The website evaluation activity was of great value to me. I must confess that previous to this I have acquired information from the Web in a very irresponsible manner (regardless of the fact that I knew that some of the information could not be trusted).
I was unsure of all the important features to look at when evaluating websites so I used the Yahoo search engine to assist me. I found this website to be quite helpful
http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webcrit.html
I was directed to look at:
· Accuracy: the author and contact information.
· Authority: the publisher/author’s qualifications and domain in the URL.
· Objectivity: the goals of the document are clear, accurate information, details included, limited advertisements.
· Currency: is the information current and updated as well as the links.
· Coverage: equal proportion of images and text, correct citations, links are related to the themes.
I was able to use the above information to correctly differentiate between the legitimate sites and the illegitimate ones. I am certainly going to be a more alert researcher on the Internet from now on.
Our learners today must be taught to examine and carefully judge the information on the Internet also. They are constantly required to do research and so must seek to access information that is true and from genuine sources. In order for them to do so they must be taught to be information literate ( Lewis, 2009). This has been identified as one of the new literacies which they need to function effectively in an ever increasing technological society.
Colleagues, let's pass this information on to others and our pupils for the new term. Oh by the way, I also evaluated the website which I used to assist me. It's LEGITIMATE!!!!
Reference
Lewis, G. (2009). Bringing technology into the classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thanks for sharing this information BJ. The website evaluation activity was quite helpful because the multitude of websites out there makes it impossible for us to know whether its accurate information being presented to us. This is something I would definitely bring this to my students attention because many of them just "cut and paste" things from the internet in their school projects, because they innocently believe the information to be true. Even as educators this is important for us to note when we are looking for resource material for our lessons.
ReplyDeleteThat was indeed a very wortwhile activity. Not too long ago we used to believe everything that was written in books and newspaper, now that trust has been transferred to the information on the Internet. That is fraught with many dangers.
ReplyDeleteTeaching students how to be critical evaluators of information,how to discover the details between the lines and how to verify authenticity of websites are useful skills that may even save them their lives.
Bernice, your thoughts and the following comments all signify that 'information literacy' should now be a part of every school's curriculum. This new digital world dictates that we must empower ourselves as educators and our students to read as editors. However, we have to model this new reading practice as it is integrated into our instructional reading practices, so that our students will learn to deconstruct what they read on the Internet in a critical manner.
ReplyDeleteThanks for responding to my blog Lyn. The idea that you put forward about having information literacy as part of the school's curriculum has to be put in place very soon even as we face the quickly approaching new academic year.Remember the Form Ones are receiving their laptops and the Education Minister said that all schools will be receiving Internet next term. We have to go out there ready to educate these children about how to critically assess information on the Internet.
ReplyDeleteThis is it, the technological era is really upon us!
This type of knowledge needs to be transferred to the students who every year prepare SBAs and other projects using information randomly selected from the web. It is truly enlightened to know what to look at in order to assess the usefulness of the websites or pages.
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