5368--November Learning

After reviewing novemberlearning.com, I have learned several things that I didn't previously know. We had to look at information literacy, how to read a web address, publishers of web sites, history of websites, and external links to websites. We are to tell what we have learned, what we believe is important, and how we will use this information with students and teachers. One of the things that really stands out to me is how much information you can access with just a few minutes of time.
I now better see the value of identifiying the external links to a webpage. The article recommends Alta Vista, but I am a fan of google so I tried link: command with google. The results were very different. I preferred the results listed by Alta Vista better because the results from google were repetitive. It is important to know who links to the webpage you and your students are viewing to ensure validity and relevance to topic. I think this skill would definitely have to be illustrated to students for them to see the value. I understood the value of external links much better after I completed the follow up exercise.
Another skill that is critical to accessing reliable information on the internet is knowing how to read a web address. Today I polled one of my classes and asked them if they knew what .edu meant at the end of a web address. Seven students said it had something to do with education and the other fifteen didn't know. They didn't know that .edu is used for most higher education institutions in the United States. This is disturbing to me because I immediately wonder how reliable has the information been that they have been collecting this past school year. What about all of the research they have done in the past few years? Where has their information come from? I shudder to think of the answer. I pray it is not wikipedia. I wonder how many would be able to tell if a website is a personal website. I feel compelled to address this with my students in my class. I also feel compelled to survey our campus and see how many teachers know what the 10 extensions mean. If the teachers don't know then how are they teaching our kids to search out reliable information? I would love to give this literacy quiz to every teacher on campus and give the data to our professional development planner. Is this too lofty a goal? I don't think so.
I then wondered how I would possibly use this information in my class. I also wondered how in high school I was supposed to integrate this information into current lessons. At the secondary level, we are very focused on content that basic skills such as citizenship, manners, and information literacy are lost. I had a thought in class today. Students are currently learning the muscular system in class and I supplied two websites with 95% of the information they needed. I challenged students to find another reliable source for the other 5% needed to complete the assignment. I was impressed today when a student immediately opened google and clicked on advanced search. I had just witnessed a student use the advanced search feature of google to narrow his search. This proud moment faded quickly when only one student out of twenty used the advanced search feature. I was so excited for this one student, but then I realized that the other ninteen didn't know how to use the feature. I feel by the time they are seniors, they should know how to search the internet for reliable sources. It bothers me that seniors don't possess some basic skills needed to use technology effectively. These kids are going to college in a few months and don't have basic literacy skills in technology. I feel the weight of technology on my shoulders even more so today than normal.