The ABCs of Internet Literacy A Presentation for SNEC Teachers October 11, 2005 by Rondi S. Aastrup Martha A. Ban Copyright 2005 Martha A. Ban The ABCs of Internet Literacy A Presentation for SNEC Teachers October 11, 2005 by Rondi S. Aastrup Martha A. Ban Copyright 2005 Martha A. Ban

I read it on the Internet – it must be true! “ The Internet is the most powerful, convenient, and potentially manipulative medium ever invented. It can give you any version of the truth you are looking for. Not only does information expand and change everyday, the rules for finding information also change. ” ~ A. November

What does the research say? Many students do a lot of web research at home, away from their schools and away from filters. Teaching Zack...

Believe it? Or not… Feline Reaction of Bearded Man California’s Velcro Crop Under Challenge Dog Island The Tree Octopus The Jackalope How to combat mind control Intelli-tube (travel by ip address!!)

Fight Back –Hoax BustersHoax Busters –Truth About Myths and HoaxesTruth About Myths and Hoaxes –Urban Legends ReferenceUrban Legends Reference –About.com Urban LegendsAbout.com Urban Legends

Search Engines for Kids Awesome Library Teoma Fact Monster Berits Best Cyber Slueth TekMom

Evaluating Websites The ability to critically evaluate a Web page for authenticity, applicability, authorship, bias, and usability. /eval.htmlhttp://school.discovery.com/schrockguide /eval.html

Educate Teaching students how to “read” the internet is as important as teaching them their ABCs.

Educate - Across the Curriculum Teach consistently - throughout the school year - across the curriculum. abid=160http:// abid=160

Student Responsibilities What search engine did you use? –Add to Works Cited entries –Beitner, Nick. Horses, Horses, and More Horses. 02 Oct (google) What is the direction of forward links? What do the external links reveal about that site?

Search Plan Step 1 - Define the research problem Step 2 - Know what kind of information you are looking for Step 3 - Select the best keywords

Define Research Problem Is it a relatively simple question? Is it a fact-finding mission? Is the research question complex with a series of questions or relationships I need to explore?

What Kind of Info? Am I looking for text, video or pictures? Do I need biographical information? Is the information I need historic or current in content? Should I be asking an expert in the field?

Keywords The more specific instructions and keywords provided when searching for information, the better your results will be. The art of searching is to know what to add (or subtract!) around keywords such as turtle and French. The trick is to teach students to be creative and dynamic with searches: Have them try various options of search queries and search tools.

Keyword Lists Create a list of keywords before they begin their research.list Make key decisions about what exactly is being looked for and how a search engine might categorize the information.

Keyword List Categories Keywords that MUST be included in the search Keywords that MIGHT be included in the search Keywords that should NOT be included in the search

+ or - Searches Plus (+) and minus (-) signs in a search query –search looks for exactly what is needed used in between keywords. A + sign in between keywords will return a smaller amount of results. A - sign means do not include.

Boolean Searches AND, OR, NOT ean/ ean/ #boolhttp://adam.ac.uk/info/boolean.html #bool

Noodletools Noodletools is a site that helps you determine where to search. cies/information/5locate/adviceengine.ht ml ORhttp:// cies/information/5locate/adviceengine.ht ml designed for younger students…

So far, students have: Defined a research problem clearly and thought of a variety of ways to approach a topic Thought beyond the search engines usually used (no offense Google!) and investigated a variety of options. Thought critically and creatively about search options

How Much for that Key Word? Organizations bid and outbid each other for particular keywords and phrases. Implications of this are various: for some companies it means thousands of dollars, and for researchers, it means information bias of which we should be aware.

Ms ART Search Strategy M -- Make a plan S -- Select keywords A -- Add + or - signs & Boolean operators R -- Research and record T -- Try a variety of search engines

M - Make a Plan Define the research question Select search tools particular to it – t/ t/ – racies/information/5locate/adviceengin e.htmlhttp:// racies/information/5locate/adviceengin e.html

S - Select keywords The search engine does NOT think for you Think like a search engine!

A - Add Signs & Operators + / - AND, OR, NOT

R - Research & Record Essential to create references AS DATA IS GATHERED

T - Try Variety of Engines Search engines have own bias when ranking results Search engines yield different results

Validating Websites R - Read the URL E - Examine the content A - Ask about the author and publisher L - Look at the links

Read the URL Exercise in critical thinking. Goal is to make judgments about web site information based upon what the URL tells –URLs may provide information about the publisher of a web site. –If you know who publishes a site, you may have a clue about the quality of information

Guiding Questions Do you recognize the domain name? What is the extension in the domain name? Are you on a personal page?

Image isn’t Everything Information that is correct Information that is up-to-date Information that is right for your topic

Guiding Questions Is the information on the Web site useful for your topic? Are additional resources and links provided? Do the links work? Is the site current? Do you know when it was last updated? Do you think the information is accurate? Does the information contradict information you have found elsewhere?

Ask About the Author/Publisher Martin Luther King story – Anyone can publish on the web –Anyone???Anyone??? Must ensure the author and owner of sites are reputable and reliable sources of information.

What to Consider Evaluate the credibility of a web site author Identify the owner of a web site Evaluate the history of the web site

The Author Is the author’s name provided? Is there a contact person or address provided? Is there biographical information provided about the author? Does the author seem knowledgeable? Is he/she an expert in the area?

Find the Site’s Owner Not all sites are up front with owner information Some companies pay to have the information “burried”

Find the Site’s History Wayback Machine Allows you to browse through 30 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few months ago. The first archive of this web site dates from April 21,

External Links Digital threads that come from other web sites May be made by anyone in the world Any author can choose to link to a web site; – an author may even choose to link to his/her own work. External links are invisible. –anyone in the world can create a link to a web site from an external source.

Checking Link Patterns Why bother? –help gain perspective about the quality of a web site’s information

Questions to Ask Who is linked to the page? –Universities? Commercial sites? Why are they linked? –What is the purpose of the link? What do other sites say about the information on the site? –Cross reference info and look for hidden bias

Who is Linked to YOUR School? The UN? Who is linked to SNEC?

Questions to Ask –Link (link:martinlutherking.org) –Host (link:martinlutherking.org host:edu) –url (link:martinlutherking.org url:k12)

Reality Researching Searching with extensions Using –.gov –.edu –.us Extension resource on CD

What’s the Big Deal? Multiple Sclerosis - –.com,.org,.net are not always reliable sources. –Anyone can purchase a domain name with these extensions –.gov,.edu reduces the “risks” – Host:gov + “multiple sclerosis”

Finding Resources in Teacher Web Sites “Host:command” in Alta Vista creates an index in any web site –Virtual Index –Host:school.discovery.com + “endangered animals”

The Command Search –Host:educationworld.com + “lesson plans” + “poetry” –Host:webquest.org + “oregon trail”

Plagiarism –Hamlet essay Students are 2 clicks away from finding ANY research paper in any subject area - even Ethics!

Preventing Plagiarism Outline expectations (Resource CD) Visit “paper mill” web sites to know what is out there Show students what is available - then they know that YOU know… Insist students include web source documentation (works cited page )

Preventing Plagiarism Approach plagiarism as a copyright issue Create assignments that make plagiarism difficult –Solving real problems in YOUR community –Including interviews –Require students to bring materials and write papers during class time –Require 1st & 2nd drafts to be submitted with final papers –Hold peer editing conferences

Preventing Plagiarism Limit the use of Internet research resources Create an authentic audience Post and publish student work –(use a blog… or your schools’ web page…)

Plagiarism Resources ism.htmwww.wiu.edu/users/mfbhl/wiu/plagiar ism.htm tes/techtiparchive/ttip htmhttp://bedfordstmartins.com/techno tes/techtiparchive/ttip htm

Ethics and the Internet Detecting Plagiarism –Search Engine –Electronic Detection Services Glatt Plagiarism Services – TurnItIn – EVE –

Citing Information Found on the Internet MLA Style: Documenting Sources from the World Wide Web Electronic Reference Formats Recommended by the American Psychological Association The Copyright Website Citation Machine

Teaching Responsibility Teach students the value of created works and respect for the creators Teach students to request permission when in doubt about the status Teach students how to request permission. –Permission Request TemplatePermission Request Template

Copyright Awareness Have students place copyright notice on all creative work. Correct form for a notice is: Copyright [date] by [author/owner]

Copyright Awareness You can use C in a circle © instead of the word Copyright but © has never been given legal force. The phrase “All Rights Reserved” used to be required in some nations but is now not needed.

Other Areas to Research Webquests Hotlists Blogs

Web Quests Elementary Children of the Holocaust: The Oceans Explorers

Web Quests Secondary For Love of the Game? Ethnomathematics Web Quest

Hotlists pages/listancientpa.htmlhttp:// pages/listancientpa.html es/listrevolutimr26.htmlhttp:// es/listrevolutimr26.html

Blogs AUC Hurricane Katrina Project Blog Tutorial

Our Responsibility Be Aware Be Around Educate - students Educate - parents Educate - selves - stay current!

The Moral of the Story? It’s time to investigate – and learn more!