There are so many Webquests available to educators online now a days. They are easy to find, but not all Webquests are useful in the classroom. I found a Webquest that focuses on internet safety and can be found here. It is directed towards grade levels third through fifth with a reading level of 3.6. The task provided for the students is “You will be working with a partner to create a “Top Ten Internet Safety Tips” word document to display by your home computer. In order to decide what your “Top Ten Internet Safety Tips” are, you will be visiting 5 different Web site links. Each of these Web sites will introduce you to or remind you of how to be Cybersmart” (Jackson, 2013). The creator lists the following as the standards for this Webquest:
- Students will recognize safe and responsible use of websites, chat rooms, electronic mail, and instant messaging
- Students will identify risks of sharing personal information
- Students will identify and avoid unsolicited or deceptive online communication
- Students will recognize and report online harassment and cyberbullying
I believe this Webquest does incorporate the above standards, but here are the specific Michigan Educational Technology Standards I would use as well:
- 3-5.DC.3. describe precautions surrounding personal safety that should be taken when online
- 3-5.DC.4. identify the types of personal information that should not be given out on the Internet (name, address, phone number, picture, school name)
Teaching Strategies
This Webquest has students work collaboratively with a partner to create ten internet safety tips. The students are not assigned specific roles (typist, fact finder, etc) but rather are asked (as a pair) after each task to write two tips in a Word Document. The teacher doesn’t seem to have an instructional role during this Webquest. They use inductive strategies by ways of videos for students to learn about internet safety. The students watch the video and type two tips about internet safety they learned or were reminded about.
Technology Use
The use of video media is a great way to use technology in the classroom. Instead of the teacher showing these videos the creator has taken the time to place all these useful videos in one location with directions for her students. This Webquest couldn’t be done by just photocopying pages of the site because it uses embedded videos. The use of audio and visual aides is a way that this creator has taken advantage of technology for her classroom.
Technical Aspects & Improvements
The first thing I noticed in this Webquest is that none of the links open into a new tab or window which bothers me. This isn’t such a big deal for the first link (step 1), but does become a pain for the second link (step 5). The reason being that the second link has several steps in order to get to the video which are listed on the original Webquest site. I kept having to click the previous pages button in order to see what my next step had to be. I can see this being very frustrating for a 3rd grade student. All the links work and it states on www.webquest.org that is was last edited in January of 2013. The creator has credited her sources by making a page with the three websites she used, but only made one of them hyperlinked to the exact website.
