1. Q6C : A Multidisciplinary Approach for Teaching Online Research Practices Katherine Deibel (Computer Science), Sarah Read (English), Tim Wright (History), University of Washington For information or collaboration, contact the authors at deibel@cs.washington.edu, reads@u.washington.edu, wrighttm@u.washington.edu Motivation & Background Like it or not, the Web has become the usual first stop for students—regardless of discipline—and other consumers looking for information. To manage the complex mass of information available, students need the skills to determine:  Is the site and its information trustworthy and credible?  Is the information actually useful for one's purposes? Despite students’ reported confidence with using IT, studies show that many undergraduates’ ability to be critical of online sources remains undeveloped and in need of explicit instruction. While we might assume that computing students are already, natural savvy users of the Internet, there is no evidence for such an assumption nor are there explicit mentions of information literacy skills within the curricula requirements In short, just as we teach computing students, how the Internet works, we must also teach them how to properly use the Internet as a resource for information. Prof. Computing “But aren’t our computing students already “confident users of the Internet? “Aren’t these skills taught in those required “writing courses over in English? Yes and no. Students are often encouraged to use checklists or rubrics to judge the “accuracy” or “reliability” of a website and its contents even though those checklists often provide misleading results or fail to take the students to the next step: evaluation and conclusion. Writing courses in English also only teach general skills. The heuristics and emphases of a specific discipline can only be taught from within that discipline. “Like how papers over 5-10 years old “are often out of date due to the rapid “pace of IT development!” Example Checklist Questions  Is there an author?  Can you tell whether the author is knowledgeable and credible?  What does the URL tell you? The URL ending often specifies the type of group hosting the site:.org (nonprofit),.gov (government), etc.  Why was the site created: To argue a position? To sell a product? To inform readers?  How current is the site?  How current are the site's links? If many of the links no longer work, the site may be too dated. “That’s wrong!.org is “not restricted to “only non-profits!” “I can use JavaScript “to update the date “on a webpage every “ day if I wanted!” !! The Q6C Approach  Maintain a skeptical frame of mind.  Ask questions about a source you are considering for your research. Question Categorize  Is this a primary, secondary or tertiary source in the context of your research?  What type of site is it (blog, wiki, website, etc.)? Characterize Authorship  Identify who created the content. Single or multiple authors? Committee? Institution? Community? Critic? Expert? Anonymous Contextualize  Place the information collected in conversation with your existing experience and body of knowledge.  Does it fit? How? Critique Rhetorically  What do the authors’ choice of words, tone, font, display format, images, genre, and argumentative strategies tell you about the intended audience and the credibility and reliability of this site?  Assess how the content compares to other sources. Is it consistent, complementary, or contradictory? Corroborate  Is the source credible and useful for your research? Conclude Drawing on interdisciplinary research studies, the Q6C approach gives students a process of questions and inquiry that allows them to become more thoughtful online information consumers—to become cyber-savvy. Q6C is not a checklist; it is a model (FSM) of the general process of evaluating the credibility and utility of online (and offline) sources. Q6C describes the type of questions that a person should ask of a source but does not require every question to be asked. Different disciplines will also favor some questions over others. Q C C CC C C The Q6C Finite State Machine Instantiations of Q6C: Topic: Information / opinion on recent U.S. policy towards net neutrality Question Categorize “Series of posts “on Blogger” Characterize Author “Most recent post “was 2001” Conclude “Too old to “be useful” Characterize Author “He is a Swiss “citizen” Characterize Author “He is part owner “of a European ISP” Question Categorize “Series of posts “on ScienceBlogs” Corroborate “Provides links to “citations” Conclude “Seems “promising” Conclude “Useful but “biases exist” Isn’t Q6C just another checklist? What’s different about it other than length? Description: Imagine you are guest lecturing and need to prepare a last-minute college-level lesson plan that requires you to do some quick online research on digital rights management (DRM). You find two good websites but—assessing them on their bias, accuracy, and credibility—you must choose which one is the better site for your purposes. Evaluate both sites, decide which is more reliable, and write a short explanation of your reasoning. Web Site Comparison Instructor Tips:  Find 2 websites that present similar information but in different design styles (straight HTML vs. CSS).  Present Q6C to students and suggest it as a guide. Do not grade explicitly for its usage.  Variants: any ethical topic, purchasing decisions Suggested Courses and Lessons:  Computer Fluency / Literacy courses  Computer Security and Policy  Computer Ethics Description: For a large software development project, you have to evaluate and choose a third-party SDK to handle the online database front-end for your product. You have found two systems that meet your requirements, but your bosses want to know about know about implementation and support. They want you to consider issues of developer support, user communities, and customer opinions of the software and prepare a report on which system is better. Purchasing Decision Instructor Tips:  Encourage students to explore message boards, blogs, etc. and to use Q6C to determine reliability and usefulness.  Variants: programming languages, policy decisions, Mac vs. PC Suggested Courses and Lessons:  Fluency / Literacy courses  Software Engineering  Capstone / Project courses Description: Internet neutrality has become a topic of debate recently and has even been a topic on the Daily Show (show the Sen. Ted Stevens’s “Series of Tubes” clip). You are trying to understand the issue, and you want to find 1-3 definitive articles online about the topic. Once you have found your articles, post the links to the course discussion forum. You should then defend why your sources are credible and reliable as well as attempt to corroborate the source. Again, explain how you know your sources are definitive? Find The Definitive Sources Instructor Tips:  Use this activity as an introduction into a topic so that students are not experts already in the area.  Connect to a recent event if possible.  Use group work and peer review with this activity Suggested Courses and Lessons:  Fluency / Literacy courses  Networks  Computer Ethics Advice for Teaching with Q6C  Construct assignments that engage your students in “authentic” research experiences.  Scaffold the assignment’s research process so that students learn new skills incrementally.  Teach that research is about a process, not about a product.  Make explicit the outcomes of the assignment to help move students to the meta-cognitive level.  Try to find topics that you are not an expert in so that you can share the discovery process with the students.  Perform the assignment yourself or with a colleague prior to class in order to anticipate student responses. Computing Activities Using Q6C Me? 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