Journal Post #5

Wow! Week 5 already! Chapter 5 offers great resources on internet technology and how to filter through the information on the internet. What is valid and what is not. I chose Tech Tool 5.1 which we will discuss later in the blog and I chose Focus question 4.

Focus Question 4

How can teachers and students thoughtfully evaluate online information resources, including the online Wikipedia?

First lets discuss the types of information problems that are found on the internet.

1)   Misinformation- notorious for incorrect information. Always remember that anyone can put anything on the internet. Make sure that you always get your information from a valid source. And be careful for “disinformation”. It’s a particular misinformation that is knowlingly false or malicious information.

2)   Malinformation- A reasonable person will consider this information bad.  It’s harmful information that can include sexual images or material, potentially dangerous or damaging information. Political views from militant fringe groups, ect. 

3)   Messed-Up Information- poorly organized and presented information. Web pages that have graphics that distract or clutter. No clear focus or topic. A reader can be overwhelmed by the data and unable to make sense of it.

4)   Mostly Useless Information- This is information that focuses on trivial, mundane and the eccentric. Please note however what may be trivial information to one can be very important to another.

Wikipedia! Who hasn’t heard of it? As one of my professors said to me, it’s where the eight year old down the street can change anything to what they want it to be. It’s hard to decipher what on Wikipedia is accurate and what is inaccurate. However there is a silver lining to it that even I before reading this chapter had not thought about.  Wikipedia provides teachers a relevant opportunity to teach students strategies for evaluating the quality of information found on the Internet. Leave it up to teachers to find a good side to it!

According to the American Library Association (ALA), high quality online information meets five criteria:

1)   accuracy

2)   authority

3)   objectivity

4)   currency

5)   coverage

Paying attention to URL extensions, discussing cognitive load, using lesson plan sites selectively, and giving clear Web research guidelines are important strategies for teachers to use in teaching Internet information evaluation to students.

Now I would like to discuss Tech Tool 5.1

Photo and Audio Resources on the Web-

Thankfully there are a variety of resources on the web to store photos and audio. Why is this so important? IF your computer crashes you potentially could loose all of your data including pictures and audio that you have stored there. Using online storage instead provides you a safe way of protecting that information. Another reason that these resources are important is that students enjoy visual images and audio recordings.  These types of materials help keep the students engaged in the lesson and help them concentrate on the ideas that you as a teacher are trying to share with them. The two sites that I want to discuss today are  Flickr and Libriovox. These two sites enable teachers to locate photos and audio resources on the web.

First lets talk about Flickr- is a great location to store photos. You can organize the photos and put them into groups which is definitely a plus especially when using in a classroom lesson plan. With that said there is a cost to unlimited storage on this site. It’s not much and I personally find it worth the cost of $24.95 a year to go “pro”. No ads and great ways to use the site. I plan on using this site during my teaching and with my lesson planning.



Flickr 

LibriVox is a new site to me, and I admit I find it interesting but also feel that there is much to learn about the site. This site allows us to access audio recordings of published books and other materials. The teachers and students can access the books in its entirety or by chapter-a-day on iTunes. I think this is a great resource to have as a teacher and being able to give that access to our students is very helpful for them I the learning process. And I really love that it’s accessible on iTunes. 

LibriVox

So in conclusion this chapter really gives information about how to use the web and what to look for to ensure that you are using valid information.  It’s a great resource to keep around.







That is it for this week! A little behind because of the joys of technology...When the internet goes down we all seem a little lost! But thankfully we are up and running again! Enjoy and see you next time!

Chau!


Resources

Textbook - Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2011). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN:10 0-13-159611-X, ISBN:13 978-0-13-159611-5