Thursday, September 27, 2012

Researching and Evaluating Internet Information

Focus Question: What is the meaning of information literacy for teachers and students?

     Information literacy for teachers and students means the ability to access and assess the information from online sources. According to the American Library Association (ALA), information literacy is defined as the "ability to recognize when information is needed and to have then the ability to located, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." (Windham 2006) Transforming Learning With New Technologies by Maloy, Edwards, Verock-O' Loughlin, and Wolf. Pg 144. Para 4. Before using the new found information, teachers must determine if it is viable and reliable and then teach the students how to do the same. Teaching students how to properly recognize and utilize information for Internet research is a crucial element in information literacy. 

Tech Tool: Flickr

     Flickr is an online photo managing sharing tool that allows you to locate, organize, and send photos that you have personally taken or can locate within the site's online collection. When searching a topic such as Monopoly, 48,684 results appear. I can further advance my search to materials that have a Creative Commons License which means the material is copyrighted but allows other to tweak, distribute, and build upon your work as long as given credit for it. Results jump down to 7,762. Flickr is a great resource to retrieve visual resources for learning. It allows teachers and students to add visual learning resources to their curriculum and or project with providing valuable accreditation.

Summary & Connection:

     With this chapter it brings light to how great using the Internet for information can be but how to properly use the Internet and evaluate all the information it provides. Teachers and students can be taught how to access and assess the information they come by properly and effectively. Having done the website evaluation project I now know the steps needed to be taken when assessing a website for its resources. All teachers and students should know this criteria when determining the quality of a web resource.
  • Accuracy
  • Authority
  • Objectivity
  • Currency
  • Coverage


1 comment:

  1. Practicing AAOCC is a great foundation for evaluating a website - soon it becomes second nature , but I do think it should be taught and reinforced throughout school. Once you use Flickr, it also becomes a valuable tool.

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