Identifying, Evaluating & Sharing Resources Online

School for Friends Teacher / Staff Retreat Spring 08

Overview

Discuss completed surveys

Types of Web resources

Evaluating Web sites

Managing & Sharing resources

Workshop Goals

To provide participants information regarding resources pertinent to their subject area of focus

To enable participants to select, locate, access, retrieve, evaluate, organize, and preserve information

To provide hands-on practice with suggested online management tool

What you told me…

What you told me… (con’t)

Types of Web Resources

Assoc / Organization / Agency (.org /.gov)policies, standards, guidelines, etc.

Academic / Scholarly (.edu / .org)studies, theories, discourse, debate, etc.

Commercial (.com / .net)advertisements, articles, FYI, tips, link lists, etc.

Assoc / Organization / Agency (.org /.gov)policy-makers, advocacy groups, school administrators,

teachers, higher education

Academic / Scholarly (.edu / .org)school administrators, teachers, higher edu, parents

Commercial (.com)teachers, parents, children

Where to find articles in Web sites?

Look for Headings listed in navigation barPossible Heading Titles: Useful links Resources Publications Topics Issues Articles

Headings

Evaluating Web Resources

• Author

• Date of publication

• URL (Web address)

• Content

• Target audience

• Usability of the site

Who is the author?

Author’s academic credentials?

Other articles published?

Other professional affiliations?

Consider Googling author’s name

Date of Publication

When was the source published?

Note date at the bottom of Web page, sometimes on every page

Is the source current or out-of-date for your topic?

The URL

Is it somebody’s personal page?

What type of domain does it come from?

Is it published by an entity that makes sense?

Integrity of the web article What is the tone?

What is the purpose of the publication?

What assumptions does the author make?

Is the information fact or opinion?

Does the author attempt to remain objective?

Does the author agree or disagree with other authors of the subject?

Does the content agree with what you know or have learned about the issue?

Target Audience

What type of audience is the author addressing?

Specialized or General?

Elementary, Technical or Advanced?

Usability

Does the page load within a reasonable time?

Are there grammatical or spelling errors on the page?

Are links provided to actual content, or to lists of other resources?

On supporting pages, is there a link back to the main page?

Search engines & Directories

Search Engines display lists of web pages based on keywords. Google , Yahoo!

Directories lists web sites by category and subcategory. Google , Yahoo!

Modified from > Web directory. (2008, March 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:37, March 27, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Web_directory&oldid=197240981

Searching Google

Note: Jim has a great handout discussing Google operators

Managing Web Resources via del.icio.us

What is del.icio.us?

a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks.

How does it work?

Via Firefox Web browser, you can click on a button and the following will appear:

Then what?

You select or create keywords to describe the site you are bookmarking

Ok, how do I post?

After you click on Save, you will see your bookmark saved in a listing on your del.icio.us page

Use Firefox del.icio.us buttons for easy bookmarking

Why should we use del.icio.us?

To find new Web resources through other people’s bookmark lists

To participate in a community with liked minds

To share with colleagues, other teachers

And…

Del.icio.us can assist…

New teachers

Substitute teachers

New parents

Current parents

Preschool / early childhood learning community

Happy Bookmarking

ahumber@howard.edu