Create your own webquest

1. Familiarisation
   After having watched the brief informational video about what WebQuests are, feel free to browse through sample webquests to get some idea what yours could look like.
   
2. Using Art in the language classroom
   Below, you find ideas for two ways of using art for language teaching.
   Using Art I will give you some impulse pictures that demonstrate how paintings and literature, particularly poetry, might mutually inspire each other.
   Using Art II will provide some impulse pictures of controversial art or "art with a message" (Goldstein, 2008).
   Your task is to research background information to those paintings you find most interesting. Once you have done that, decide with your partner on one or more pictures you would like to exploit for classroom use.
   
   USING ART I - Paintings which inspired poetry
   "Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen" (L. da Vinci). Art often evokes strong emotions and provokes thought on the part of the beholder. It is therefore no surprise that many writers have taken their inspiration from paintings and other art forms. The following texts are examples of this. Try to find out more about these poems, their authors and what famous paintings or painters they refer to.
   John Stone - Early Sunday Morning
   Don McLean - Vincent
   William Carlos Williams - The Hunters in the Snow or Landscape with the Fall of Icarus
   W.H. Auden - Mus�e des Beaux Arts
   
   This website might be helpful for your research.
   
   USING ART II - Controversial Art
   "�It is not hard to understand modern art. If it hangs on a wall it's a painting, and if you can walk around it it's a sculpture� (T. Stoppard). Modern art often attempts to make a statement or convey as message and is therefore usually controversial. As you know from previous workshops, opinion gaps can be great impulses for communication to take place. The following works could be examples of such impulses. Try to find out more about these works, the artists who created them and why they have caused controversy.
   Damien Hirst - The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living
   Banksy - One nation under CCTV
   Marcel Duchamp - Fountain
   Jackson Pollock - Image Number 8 (exemplary only)
   Andy Warhol - Campbell's soup
    
   
3. Language Activities
   Once you have selected one area and the pieces of art you would like to use, think of a meaningful sequence of pre-, -while- and post-activities that you could offer your students on your webquest. Try to exploit the possibilities of new media as much as you see fit (remember: the medium is a means to an end, not the end itself!). Bear in mind that you will design a "Webquest", so make sure you include a research or inquiry phase for your students at some point so that they have a chance of exploring the web by themselves or in groups. Also, provide guidance in the form of references or links to pages you would suggest to your students. You might also want to think about integrating several skills in your activities (find a youtube video of a poetry reading or of reactions to certain works of art, different texts and text types or songs about the paintings or art in general, integrate writing in the forms of forum posts, tweets, blogs, etc. ...).
   
   
4. Setting up a WebQuest
   After discussing and planning your activities, go to zunal.com and create a new user account. Zunal.com is a free webquest-generator that will allow you to create a webquest from scratch within no time. The best thing is, you can draw on a ready-made structure so that no particular coding skills are required. You just add the content "meat" to the "skeleton" available. When registered and logged in, click on "create new Webquest from scratch" and start updating the content, images and the settings. This website should tell you how to do this. Should you have any questions or technical difficulties, simply raise your hand and help will be with you in a minute.
   
   Your webquest should contain:
   

• a very brief introduction for the learners
• a very brief description of the task for the learners (these can both be only 2-3 sentences long)
• a detailed and understandable description of the process (pre-while-post) with clear and concise instructions for learners and references to online sources
• evaluation criteria for an "exemplary" work
• information about the objectives of the webquest, CEFR language level (grade), the skills targeted and possibly the thematic and/or language focus of the webquest on the teacher's page (you are most welcome to also include critical comments about the use of webquests for language lessons or about this particular task on the teacher's page!)
  

5. Homework?
Feel free to finish your WebQuest at home and send the link of the webquest you created to benjamin.kremmel[at]uibk.ac.at. Please do so by June 1, 2012. All links will then be collated, categorized and uploaded to e-campus, providing a collection of new media materials ready-made for you to use in class!