Transcript Information Literacy

Information Literacy
A New Basic Skill
Now that children are choosing to use the Internet as
their personal media, we are faced with consequence of
not teaching them to decode the content
(Alan November)
The Internet as a Source of
Information
 The
Internet is a free and global
forum.
 It represents the most dangerous of
information environments.
 It can be seductive.
Zach’s Story
“Read the excerpt from
Alan Novembers Book”
Page 2
The Address of the Professors
Site
 http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~abutz
/index.html
 What can we tell about the site by
looking at the folders that make it
up?
14 Year Old Persective
 Teacher
told him to find a unique
topic. This fits.
 The page is simple and clear. It is
written in a logical tone.
 It is a valid source from a tenured
professor at a top University
 It has a 1990’s publication date and
it is on the internet.
Teaching students to use the Internet is
much more complex than simply using a
search engine to search the web.
(Alan November)
We need to teach the critical thinking
skills to understand the structure of
information and how to cross reference
the source.
(Alan November)
MAPping by Alan November
 Alan
November identifies three areas
of a website that must be analyzed
critically.
– Meta – web information
– Author
– Purpose
Meta Web Information
 The
structure of information on the
internet.
 Url’s, - Universal Resource Locators
 Links
 Search Engines
Meta
 URL
– Universal Resource Locator
 Domain Name
 Folder Structure
 .com .edu .net .org .gov .k12
 Identify the parts of a web address
Public Web Server
Higher
Education
Professors
Name/folder
http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~abut
z/index.html
Domain
Personal
Web Folder
Symbol
Links

What is a link?
– the means of connection between things linked
in series. A hypelink is a connection of two
existing websites.

Who can author a link?
– Anyone

Why are they significant?
– There is not link police.
– Anyone can create one pointing anywhere.

How can we use them to validate the
information?
Strength / Weakness of Links
 The
ability of anyone to add a link
from his or her website to another.
 It is important to teach students that
there is no link police.
The Link Command
 Checking
the links on a page to
verify the information.
 Are the links all internal?
 Do they point to the same author?
 What type of sites are linked?
The Link Command
 Copy
the web address of the source.
 Go to www.altavista.com
 Type LINK: in the search box. (don’t
forget the colon)
 After the colon paste the address.
 Click Search
 Your search results will have a list of
sites that are linked to the page.
The Link Command
 In
the case of Zach, Butz’s site is
linked from the following:
– The White Nationalists
– Fascists Resource Page
– Knights of Michigan KKK
AUTHOR
 Investigate
the Author’s credentials.
 In Zach’s case the author is an
Engineering professor.
Purpose
 Advocacy
VS. Objectivity
 Students should ask fundamental
questions about any site.
– What is it trying to do?
– What is its purpose?
– Entertain, sell products or services,
present information, advocate ideas or
entertain?
The Internet is a place
where you can find proof
of any belief system that
you can imagine.
Developing Critical Thinking Skills
 Below
is a resource from the library
association for teaching critical
thinking online.
 http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissue
s/acrlinfolit/infolitstandards/stnd3/st
andardthree.htm
Blocking vs. Access
Website Evaluation Forms
 http://www.cyberbee.com/content.p
df
 http://school.discovery.com/schrockg
uide/eval.html
Resources





www.internet101.ca
www.netsmartz.org
Alan November “Teaching Zack to Think” High
School Principal Magazine, September1998
Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli. "The
Read/Write Web: New Tools for a New Generation
of Technology." Principal - The Tech Savvy
Principal January/February 2007: 12-17.
November, Alan. Empowering Students With
Technology. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin
Press, 2001.