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

1. USING DYNAMIC WEBQUEST APPROACH IN TEACHER EDUCATION TO PROMOTE PROJECT-BASED LEARNING Yasemin Gülbahar Filiz Kalelioğlu R. Orçun Madran

2. 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).

3. 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)

4. What is “Web Macerası”? • 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 Macerası” is mainly developed for creating and managing WebQuest projects by tracking project steps.

5. Why “Web Macerası”? 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.

6. Purpose of the Study … was to integrate Web technologies into education by using “Web Macerası” in order to promote project-based learning and investigate what the pre-service teachers thought about the process they experienced.

7. Research Model This research study mainly used qualitative research methods. After the administration of “Web Macerası” 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

8. 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 Macerası” 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 Macerası” system? • What are pre-service teachers’ suggestions to improve the “Web Macerası” system?

9. 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.

10. “Web Macerası” – Home Page

11. “Web Macerası” – Sample Project

12. “Web Macerası” – Project Creation

13. 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.

14. Thoughts about using the “Web Macerası” • 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)

15. Experienced during the process of transforming project idea into the “Web Macerası” 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.

16. Suggestions to improve the “Web Macerası” 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)

17. 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.

18. 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?

19. 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.