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When students are asked what Internet-related subjects they would like to learn about in school, the top choice for 68 per cent is “How to tell if information you find on the Net is true or not”.
(Source: Young Canadians in a Wired World research, Media Awareness Network, 2005) |
Anybody can post information on the Internet, making it possible to find "proof" of any ideas or beliefs you can imagine. Yet to many students, "If it's on the Internet, it must be true."
Traditionally, when looking for information, we would seek out reputable sources such as an established newspaper or book publisher. We tend to trust material published by public institutions, written by experts, or recommended by information specialists such as librarians or teachers.
As well, such traditional resources had "gatekeepers"—editors, fact checkers or peer reviewers—to make sure the material was accurate. The job of these gatekeepers was to weed out incomplete or erroneous information, as well as lies and hoaxes.
But the Internet is different. In most cases it has no such gatekeepers: anyone and everyone can appear to be an "expert." So to get the most out of the Internet, students need to learn two things: first, how to find good information online; and second, how to evaluate the information they find.
How to find good information
With millions of pages already published, and thousands more being posted every day, finding information can be daunting. Some online searches produce hundreds of results - and many legitimate-sounding Web sites may not be what they appear to be. A good start is to use dependable sources, such as bookmark collections from library and educational sites. As well, learn to conduct effective online searches. The MNet backgrounder How to Search the Internet Effectively (in the right sidebar) contains tips on finding good information on the Internet.
Evaluating online information
When you think you've found what you're looking for, the next step is to evaluate the information. How can you determine if the source is legitimate? There are several questions you can ask. For instance: What is the purpose of the Web site— Has it been created to provide information, or promote its own products? The information you find on a pharmaceutical company site, for example, may be quite different from that offered by a government health agency.
Part of Web literacy involves encouraging students to approach the Internet with a healthy scepticism. They should ask the right questions about the information they encounter online:
- Who is the source?
- What am I getting?
- When was it created?
- Where am I?
- Why am I there?
- How can I distinguish quality information from junk?
The resources listed in the right sidebar include strategies to help students think critically about online information. Using the template The Five Ws of Cyberspace as a guide, young people can examine the authorship, purpose, perspective and presentation of Web sites, in order to determine their credibility. Deconstructing Web Pages provides a step-by-step application of the five Ws to an actual Web site - with some interesting results. And Quick Tips for Authenticating Online Information offers some simple and effective strategies for assessing sites.
The two background documents (Evaluating Internet-Based Information: A Goals-Based Approach, and Evaluating Internet Research Sources, by educators David Warlick and Robert Harris), provide strategies and templates for disseminating online information, and for integrating Internet research into classroom assignments.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is hardly a new issue in the classroom. However, the Internet makes it easy to locate ready-made information to cut and paste into research papers. That may make cheating a tempting proposition for some students.
The Internet is forcing teachers to rethink how they assign and evaluate student research. If you've used that Macbeth essay topic for a few years, the chances are good that samples of it can be found on one of the many essay sites on the Web. Luckily, most students who are guilty of plagiarism download free essays that can easily be traced. All a teacher has to do is perform his/her own search on a suspicious paper: typing its title, topic, or even a few sentences from the body into a search engine will often produce results. (As a preventative measure, teachers can even conduct their own searches for topics before assigning the essay - and let students know that you do so.)
The plagiarism resources listed at right offer guidelines to teaching students the importance of using and citing Web resources responsibly, as well as how to recognize and prevent plagiarism.
Copyright
The issue of discouraging plagiarism is inextricably bound up with the issue of teaching students to respect the laws of intellectual property—such as copyright.
Copyright is a complex issue, especially as it concerns the Internet. However, there are some excellent online resources available. The Council of Ministers of Education, the Canadian School Boards Association and the Canadian Teachers' Federation have created a handy reference for teachers called "Copyright Matters!" And the Telus "2 learn" Web site has an extensive section on digital copyright called "What Every Teacher Should Know about Copyright." Links to these sites, and to the University of Berkley's "Style Sheets for Citing Internet and Electronic Resources," are provided in the right sidebar.
