WebQuests

Webquests are task-based projects in which most of the input is sourced  from the internet. There are many free webquest banks on the internet or you can design one yourself using an on-line template.  Making your own webquest is technically straightforward because the templates found on websites like QuestGarden are user friendly and highly schematic.  There may be nothing stopping highly motivated students creating one themselves.  


There is much potential satisfaction and value for language learners in working through one of these internet projects.  If learners work collaboratively - and this may depend on the task design - there could be a lot of purposeful spoken interaction and motivational higher order level problem solving.  If the tasks are well staged and the links well chosen, learners will be able to engage with authentic texts without being overwhelmed by them.  

However...

Finding the perfect ready-made webquest may not be easy.  Many repositories are of very mixed quality; be careful with quests designed for a content rather than language learning context; some of the websites aren't being maintained and the links remain broken. Making your own may seem the perfect solution, because you know your students and their context.  However, this is not a quick solution and it's rather like designing a good test, if you want a really motivating one, it's more difficult than you think.   

 http://questgarden.com/