When your students or younger patrons browse the Web, they are bombarded with information from all kinds of sources—but can they tell what is fact and what is fiction? Teaching them how to find trustworthy information on their own is an essential life skill as well as a research skill. For that, youth need guidance to learn how to find reliable sources of information when navigating the Web.

Today’s How-To-Do-It Tip comes from The New iSearch, You Search,We All Learn to Research: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Teaching Research Using Web 2.0 Tools and Digital Resources written by Donna Duncan, Laura Lockhart, and Lisa Ham.

Evaluating Websites

The major portion of a student’s research in today’s world will often be on the Internet. The Web is powerful and has a wealth of information for students to access and use. Unfortunately, as Alan November writes, “the Internet is a place where you can find ‘proof ’ of essentially any belief system that you can imagine and for too many students, ‘if it’s on the Internet, then it is true’” (November Learning, 2009). In his article, “Teaching Zack to Think,” November tells a true story about a 14-year-old student who, as a result of using information he found on the Internet, came to the conclusion that the Holocaust never happened. November discusses how students can use the web itself to evaluate their sources by determining the purpose, author, and meta-web information of the site found (November Learning, 2009). Knowing how to use the Internet is an indispensable twenty-first-century skill. Teachers and librarians can work together to teach lessons on its use. Evaluating websites is the focus of the following lesson. It may be taught by the teacher or librarian earlier in the year or at the time of the iSearch Project.

 

Lesson 12: Evaluating Websites

 

Curriculum Standards

• American Association of School Librarians (AASL, 2007)—Standards for the 21st-Century Learner: Standard 1. Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.

1.1.5. Evaluate information found in selected sources on the basis of accuracy, validity, appropriateness for needs, importance, and social and cultural context.

1.1.8. Demonstrate mastery of technology tools for accessing information and pursuing inquiry.

1.3.5. Use information technology responsibly.

• International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE, 2007)—NETS for Students 2007:

5. Digital Citizenship

a. Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.

Lesson Objective Students will have the opportunity to evaluate websites for their authenticity.

Materials Needed

• Teacher/librarian computer and projector device

• Student computers

• “The Five W’s of Web Site Evaluation” (see Figure 5.2).

• Kid-Friendly Search Engines (see Figure 5.3). [Not available as part of this post]

Anticipatory Set

• Talk with the students about using the Internet for their research. Most students will have had prior experience searching the web. This is a good time to remind the more experienced users of the basics and an opportunity to introduce the inexperienced younger students to search strategies. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2011) offers a helpful tutorial, “Using the Web,” divided by grade level: grades 1–2, grades 3–5 and grades 6–8. “Searching for Web Sites” for grades 3–5 and “Evaluating Web Sites” for grades 6–8 are especially valuable for this lesson.

• A useful video for older students is the Common Craft (2011) video Web Search Strategies in Plain English.

• Use information from ALA’s “Great Web Sites for Kids Selection Criteria” to lead the class in a discussion of what makes a website useful (ALA, 2010) .

• Next, discuss with the students the “Who, What, When, Where, and Why” of website evaluation. Use Kathy Schrock’s “The Five W’s of Web Site Evaluation” (see Figure 5.2).

 

Click for larger image

 

Guided Practice

• Choose a “hoax site” and have students work in pairs using “The Five W’s” to determine if the website is useful or not. A source for hoax sites is: “Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators: Critical Evaluation Information” (Schrock, 2011c).

• Students may work at computers or with print copies of “The Five W’s of Web Site Evaluation” and the hoax sitewebpage.

• Have students share with the class their findings regarding the hoax sites.

Independent Practice

• Have students do searches for a class question (i.e., What are fun things to do at Lake Tahoe?) using one of the search engines in Figure 5.3 and “The Five W’s of Web Site Evaluation.”

• Students may work again at computers or with print copies of “The Five W’s of Web Site Evaluation” to determine the helpfulness of the Internet site.

• Have students share their findings with a partner.

• Another option is to use Kathy Schrock’s forms “Critical Evaluation of a Web Site: Elementary School Level” or “Critical Evaluation of a Web Site: Middle School Level” (Schrock,2011a,b; see also Schrock, 2002).

Closure Discuss with students the difference between a site that is not helpful and a useful site. Ask them how “The Five W’s of Web Site Evaluation” helped them determine the difference.

Formative Assessment Check students’ knowledge of “The Five W’s of Web Site Evaluation” for understanding of the web assessment process.

-Excerpted from: The New iSearch, You Search, We All Learn to Research: A How-To-Do-It Manual® for Teaching Research Using Web 2.0 Tools and Digital Resources, pp. 69-73. ©2011 by Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Remember, there is a practical, new How-To-Do-It Tip from Neal-Schuman’s acclaimed How-To-Do-It Manuals® every two weeks. Make sure you never miss an update by subscribing to our blog feed or signing up for email delivery.

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How can you teach information literacy skills in a fun, interactive way? Editor Theresa McDevitt and contributor Ryan Sittler discuss how their new book Let the Games Begin!: Engaging Students with Information Literacy Instruction answers that question in this Adventures in Library Instruction podcast.

Click here to find out more about the Let the Games Begin!: Engaging Students with Information Literacy Instruction.

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John N. Gathegi, an information and law professor who has also practiced as a lawyer, presents The Digital Librarian’s Legal Handbook, a jam-packed resource to help you understand every aspect of copyright law and how it affects your day-to-day-operations. From the press release:

“Intellectual property rights, particularly copyright law, is one of the most important compliance issues facing digital librarians, computing managers, and chief information officers. Copyright law can be confusing, and it is important to avoid the multitude of legal pitfalls in this area. The Digital Librarian’s Legal Handbook, to be published by Neal-Schuman Publishers on December 16, 2011, explores the intellectual property challenges in digital content, with a focus on copyright law issues. It is designed to give the digital librarian a clear understanding of copyright law and how it affects the management of digital content, providing methods for avoiding many of the legal pitfalls that abound in this area and answers to the most frequently encountered legal questions in digital libraries.”

Click here to find out more about this and other titles in Neal-Schuman’s press release database.

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The Neal-Schuman Foundation is proud to be a sponsoring partner of the Library 2.011 Conference,  a worldwide virtual conference, November 2 – 3, 2011.  The conference will be held online, in multiple time zones over the course of two days, and will be free to attend.

The Library 2.011 conference is a unique chance to participate in a global conversation on the current and future state of libraries. Subject strands include the changing roles of libraries and librarians, the increasing impact of digital media and the e-book revolution, open educational resources, digital literacy, shifts from information consumption to production (Web 2.0), multimedia and gaming spaces, libraries as community centers, the growth of individualized and self-paced learning, the library as the center of new learning models, understanding users in the digital age, assessing service delivery, and defining leadership and information professional careers in a networked and changing world.

Click here to learn more about The Neal-Schuman Foundation. 

Click here to learn more about the Library 2.011 Conference.

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Latinos are the fastest growing population group in the United States. It is important to plan for diverse collections and services in our academic and public libraries when you combine a large and growing Latino population with the very high population growth of this group. Library professionals who are prepared to serve ethnically diverse populations will be better positioned to be effective in light of the dramatic impact on libraries and other service agencies providing services to Latinos.

With that in mind, today’s How-To-Do-It Tip comes from Serving Latino Communities: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians, Second Edition written by Camila A. Alire and Jacqueline Ayala:

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“Basic services are the place to start when planning for your Latino community. We suggest the following steps to help you get started:

Identify existing basic services.

You and your staff are in the best position to evaluate and identify the basic programs and services that are already available for Latino residents to use. By basic services, we mean those services that can be provided at no extra cost because they are already covered in your current budget. For example, many services such as circulation, general reference, readers’ advisory, meeting rooms; or programming for different audiences such as children, teens, and adults are available to those Latinos who are either monolingual in English or bilingual.

Modify those basic services.

After you have identified those existing basic services and programs, you need to modify them to ensure that Latino residents in your community can benefit from them. Let’s take children’s programming for example. If you are planning children’s programming for the month of April, you may want to include activities for all children (non-Latino and Latino) around El Día de los Niños/El Día de los Libros which is traditionally celebrated on April 30. Activities could include a story hour around a children’s book with multiethnic characters and performance by a children’s dance troupe that would depict the Latino subgroup or subgroups in your community.

Conduct targeted programming.

Programming around holidays is also a good way to attract Latinos of any age. Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving are some of the major holidays and a popular celebration in Latin America is “El Día de las Madres” (Mother’s Day), which in Mexico is celebrated every May 10th. The tradition of honoring mothers, grandmothers, and godmothers during “Día de las Madres” can provide a good theme for Latino programming incorporating crafts, literature and oral tradition or storytelling.

Implement signage in Spanish.

If your library really wants the Latino community to feel welcome, there is no better way to do that than with Spanish signage in the library. Signage is a very basic service that can be done at minimal cost. With bilingual signage, you tell Latinos that you recognize and accept their cultural differences and want to serve them and that they are welcome in your library. Figure 5–1 on page xx and xx provides a Spanish translation for the Dewey Decimal Classification System signage.

Export library card signup.

Another basic service for Latinos that takes little, if any, additional funds is the library card application process. You can choose to design one bilingual form or two separate forms—one in English and one in Spanish. Whichever you choose, merely providing the application in both languages leaves a favorable impression in the community (See image below of Beaufort County (South Carolina) Library’s bilingual card application form). The process for signing up Latinos does not have to be in the library.  In the County of Arlington, VA there was a library card sign-up in conjunction with a bilingual Reading Readiness program held at Hecht’s (now part of Macy’s) Department Store. Library card signups are held at the cultural celebrations throughout the County and annually at the Arlington County Fair. (T. Bissessar personal communication, October 28, 2006) Export your library card sign-up with volunteers and a table set up at the grocery store, schools, post office, outside social services offices, after church, or at Latino festivals.

(Click on the image to enlarge.)

Conduct open houses and tours.

You can work with a partner in the Latino community to organize another no-cost or low-cost service which is library open houses and tours designed specifically for the community. If possible, distribute library card applications in advance and with the help of your partnering organization have them completed and returned to you in time to have processed the cards for distribution at the event. These programs should be offered at times when the whole Latino family is available. Be creative to keep the costs down. We suggest you get a local food business to donate some food for coffee hour or an informal reception after the tours.

Consider hiring a translator.

An intermediary translator could work in the library for three hours once a week (for example, Thursday evenings from 5 to 8 p.m.). If you can find the funds, pay a bilingual resident to serve as an intermediary translator (between Spanish-speaking user and English-speaking library staff). Even at a $10 hourly rate, that is only $1,560 per year. If that is still impossible, try to get some bilingual community residents to volunteer several hours a week. Teens could serve in this capacity and can either work on behalf of your Library’s Teen Advisory Group (or TAG) or perform the hours of volunteer work in order to satisfy requirements toward graduation from high school. We suggest that you set a time and day to offer bilingual services. For example, every Tuesday and Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. you could offer bilingual services. Basically, the volunteers would be able to translate wherever needed in the library during those hours.”

-Excerpted from: Serving Latino Communities: A How-To-Do-It Manual for Librarians, Second Edition, pp. 82-89. ©2007 by Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Remember, there is a practical, new How-To-Do-It Tip from Neal-Schuman’s acclaimed How-To-Do-It Manuals® every two weeks. Make sure you never miss an update by subscribing to our blog feed or signing up for email delivery.

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Teaching has become a primary job function of academic librarians, and it may be unfamiliar territory for some. Fortunately, Becoming Confident Teachers: A Guide for Academic Librarians, a new Chandos Publication distributed exclusively in North America by Neal-Schuman Publishers, will help them teach knowledgeably and effectively.

August 31, 2011 (New York, NY) —Whether they teach the occasional class, on the spur of the moment, or spend the majority of their working hours in front of students, academic librarians are teaching more frequently than ever before.   Where can they turn for tips on becoming better at it? Becoming Confident Teachers: A Guide for Academic Librarians, to be released in North America by Neal-Schuman Publishers on October 15, 2011, gives academic librarians the skills and knowledge to fill their instructional roles with confidence and enthusiasm.

Click here to find out more about this and other titles in Neal-Schuman’s press release database.

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