Validity+of+Sources+on+the+Internet

JENNIFER ANDERSEN

"The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is hard to verify their authenticity."

-Abraham Lincoln



"Well that's true, sometimes quotes aredifficult to verify the original speaker. But wait... He didn't say that, didhe? He didn't use the internet. Did he? I mean, I found this quote on theinternet, so it must be true!"

As educators, we strive to see that our students reachtheir highest potential.This includes teaching them to perform their work with HONESTY and INTEGRITY. __ What is Website Validity? __ If you have ever thought to yourself, “I wonder if this information is accurate?” Or have you asked the question, “Can I trust that this information is correct and relevant to my purposes?” Then you havemost certainly wondered about website validity! In our world, we often suffer from information overload. The internet is full of great resources of information, but that does not mean that it is the right information for our purposes. We must play detective to uncover the truths we are looking for! __ How can we verify that the information is valid? __ An important thing to note is where the information is coming from. Generally, youcan get an idea of the validity of the information based on the website. If an URL comesfrom a: __ Whatdoes it mean for our students? __ Our students are bombarded with technology on a daily basis. They get a great deal of their information from what is passed down “through the grapevine” via their friends, social network, instant messaging, and text. We do face the difficulty that our students may often believe everything that they hear. We have to stress to them that just because they hear it or read it on the internet, it isn’t true! __ What does it mean for us as educators? __ We must teach our students to question their sources! We all have seen the papers handed in with “Wikipedia” cited as a source, and we cringe. As educators, we must teach our students about reliable sources, how they can find them, and what they can do to verify the information that they have found. __ How can we stress this to our students? __ Trickery migh tbe a good idea here! I think a great icebreaking activity would be to bring several incorrect, but true-soundingfacts to class. Read them aloud,one by one, and have the students decide whether or not it’s “fact or not”. __ What are some lesson plan ideas that may bringawareness of Website Validity into the classroom? __ One way is to branch off of the icebreaking activity and have students seek out their own facts. Each student would each be responsible for locating three incorrect facts and three correct facts. The trick to this would be that for the correct facts, they must back these up with other valid information! __ Want to know what some others havethought of website validity? __ []
 * Wiki ** spaces can be editedand updated by anyone with access and time! The information on these, although it may be updated often, is not necessarily correct or valid.
 * .com: ** Generally, sites ending in .com are commercial sites and therefore after their own purposes.This doesn’t mean that they’re wrong or inaccurate, but this does often mean that they are pushing their own agenda and beliefs and therefore may have abiased point of view.
 * .org: ** These sites aresponsored by a specific organization and usually run by a member of said organization. An important thing to remember is to check the dates of the information provided and ask if it is relevant and current.
 * .edu: ** Education sites are often maintained on a regular basis, and updated often.