1. Web Site Evaluation Elizabeth Schanbacher Director of Educational Technology The Diocese of Buffalo

2. Critical Evaluation With the advent of the World Wide Web and the huge amount of information that is contained there, everybody needs to be able to critically evaluate a Web page for authenticity, applicability, authorship, bias, and usability. The ability to critically evaluate information is an important skill in this information age.

3. What makes a good site? Use the 5 W’s (and 1 H) Who, What, Where, When, Why and How to help you determine if the site is “good” http://www.media- awareness.ca/english/resources/special_initiatives/wa_r esources/wa_shared/tipsheets/5Ws_of_cyberspace.cfmhttp://www.media- awareness.ca/english/resources/special_initiatives/wa_r esources/wa_shared/tipsheets/5Ws_of_cyberspace.cfm Check out the Schrock Guide for an educators viewpoint. http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/pdf/ev almidd.pdfhttp://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/pdf/ev almidd.pdf Another great resource http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html

4. How do you know? Use this rubric to help you critically evaluate Web sites http://mciunix.mciu.k12.pa.us/~spjvweb/ev alchart.htmlhttp://mciunix.mciu.k12.pa.us/~spjvweb/ev alchart.html ICYouSee http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think. htmlhttp://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think. html

5. Critical Evaluation in Action http://novemberlearning.com/default.aspx? tabid=159&type=art&site=19&parentid=18http://novemberlearning.com/default.aspx? tabid=159&type=art&site=19&parentid=18 http://www.profusion.com to search all search engineshttp://www.profusion.com http://www.altavista.com/ to see the pages that refer or link to a site.http://www.altavista.com/

6. Need more information? http://www.lib.vt.edu/help/instruct/evaluate/ evalbiblio.htmlhttp://www.lib.vt.edu/help/instruct/evaluate/ evalbiblio.html http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/ eval.htmlhttp://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/ eval.html