USING DYNAMIC WEBQUEST APPROACH IN TEACHER EDUCATION TO PROMOTE PROJECTBASED LEARNING

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USING DYNAMIC WEBQUEST APPROACH IN TEACHER
EDUCATION TO PROMOTE PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

• Yasemin Gülbahar
• Filiz Kalelioglu
• R. Orçun Madran

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What is WebQuest?

• a technique for engaging students in active
  learning which uses the Web and other resources
  as they strive to understand a topic.
• a well-designed WebQuest uses Internet
  effectively to promote instructional practices
  (March, 2004).

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Features of a WebQuest

• provides a systematic approach
• aims to teach a specific subject in the Web
  environment
• uses active learning strategies
• addresses higher order thinking skills and
  critical thinking
• allows students to gain problem solving and
  decision-making skills
• offers authentic tasks
• generally student-oriented
• provides collaborative environments
• encourages constructivist activities
• encourages shared learning experiences
  (Godwin-Jones, 2004)

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What is Web Macerasi?

• In general, WebQuests are static Web pages, which
  facilitates students short-term or long-term
  projects.
• For the purpose of bringing dynamism to
  WebQuests, an interactive platform were designed
  and developed. This platform called Web
  Macerasi is mainly developed for creating and
  managing WebQuest projects by tracking project
  steps.

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Why Web Macerasi?

• Due to two reasons
• When this process is experienced by pre-service
  teachers, they will be given the chance for
  hands-on experience in a real-life like situation
  in a constructivist manner which will expected to
  increase the collaboration between students and
  develop critical thinking skills.
• Not only completing a WebQuest project but also
  developing a WebQuest project facilitates
  multi-dimensional learning.

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Purpose of the Study

• was to integrate Web technologies into
  education by using Web Macerasi in order to
  promote project-based learning and investigate
  what the pre-service teachers thought about the
  process they experienced.

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Research Model

• This research study mainly used qualitative
  research methods. After the administration of
  Web Macerasi system, the perceptions of the
  pre-service teachers were collected through
  open-ended questions. The collected data were
  analyzed inductively in order to get more
  detailed results

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Research Questions

• What have pre-service teachers been experienced
  during the process of creating project idea?
• What are pre-service teachers thoughts about
  using the Web Macerasi as a technology support
  for implementing their project idea?
• What have pre-service teachers been experienced
  during the process of transforming project idea
  into the Web Macerasi system?
• What are pre-service teachers suggestions to
  improve the Web Macerasi system?

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Sample of the Study

• The system was used in an undergraduate course
  in a private university by 44 seniors for
  creating their Web-based projects about learning
  outcomes for different grade levels offered by
  the Ministry of Education for primary school 1-8.

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Web Macerasi Home Page
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Web Macerasi Sample Project
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Web Macerasi Project Creation
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Experiences during the process of creating
project idea

• 11 participants stated that they did not have any
  difficulties
• 3 participants mentioned about their difficulty
  with aligning topic with the target group
• 4 participants declared their difficulty in the
  selection of topic
• In terms of time management and planning, 2
  participants stated their inconvenience
• The applicability of the topic together with
  being attractive was another difficulty mentioned
  by 9 participants.

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Thoughts about using the Web Macerasi

• Implementation may be difficult due to the
  requirement of access to technology and being
  computer literate (8 participants)
• Students will gain skills such us systematic
  thinking, working properly, time management and
  responsibility (5 participants)
• By offering technology supported environments for
  project-based learning, students expected to show
  positive attitudes and thoughts towards
  technology (16 participants)
• Implementation may be difficult in the first
  three grades of primary school, thus high school
  and university levels may be more appropriate (7
  participants)
• It leads to create extra ordinary ideas (4
  participants)

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Experienced during the process of transforming
project idea into the Web Macerasi system

• Of 44, 16 participants did not realize that they
  would use available wizard for defining tasks
  (due to not reading the instructions carefully)
• 12 participants mentioned that the problem that
  Creating tables for rubric affected the page
  format by placing page elements into
  inappropriate positions.
• Similarly 10 participants complained about the
  usability problems with the text editor embedded
  in the system.
• 9 participants owing to the speed of Internet
  connection face technical problems.
• Finally, 5 participants declared the complexity
  of the stages in the project.
• The number of participants, who reported that
  everything was fine in the system, was 10.

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Suggestions to improve the Web Macerasi system

• The usage of available wizard for defining tasks
  should be explained in detail (8 participants)
• Multimedia applications should also be integrated
  into projects (8 participants)
• Communication tools other than e-mail should be
  added to the system (7 participants)
• Interface should be customizable according to
  user preferences (3 participants)
• The system should allow sharing of projects with
  users (3 participants)

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Conclusion

• Generally, it was found that most of the
  participants were positive toward using WebQuest
  in their teaching profession. However,
  availability and suitability of technical
  conditions found as crucial important for the
  use.
• All the findings showed that using a dynamic
  WebQuest approach encouraged students
  participation to projects, helped students work
  in a planned and guided way, and motivated
  students to complete their tasks in time,
  supported application of theoretical knowledge to
  different situations.
• Except for few modifications to the Web site, the
  features provided were efficient and effectively
  used by the participants. But it is found that
  some slight modifications may be done in order to
  improve the usability of the system.

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Recommendations for Future Research

• What is the effect of inquiry based, problem
  based and project based teaching methods used for
  WebQuest project on retention?
• What is the role of collaborative projects in the
  WebQuest environment on developing higher-order
  thinking skills and social skills?
• What are the perceptions of students about using
  WebQuest as a formative and summative assessment
  technique?

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Thank You

• This research project was supported by SOBAG
  (Research and Development in Social Sciences)
  grant by The Scientific and Technological
  Research Council of Turkey under the grant number
  of
• 106 K 385.