Critical Web Evaluation Reflection

I received some good feedback from my group during our chat. They liked my handout and the questions that I asked, and Katie specifically liked the question about the language in the article. We briefly talked about if the site’s political slant automatically disqualified it from having accurate content.

I will probably use a revised version of this Internet Workshop in my classroom. I would probably make sure to give it during the unit on the Civil War, so that students already have some background knowledge on the topic that will help them understand the article and make an informed judgment about it. Also given how long the article is, I would probably assign it to them to read for homework so they have more time to process the information and reflect on their responses for group work and discussion.

For the statement, our group discussed how because the Internet is so vast and uncensored, the twin problems of the overwhelming amount of content and potentially manipulative material are important. Because of the sheer magnitude of info available online, it can be difficult to know where to look—often Google can’t help with that, since you need to know which search terms to use! As we discussed in another class, the theory of connectivism states that due to technology knowledge is growing exponentially. There is just too much out there, which can be both a blessing and a curse. In terms of manipulative content, kids (and adults!) can be easily fooled by hoax sites, or not realize that a fan-made website (no matter how professionally done) may not be the best resource to use. It is important to recognize how easy it is to make a website these days—no HTML required and it’s free! Literally anyone can do it. There are also some downright harmful sites out there (Holocaust denial, white supremacist sites, etc.) The Internet truly can have a dark side, which is why we all agreed that it is extremely important to teach critical literacy. There’s a lot of good stuff out there, too—and it would be criminal for students to miss out on it because they can’t stay on the path through the jungle.