The risks of web use - conversations to have with your class!

'To google' – Verb, to search the Internet for information about (a person, topic, etc.): We googled the new applicant to check her background.

Often students (and staff) carry out this action as part of their 'research' based tasks. It is however, rather likely that some 12 million pages will be returned when searching for 'Cricket' or 'Romans'. It is likely that the user will click on the links on the first page of results and will take their research in the form of a copy/paste/print out from the page they find.

There are 4 main issues with evaluating the information on the web as I see it.

First of all the (often) unintentional plagiarism of passing off someone else’s work as your own. It is with alarming frequency I receive a piece of work that has been created by a pupil and given in as their own. When I pass it back and they see that I have printed off the original from wikipedia and stuck it into their book I am often met with red faces. A systematic teaching of how to cite these sources is essential in the connected society we live in and providing students and staff with the ethical understanding and foundation of citation and plagiarism is key in moving towards educated use of the web.

Secondly the issue of inaccurate information, one of the best things about the internet is that it is available to anyone to publish any material that they choose. This allows developers to produce sites that are interesting and can be published without any investment other than the time taken to produce. This does however mean that there are many factually incorrect, malicious or misleading web sites that can be mistaken for being the truth. It is essential to cross reference any information taken from the web with other sources of information, just as students would be expected to do when completing a history assignment. Other issues to consider when evaluating the source that has come from an unknown website is when it was last updated, especially if you are searching for facts that could change over time.

Thirdly I feel that it is important to raise the issue of search engine personalisation. This is where the search engines we use customise the results that they show us based on a variety of factors we do not control. For example the country you are searching from, the type of operating system you use, the web browser that you are using or your previous searches and clicks. All of this information is used to display a set of search results that are 'personalised' to you. This is an area that should be evaluated when completing searches as the information that may be displayed on one computer may be different to that of another computer because of setup differences or previous users clicks.

Finally there are a collection of issues that relate to the accessibility and quality of material that is found. The origin of the information provided can be found from the suffix at the end of the web address. The suitability and quality of the information should be carefully evaluated ensuring that there is no particular view being promoted whether it be political or ethical.

Usability and accessibility of webpages should be evaluated to ensure that they fit the needs of the people using them. A text heavy website may not be suitable for younger children even if the information contained upon it is excellent. Equally the links on the webpage being used should be checked to ensure that they have not been hijacked to direct users to pages that are not desirable.

Using technology to support learning - Clipping Magic

I have stumbled across 'Clipping Magic' which is a brilliant site to use in a cross curricular way.
If I think of some of the occasions I could have used this website in the past year there have been a couple of instances where it would have added to my lessons - not recreated the outcomes, but certainly made the lesson more relevant to the children.

Could be used in many cross curricular contexts...

Why not create a protest poster either for or against your historical figure?
Use the clipper with several figures and recreate a scene where they meet and describe their meeting underneath?
Recreate a scene and use it as a stimulus for writing - different scenes for each gives inividualised writing.

Lots of ways this can be used!

http://clippingmagic.com/