The ABCs ofThe ABCs of Internet Literacy Internet Literacy

A Presentation for SNEC TeachersA Presentation for SNEC TeachersOctober 11, 2005 October 11, 2005

by Rondi S. Aastrupby Rondi S. AastrupMartha A. BanMartha A. Ban

Copyright 2005 Martha A. BanCopyright 2005 Martha A. Ban

The ABCs ofThe ABCs of Internet Literacy Internet Literacy

A Presentation for SNEC TeachersA Presentation for SNEC TeachersOctober 11, 2005 October 11, 2005

by Rondi S. Aastrupby Rondi S. AastrupMartha A. BanMartha A. Ban

Copyright 2005 Martha A. BanCopyright 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 Busters– Truth About Myths and Hoaxes – Urban Legends Reference – About.com Urban Legends

Search Engines for Kids• Awesome Library

http://www.awesomelibrary.org/• Teoma http://www.teoma.com • Fact Monster http://www.factmonster.com• Berits Best http://www.beritsbest.com/• Cyber Slueth http://cybersleuth-kids.com/• TekMom

http://www.tekmom.com/search/index.html

Evaluating Websites• The ability to critically evaluate a Web

page for authenticity, applicability, authorship, bias, and usability.

• http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/eval.html

• http://www.novemberlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=160

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.

• http://www.novemberlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=160

• http://www.allaboutexplorers.com

Student Responsibilities

• What search engine did you use?– Add to Works Cited entries– Beitner, Nick. Horses, Horses, and More

Horses. 02 Oct. 2005 <http://www.horses.co.uk/>. (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. • 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. • www.google.com

Boolean Searches• AND, OR, NOT• http://kathyschrock.net/rbs3k/bool

ean/• http://adam.ac.uk/info/boolean.ht

ml#bool

Noodletools• Noodletools is a site that helps you

determine where to search.• http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/liter

acies/information/5locate/adviceengine.html OR

• http://www.noodletools.com/noodlequest/

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.

• www.overture.com

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

– http://www.noodletools.com/noodlequest/

– http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/5locate/adviceengine.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• http://citationmachine.net/

T - Try Variety of Engines• Search engines have own bias when

ranking results• Search engines yield different results• www.teoma.com• www.altavista.com• www.google.com

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– www.martinlutherking.org

• Anyone can publish on the web– 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 email

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”• http://www.easywhois.com/

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, 1999.

• www.archive.org

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• www.altavista.com

– Link (link:martinlutherking.org)– Host (link:martinlutherking.org

host:edu)– url (link:martinlutherking.org url:k12)

Reality Researching• Searching with extensions• Using www.altavista.com

– .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”– www.altavista.com

• Host:gov + “multiple sclerosis”

Finding Resources in Teacher Web Sites

• “Host:command” in Alta Vista creates an index in any web site– Virtual Index

• www.altavista.com– Host:school.discovery.com +

“endangered animals”

The Command Search• www.altavista.com

– Host:educationworld.com + “lesson plans” + “poetry”

– Host:webquest.org + “oregon trail”

Plagiarism• www.google.com

– 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• www.wiu.edu/users/mfbhl/wiu/plag

iarism.htm• http://bedfordstmartins.com/techn

otes/techtiparchive/ttip102401.htm

• www.cyberbee.com

Ethics and the Internet• Detecting Plagiarism

– Search Engine– Electronic Detection Services

• Glatt Plagiarism Services– http://www.plagiarism.com/index.htm

• TurnItIn – http://www.turnitin.com• EVE – www.canexus.com/eve/

Citing Information Found on the Internet

• MLA Style: Documenting Sources from the World Wide Web http://www.mla.org/

• Electronic Reference Formats Recommended by the American Psychological Association http://www.apa.org/elecref.html

• The Copyright Website http://www.benedict.com

• Citation Machine

http://citationmachine.net/

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 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 QuestsElementary

• Children of the Holocaust:  • The Oceans• Explorers

Web QuestsSecondary

• For Love of the Game?  • Ethnomathematics Web Quest

Hotlists• http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/

fil/pages/listancientpa.html• http://www.kn.sbc.com/wired/fil/

pages/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!