These steps are intended to be used only as a guideline. WebQuest design is rarely a linear process, more often recursive and sometimes messy. The steps listed below are in the order they are most often presented to students, not necessarily the same order you will want to work on them. The WebQuest model was developed by Bernie Dodge and others. Since it's inception it has continually been tweaked, feel free to add or change elements as necessary to best meet your students needs/interests.

1. Title: How can you catch the students' attention? The title is your first chance to hook your students' interest. Think carefully about the focus of the WebQuest and what is likely to catch your students' attention. Try to find a title that is both descriptive and creative. Alliteration puns, clichés, shock, questions, and catch phrases are just a few of the many tricks you might consider. You may want to write a tentative title at first and revisit this section after completing the rest of the WebQuest.

* If you have colleagues at grade or department level, brainstorming titles can be fun and inspire adaptation and sharing.

2. Topic: What subject area(s) and topic does this WebQuest focus on?

3. Keywords: Picking a topic is the easiest part. Unfortunately, most of us cannot create a list of objectives or standards as easily. Often, we aren't even quite sure of what exactly we want our students to learn. One method of clarifying the possibilities prior to deciding which standards they fit is to first list out all the key concepts and skills we want the students to learn related to our chosen topic. Most likely, you will then be faced with the realization that, given the amount of time available for the unit, students cannot reasonably be expected to learn everything listed.

Therefore, you need to establish your priorities. Wiggins and McTighe, in their book Understanding by Design, offer a method for setting priorities. They suggest using a graphic organizer that contains three nested circles (see Figure 1). Take your list created earlier and divide the content and skills into the three circles. The largest circle is for those concepts and skills that are worth being familiar with. The middle circle is for those concepts and skills that are important to know and be able to do. Wiggins and McTighe state, "Student learning is incomplete if the unit or course concluded without mastery of these essentials." The central circle is for those concepts and skills that are deemed "Enduring" or "Big Ideas." These are the concepts and skills that students should remember long after they have forgotten many of the details.

With the graphic organizer representing your priorities, make a "best guess" as to how much of what is there can be accomplished in the amount of time you have available. (You will have to think a bit ahead to steps 6, 7 and 9 to consider what task/processes and assessment will be required to achieve these goals.)

4. Objectives: (including district/state standards) - What do you want the students to know and be able to do at the conclusion of this WebQuest?

Take the concepts and skills you end up with in the step above and reword them into objectives. One of the best ways to express this for yourself and for your students is in the form of a question. However, many teachers are more comfortable with the more familiar approach of writing behavioral objectives. According to Heidi Hayes Jacobs, the 5 attributes of a well-formed objective are:

• The Subject - who is the learner;
• An action verb - denoting the behavior requested;
• A product - the observable outcome of the activity;
• The conditions - or stipulations for specific activity;
• The evaluative standard - the criteria for an acceptable level of performance in terms of quality, quantity, or time.

Make sure that both content and technology-related objectives are listed.

5. Introduction: How can you draw the students in even deeper once you have gotten their attention with the WebQuest title and prepare them for what is coming? Writing an introduction is a lot like writing the first paragraph of a story or a report. Your first goal is to make sure you have a strong lead. Depending on how you created your title, it may serve as your lead. Similar to the title, you want your first sentence to pique the students' interest.

Many WebQuest designers follow their lead with an overview of what the students will be studying followed by the essential question(s) of the unit. Others prefer to start with a scenario followed by their essential question(s) and then a description of where the students will start. You will probably want to include some elements of the Task.

However you organize your invitation, make sure to include within it a personal connection for the students.

6. Task: What will the learner have done at the end of the WebQuest?

"The task is the single most important part of a WebQuest. It provides a goal and focus for student energies and it makes concrete the curricular intentions of the designer. A well designed task is doable and engaging, and elicits thinking in learners that goes beyond rote comprehension."

Designing an effective task requires an understanding of the many possible types of tasks and selecting the most appropriate type (or elements from a couple types) for the curricular objectives. Generally, the Task asks the students to create a product or make a presentation of some sort.

Two sources of inspiration for designing an effective and engaging Task are: 1) the Tasks others have described in their WebQuests; and 2) Bernie Dodge's WebQuest Task Design Worksheet.

You may want to consider adding some elements typical of Problem Based Learning. (See Problem-Based Learning resources listed below in the Resources section.)

7. Process: What steps do the students need to take in order to complete the Task?

The first stage in defining the process (steps) the students will need to do in order to complete the task is to make a quick list of the big steps. Then, try to break each of those big steps into smaller steps. Sometimes, even those smaller steps need to be broken down into even smaller steps. You know you are done with this stage when you feel ALL over your students could complete the WebQuest without asking you (the teacher) for help.

The next stage requires you to decide how much detail to give them from the list of steps generated above. Obviously you want to give them enough detail so they can be successful, but not so much detail that they are merely following directions. Unfortunately, that is never as easy as it sounds. By providing different roles or perspectives for the students, it is possible to provide for differentiation among those students who require more assistance and those that are more independent. Certain roles/perspectives can be described in more or less detail and the students can be assigned or guided to select the roles most appropriate to their ability.

There are many different ways to orchestrate the learners. Typically, the students work in pairs or teams. The group members should be mutually dependent. Often, students are assigned roles based on jobs or responsibilities, though the roles also can be based on conflicting perspectives. At times, you may not want to pre-assign roles and have one of the first steps be to have the groups divide the work as needed.

Make sure that your process provides steps for pairs/groups to synthesize their individual learning.

8. Information Sources: What resources will be needed by the students during the WebQuest?

Review the task/processes and assessment methods. List the resources needed for each sub-task/role/perspective. Consider using as wide a variety of computer-related and traditional resources (books, periodicals, interviews, videos, etc.) as are appropriate to reinforce concepts taught for all students (keep in mind differentiation based on ability and media preferences). The more specific the resources the more the learners can focus their attention on the topic rather than surfing aimlessly (though one of your technology-related objectives may be to search the web.)

9. Evaluation: How will you gather evidence that your students have understood the concepts you wanted them to learn and that they are able to do what you wanted them to be able to do?

The completion of the task is not enough. Both formative and summative evaluation are important. (A simplistic definition for formative evaluation is: evaluation that occurs during the WebQuest which is designed to help students and teachers determine how they are progressing for the purpose of improving student learning. Summative evaluation is: evaluation given at the end of the WebQuest which is designed to assess students final understanding.) Plus, you need to provide opportunities to assess process and product through multiple means.

Examine your list of objectives and brainstorm possible assessments. Besides the standard tests and quizzes, consider some of the following evaluation methods: informal observations/discussions, one minute questions, portfolios, peer review, one sentence summaries, student generated quiz questions, journals, student performances (speeches, plays, radio shows, debates, etc), graphic organizers, socratic seminars, experiments, interviews, conferences, electronic slide shows, models, museum exhibits, role playing, etc. Some of these may be the Task itself.

Determine which of the brainstormed methods seem the most promising and how much time they are likely to require. As with the objectives, make a "best guess" as to how many of these methods you have time to include. Make sure you have selected some informal and formal methods as well as ones that assess process and product.

For the selected evaluation methods, ask yourself, "What should count as evidence of in-depth understanding as opposed to superficial, incomplete, or naïve understanding?" Clarify student expectations for activities/evaluation. Consider creating a model assignment, rubric or a scoring chart. This will aid the students in knowing to what quality they have to do the task and it will aid you in grading the students.

10. Conclusion: How will you provide a sense of closure? Will the students have opportunities to summarize and reflect back on the experience? Will students extend or generalize their new understanding to other topics/problems?

Just having the students "present" their culminating project for a WebQuest is often not enough. Many students don't take the time to compare their work with other's, synthesize what others have learned and shared with their own understanding, or apply their new learning to other areas. Consider what activites you could design that would push the students' thinking in these areas. (Presentations, group/class discussions, concept mapping with Inspiration, big questions, graphic organizers, etc.)

For an alternate take on creating WebQuests, visit: http://webquest.sdsu.edu/roadmap/index.htm