Using Webquests

A webquest is a way for students to work online to complete a task.  The task is given by the teacher, and it could be long or short...meaning students could work on them for a few class periods or weeks at a time.  Students are to complete a task as a specific thing/individual in order to produce a final project that is evaluated by the teacher.  They can be good ways for students to participate in cooperative learning or can be done individually.  I think that webquests would be great in a social studies classroom.  Many of the webquests allow students to virtually travel to different places in the world, past or present, where they can see and understand things that are typically complex.  For example, students can be a historian or a traveler who is on a mission to accumulate specific artifacts from different cultures.  Students can compose written works about their discoveries of other cultures, or actually create their own story.  Webquests are limitless with their opportunities, and I will definitely incorporate them into my classroom. I plan to specifically select one for a project each year in my classroom, but I would also like to have some shorter ones on hand in the classroom for students to work on for fun if they have free time. 
As with all educational ideas, there are pros and cons to webquests.  First of all, they are very time consuming for the teacher.  There are many components to webquests and creating them takes a long time.  It will become easier the longer you teach because you will have accumulated templates, topics, and websites.  They also allow students to work at their own pace which could be a pro and con.  Some students may fly through them, without giving their best effort, while others will lag behind because their confused or not motivated.  Still, a positive is that students who do well working at their own pace will thrive when given this type of independance in the classroom.  I think they are good because they allow students to use a different approach to learning.  Just because the teacher isn't up front lecturing, they will learn through experience and interaction with the material, which is exactly what a webquest allows.  Personally, I think that the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to using webquests in the classroom.