a webquest should consist of:
1. A very sexy problem with multiple solutions.
WebQuests were MADE for interdisciplinarity. The idea is to come up with a creative and innovative situation that will get students to investigate an issue from multiple perspectives--social, aesthetic, scientifiic, political, historical, etc. Check out the examples on the RESOURCES AND EXAMPLES page to see how previous groups found or made "sexy" problem situations that would catch students' imaginations.
2. A Very Engaging task that will provide a means to explore solutions.
A task is a specific set of things or procedures that students must work together on to explore the problem and come up with a concrete plan of action or a product that responds to the problem. The best tasks require students to explore all the resources you've provided and make judgements about how to combine ideas, what is valuable and not valuable, and then bring these ideas/resources together to produce a response that "solves" the problem. IN ADDITION, you should structure the roles students play in completing the task in ways that require them to work together, not separately. Check out the RESOURCES AND EXAMPLES page for ideas about how to create a clever and COLLABORATIVE task.
3. A very clear set of directions/procedures for dividing responsibilities among the seekers in ways that require them to collaborate.
The directions/procedures you provide are not a simple set of instructions. Instead, they should provide students with some guidance--even strong hints--about how to evaluate resources and proceed, but the guidance should be open-ended and not simply "tell students what to do." Remember, because there are multiple solutions to the problem the task itself should also be doable in multiple ways. You want to provide ideas and suggestions but not do all the problem-solving for the task itself. See the RESOURCES AND EXAMPLES page to see how previous groups have provided guidance to their students.
4. a full set of resources for engaging the task and finding solutions.
You will need to provide a set of web- and/or computer-based resources for engaging the task you place before students. Everything that students will need should be included in your WebQuest, but students may also be encouraged to move beyond your resources as well. There will need to be MULTIPLE resources that provide students with the opportunity to browse and make decisions. If information on the different sites conflicts, that's all the better, because it will require students to then make judgements about the veracity or utility of that information.
5. Some concluding advice/good words for helping students self-assess the quality of their task outcome.
In this section, you will need to provide some guidelines for students to self-evaluate the quality of their task outcome. By this, I do not mean that you provide a "rubric" with rigid lists of things you're looking for (doing this will radically limit the range and creativity of your students). Instead, try phrasing your closing advice as a set of general questions for students to ask themselves about what they've created.