M3: Evaluating websites, search engines, and the internet

Search Engines

               I would imagine in this day in age you would be hard pressed to find a child who hasn’t “googled” something to find an answer to their question. It’s our natural reaction these days to turn to the internet when we need a question answered or when we need to find information on a topic. We search the internet through “search engines” like Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Dog Pile, etc. (p.219). There are two types of search engines, subject index search engines, where the site provides a list of topics you can click on or key word searches, where the engine uses keywords you type in and lists websites who’s URLs contain that word or phrase you are searching (p.219). Students learning to use these search engines in a specific efficient way is extremely helpful in the classroom. Research for project, like searching for a specific work of art or artist in my future classroom, could be made very easy by utilizing search engines online.

Website Evaluation Video

               I like the simplicity this video shows on how to decide on a website’s relevance. Checking for the five W’s seems like a simple technique that all age groups could follow to determine if a website seems like a credible source of information. I also like the video’s point to check for dead links. I think it’s important for a websites links to be active to make navigating there site so much easier. As well as finding a website that is visually appealing and easy to navigate, which according to Roblyer and Doering is two of the criteria for evaluating websites (pg. 255).

Favorite Web Site #1

               Pinterest.com has become an extremely useful website for me and I think will continue to be useful to me in my future career as a teacher. Pinterest has other teachers lessons, ideas, resources, and is essentially a constant stream of inspiration. I find Pinterest to follow almost all of the criteria set out by Roblyer and Doering on evaluating a good website (pg 255). It has good structure and organization, as your inspiration can be placed on “boards” as specific or broad a topic as you like. The organization options of Pinterest are one of the things I love most about this website. I will definitely be using Pinterest in my future classroom for inspiration of lessons and organization of inspiration in general.

Favorite Web Site #2

               I found this Teach Art Wiki to be a really cool space for collaboration between those in the art education field.  I like that they give clear instruction on how to best contribute to the wiki page adding to its good structure and organization. This is one of the criteria Roblyer and Doering layout in chapter 8 for evaluating web pages and website design (pg. 255). Collaborations like this on wiki seem like the best way to me to utilize the site.

References:

Roblyer, M.D., and Aaron H. Doering. Integrating Educational Technology Into Teaching. 6^th ed.

Boston: Pearson. 2013. Print.