What is a Web Quest?
"A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web. WebQuests are designed to use learners' time well, to focus on using information rather than looking for it, and to support learners' thinking at the levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The model was developed in early 1995 at San Diego State University by Bernie Dodge with Tom March, and was outlined then in Some Thoughts About WebQuests." (Source: http://www.transylvania.k12.nc.us/tech/instruct/res_webquest/rosman_resources.html)

"A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet, optionally supplemented with videoconferencing. There are at least two levels of WebQuests that should be distinguished from one another." (Source: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/about_webquests.html)

Short Term WebQuests:
"The instructional goal of a short term WebQuest is knowledge acquisition and integration... At the end of a short term WebQuest, a learner will have grappled with a significant amount of new information and made sense of it. A short-term WebQuest is designed to be completed in one to three class periods." (Source: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/about_webquests.html)

Longer Term WebQuest:
"The instructional goal of a longer term WebQuest is... extending and refining knowledge. After completing a longer term WebQuest, a learner would have analyzed a body of knowledge deeply, transformed it in some way, and demonstrated an understanding of the material by creating something that others can respond to, on-line or off-. A longer term WebQuest will typically take between one week and a month in a classroom setting." (Source: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/about_webquests.html)

Critical Attributes:
            1. An introduction
               2. A task
               3. A set of information resources
               4. A description of the process to accomplish the task
               5. Some guidance on how to organize the information acquired
               6. A conclusion
(Source: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/about_webquests.html)

Thinking Skills Used in a Longer Term Web Quest:
            1. Comparing
               2. Classifying
               3. Inducing
               4. Deducing
               5. Analyzing Errors
               6. Constructing Support
               7. Abstraction
               8. Analyzing Perspectives
(Source: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/about_webquests.html)

Steps in Creating a Web Quest:
            1. Identify a topic/content standard
               2. Generate a hot list (a list of web sites that provide info on the topic selected)
               3. Create a scavenger hunt of questions using the info from the hot list sites
               4. Develop broader instructions and integrate scavenger hunt info... be sure to include all "critical attributes" (see
                   list above)