“Don’t just teach your children to read…
Teach them to question what they read.
Teach them to question everything.” - George Carlin
While George Carlin may be controversial for many of his views and strong opinions, I think the above quote is something any educator can agree with, particularly when doing research online. Students are fortunate on one hand because they have access to practically unlimited information online, often at their fingertips, as more and more students acquire smartphones, ipods, ipads, and numerous other mobile devices, with which they can "google" any question or topic. On the other hand, many students fall into a false sense of security, believing almost everything they read online. Therefore, as educators, we now have an obligation to not only teach students how to use technology, but also, how to think critically about the information they access using that technology.
In Chapters 3 and 4 of Web Literacy for Educators, Alan November addresses the issue of validating information on the internet. He uses the acronym REAL, as a sort of mental checklist students can use when trying to decide what is "real" information on the web.
R stands for "Read the URL." November suggests that students should be able to identify domain names and extensions (such as .org, .edu, .com, .gov, etc.) as a first step in deciding how authentic information may be.
The E stands for "Examine the Content." The basic premise of this step is teaching students to look beyond the initial appearance of a website, going back to the old adage, "Don't judge a book by it's cover." This is to help remind students that, although a website may look "cool" or authentic due to fantastic graphics, colors, presentation, this is no guarantee that the information included on the site is factual.
Next is A, which stands for "Ask About the Author and Owner." In this section, November points out that "one of the beauties of the Internet" is "anyone who wants to be an author or publisher on the Web can easily fulfill that dream." Of course, we as adults, know that this results in the publication of much false information. As our students are developing online research skills, we can teach them to identify the author of a website (when available) and therefore question the motive of the author when publishing the information.
And last but not least, L is for "Look at the Links." During this last step, November encourages students to explore the forward and back links of a website to help a student "evaluate whether a site contains biased, false, or quality information."
I know I glossed over a lot of the information included in these information rich chapters, but I wanted to get across the basic premise of helping students begin to validate information they access on the web. One very helpful resource at the end of chapter 3 is an "Examine the Content Worksheet." This has students record the URLs of sites visited, then circle yes or no for the following 5 questions:
1. Is the information on the site helpful?
2. Does the site have more resources and links? Do the links work?
3. Is the site up to date? Can I tell when it was last updated?
4. Is the information correct?
5. Are the facts different from information I have found elsewhere?
This seems like a pretty easy, yet extremely useful "checklist" to have students use.
Thanks for posting the REAL acronym, that is very helpful for teachers and parents. That is something I will keep in mind for myself as well. The check list does seem simple, but very helpful and useful. Sometimes we need simple and useful information to help us stay on track.
ReplyDeleteI just recently added blogging to my curriculum. It is a lot of fun. I found the acronym, REAL, very helpful. It's a nice way to contradict the "snatch and grab" technique that many of our students use while researching.
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