WebQuest: The Legend Begins

As a kid I used to play some role-playing computer games on my parents’ PC. I don’t play them nowadays because my parents won’t let me live at home anymore. So I’ve been going through some major withdrawal in regards to my gaming skills. Among the games I wasted so many glorious days playing were King’s Quest and Hero’s Quest. I even played one called Peasant’s Quest. Now I’ve been told there is a Web Quest.

What’s that? A Web Quest? Sounds suspicious, right? Of course it does, because there is no such thing as a role-playing game called Web Quest. It was a trick by my technology in education instructor (you know, the newest arch nemesis). It turns out that I’m creating this Web Quest. And the worst part is it’s not a role-playing game. It’s supposed to be a teaching tool. So here I find myself the gamer creating a nongame with the objective of teaching something to somebody. Geez, have people forgotten how to read?

The answer to that last question is yes, by the way. Too many people let technology do their teaching for them. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Anyways, I began to think to myself that if I do this right, it could be bent to serve my will (you remember, the world domination thing—cue organ music and evil laugh). For those of you who don’t know what a Web Quest is, let me enlighten you (in other words, brace yourselves). It’s a teaching tool where you give the students instructions of what they will be able to do when they follow the steps. Usually it has them doing research or activities on the web, so the possibilities are endless. You can have a Web Quest designed to learn anything . . . like say world domination? (cue organ music and evil laugh again).

As you can probably guess, there might be some resistance to that lesson plan. Web Quests are better geared for learning useful things for your subject, so I think I’ll use them for teaching the core curriculum of my theatre classes. My students’ parents/guardians may have something against my plots against taking control of the earth, so for now I’ll stick to the curriculum.

. . . for now (final cue of the organ music and evil laugh).