Web Quests are student-directed assignments and lessons on the internet. You create a simple website to tell your students what the assignment is and where to go to find the necessary info.

Web Quests are great tools for helping students learn how to perform research on the internet - but you need to know how to build a website in order to use one.

Unless, of course, you let someone else do the work for you. This guide will show you three different sites you can use to create and host Web Quests for free, with a minimal level of technical know-how.

Babel - Bringing Teachers Together

The first site we'll look at is Babel. It's an education site, with a bunch of articles and such. Take a look at what a complete Web Quest looks like.

The process is fairly straightforward, but it gives you some leeway for customizability. You create each page as you go - so you don't have to use with a pre-defined template. You can also include your own logo at the top, attach unlimited files to any page, and include images in the body of your pages. You can place links inside the page as well as attach them to the end of the page in a "Resources" section.

When you're done, your content is turned into a standard website like the one above. A dynamic menu is created, with pretty hover effects. You can also view the entire web quest in one page (the "Teacher's View"), to review what you've written.

Overall, it passes muster. The look is clean and modern, and you have some flexibility with what pages to create. You can also create an unlimited number of Web Quests with one registration. However, you can't customize the color scheme or layout of the webquest. It also doesn't pre-create each page for you, so you need to have an idea of how to write a Web Quest before you start.

Zunal

The next site to look at is Zunal. This site is geared pretty much entirely towards Web Quests - There are no articles or other content. Take a look at a finished Web Quest here.

Zunal's engine builds all of the pages for you - and you can't change the format. No matter what, you'll be stuck with the same six pages in your Web Quest. This is good if you don't know how to write a Web Quest, but not so good if you'd like the flexibility to name the pages yourself.

On the plus side, it's easy to include a picture with each page. You simply put the URL of the picture on the form. However, it's displayed above all of the text and the text doesn't flow around it - making the user scroll down to get to the text.

Its greatest strength is in its guidance for novice Web Questers - you can edit the pages that have been made for you and be done. Aside from that, you can only attach three files to the Web Quest, you need to register one account for every Web Quest, there are Google ads displayed on the screen, and you need to submit the Web Quest for review before it can be published and use-able.

TeacherWeb

The final website on the tour is TeacherWeb. This site is designed to help teachers create web sites - so you could use it for Web Quests or for a general class website. Here's a sample of a finished web quest.

Teacher Web wins out for having the most customizable web quests. You can choose from a number of color schemes, pick your own fonts, and create any pages you want. However you can't change the layout of the menu - which you may or may not like.

Although you have a lot of options for customization, the standard layout looks pretty old fashioned. The front page looks nice, but when you get into the individual pages they look old. You could probably fix it with some tinkering in the style settings, but that could be a lot of work. The level of customization can also be a double edged sword - you have a lot of options on the "Editing" screen, and it can be overwhelming for someone that isn't experienced.

Overall, a very use-able site. The level of customization is good for advanced users, and novice users can simply leave everything alone and edit the pre-created pages. The major downsides would be its default dated look and the fact that you need to register once for each Web Quest.

How Do They Stack Up? Which to Use?

It seems that the two best sites to check out are Babel and Teacher Web. Zunal is ok, but you'll probably get better results from one of the other two sites.

Babel's strengths lie in the streamlined creation process. With limited options, it's very quick to type up your content, save it all, and get it ready for use in class. It's also nice to use one account to create multiple Web Quests for use throughout the year. The obvious downside is that the streamlined process comes at the cost of customization.

Teacher Web's strengths and weaknesses both lie in its customization. For an experienced user, it offers a lot of options to make the Web Quest come out more or less the way you want it. There are definitely more styling options than at Babel. The problem, then, is whether or not a novice user will get bogged down in all the options.

Whatever you end up using, good luck. Web Quests are a great tool to use in the classroom - and these sites are great tools to help you get the web quest built.