Thanks to the Internet, you and your students now have more information at your fingertips than at any other period in history. Once you are on the Net for a few weeks, you will find yourself retrieving lots of online resources. The challenge today is to find examples of educators, students and researchers experimenting with the WWW as a way to teach and to empower students with newfound creativity. An excellent example of using the web as a new form of learning environment are WebQuests developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University. To get a feel for WebQuests take some time to explore A WebQuest About WebQuests @ http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webquestwebquest-hs.html a "short-term" WebQuest. (You should do this now!!!)

Now that you are more familiar with WebQuests, you can start to create your own. First, you need to think of an area and/or theme you would like to explore then you need to find out what is on the Web. This exercise will provide you with the beginnings of that familiarity.

1. Working with a partner (if you wish), preferably in your discipline, examine the web sites contained in the following:
   *College of Education Web Links @ http://edweb.sdsu.edu/links/index.html
   *Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators @ http://www.capecod.net/schrockguide/
   *Lab37 WebQuest Libraries @ http://webeducator.net/lab37/webquest/wqresources.html
   You can explore the resources with both of you sitting at the same screen, or you may work separately and then compare notes.
2. Using a word processor or spreadsheet, (or notebook if you must…) create a document with three columns. In the left column, write down the URL of the site. In the middle column, record the name of the web site. In the right column, jot down some notes about what the site contains.
3. As you continue, begin to categorize the pages you're looking at. Some possible categories:

• Reference materials
• Project descriptions
• Searchable databases
• Lesson plans and ideas
• Student-written material
• Contacts with experts
• Biographies

As you explore you may find many other categories. Write the category names in the third column along with your notes.

1. Once you have looked at a minimum of 12 web sites and categorized what you've found, brainstorm with your partner(s) about the kinds of questions and tasks you could give your learners that would require them to read and understand some of the information that you found.

To complete this exercise, answer the following questions:

1. Why is this exercise just an exercise and not a WebQuest?
2. From the sites you have located, what kinds of questions might you ask that would elicit higher order thinking skills?
3. What tasks could be developed to highlight the sites you located?