computers in order to help them learn. Using the internet to discover information is what people do when they want to know anything. Why should schoolwork be any different? 

Webquests help students learn that the teacher is not the only source of information, and that teachers are aware of the internet and its uses. A well thought out Webquest will grab each student’s attention, even if they are usually restless in class and find it difficult to concentrate normally. Webquests can improve students’ self-efficacy and can give a break from other monotonous elements of the classroom, especially in maths where routine and practice out of the textbook is usually the name of the game.

Webquests are probably the best idea for assignments, especially group assignments. Group assignments are already usually all over students’ emails as they send them back and forth – why not leave them there? Webquests done in class are a brainwave for late in the term, year or even week when even thinking about doing exercises out of the textbook gives you a headache. They can also be a break for the teacher.

I will definitely be using Webquests as a teacher because I believe that students are so used to learning from the internet that they won’t even realise they’re actually doing maths work