WebQuest vs. Instructional Website

As this week progressed, I learned my initial idea of a WebQuest was not entirely accurate.  My impression of a WebQuest was more along the lines of an instructional website.  A WebQuest poses a problem or purposes which informs the audience of their role.  For example, students are finding waste polluting the environment around them, such as lakes, water, and streams as well as parks and playgrounds.  The students could be challenged to write a letter to the towns mayor addressing the environmental issue and posing a possible solution in order to improve the current issues as well as prevent further environmental damage.  The WebQuest would then have students work through a process of researching environmental issues, learning how to write a formal letter, and then having the students complete the assignment.  

An instructional website focuses more on developing a certain concept or idea through connections and interactions of information and materials.  The instructional website should apply more of Bloom's taxonomy in developing a deeper understanding of a specific concept.  Like the WebQuest, it is appropriate to engage the students by challenging them to take on a specific role.  My confusion between the WebQuest and the instructional website was that the WebQuest has a defined role or purpose, where as the instructional website focuses more on developing the knowledge and skills through step by step information and interaction.  The instructional website should introduce a concept, have the students practice a concept, and then apply the concept in an interactive assignment.  Instructional websites can take on many forms and purposes depending on the learning goal where as a WebQuest should always have a purpose or problem to be solved or completed.

  As the class continue to progress I know that I will continue to learn and better understand the use and purpose of each tool in the classroom.  That is the point and purpose of the courses in my Master's program.   The more we are challenged, the better we learn and retain the information and skills taught.  I am grateful  for those opportunities because it helps me grow as a professional educator and I am better able to provide my students with an adequate education that provides them with the necessary knowledge and tools to be successful in the 21st century.