Diamonds in the Dross

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Diamonds in the Dross

• Evaluating websites and online information

Elspeth S. Scott Menzieshill High School
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Information literacy

• CILIP on Information Literacy The Definition
• Information literacy is knowing when and why you
  need information, where to find it, and how to
  evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical
  manner.
• This definition implies several skills. We
  believe that the skills (or competencies)
  required to be information literate are as
  follows
• Understanding a need
• Understanding availability
• Understanding how to find information
• Understand the need to evaluate results
• Understand how to work with or exploit results
• Understand ethics and responsibility of use
• Understand how to communicate or share your
  findings
• Understand how to manage your findings

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• How do we as practitioners evaluate information
  from the Internet?
• How do we equip children to evaluate information
  from the Internet?

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Evaluation
How good is this website? Will it help me with
my work?
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Into the Black Hole
A mixed ability class of S1 (Year 7) have come to
the LRC to carry out some research about the
universe. They have a range of questions to
answer, covering the solar system, the big bang,
black holes and stars.
Visit http//menzieshill.ea.dundeecity.sch.uk Go
to the LRC pages to see some of the sites found.

Which of the sites listed would you recommend and
why?
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How do we as practitioners evaluate information
from the Internet?
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No need to re-invent the wheel

• We are already experts in evaluation.

Use the skills we already have
Apply them to the new medium
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• CILIP information literacy skills Understand the
  need to evaluate results
• Be able to evaluate information for its
  authenticity, accuracy, currency, value and bias.
  
• Note This is not just whether the resource
  appears to answer the question, but whether it is
  intrinsically trustworthy.

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Evaluation criteria

• Authority
• Currency
• Objectivity
• Content
• Language
• Design

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Authority

• Who has written the site?
• Qualifications
• Expertise
• Contact details
• Who has published the site?
• Organisation
• Individual

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Clues

• .gov
• .ac
• .edu
• .sch
• .com/.co.uk
• .org
• .net
• Personal
• user

• http//www.easywhois.com
• http//altavista.com
• LinkltURLgt

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Currency

• When was the site created?
• Is there evidence of updating? Is it maintained
  regularly?
• How important is it that the information is up to
  date?
• Are any links live?

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Objectivity

• What is the purpose of the site?
• to inform
• to educate
• to entertain
• to sell something an opinion or an object
• Is the information balanced or is there evidence
  of bias?
• Is there a clear distinction between the
  information and the authors opinion?

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Content

• What is the scope of the website?
• What is the breadth of the coverage?
• What is the depth of the coverage?
• Who is the intended audience and is the content
  appropriate for them?
• Is all this information easily available?

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Language

• Is it at the right level for the target audience?
• Is it grammatical and correctly spelled?
• Is it well-written?
• Is it clear and unambiguous?

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Design- of individual pages

• Is it clearly laid out?
• Is there a good balance of text and images?
• Does it use an appropriate font design, size and
  colour?

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Design- of the site

• Is it well-organised?
• Is it easy to navigate?
• Is there an index or search facility?
• Are the illustrations or multimedia appropriate?
• Does any interactivity offer genuine added value?
• Dont be dazzled by flashy technique

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You are not alone

• Reviews and recommendations from e.g ict_at_sla,
  TES, sln mailing list
• Directories
• Librarians index to the internet http//lii.org
• Online review databases
• TEEM http//www.teem.org.uk/

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How do we equip pupils to evaluate information
from the internet?
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Too many young people believe that if they see it
on the Internet, it must be true. Alan November
Empowering students with technology
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• Show why they need to evaluate information
• Model techniques and tools they can use
• Provide opportunities to practice the skills
• Assess and evaluate their skills

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Showing them why

• Spoof websites
• www.dhmo.org/dihydrogen-monoxide
• www.rythospital.com
• www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoaxsites.html
• Misspelled searches
• Biased websites
• Inappropriate level

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Quick

• http//www.quick.org.uk/

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Checklists

• For upper primary / lower secondary
• For upper secondary / staff

Checklists developed by school librarians in the
Masterclass programme
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Practising and assessing

• Work with staff
• Link to specific curriculum topics