Blog 3

I will be developing a web-based learning experience for my business and personal law class.  The web has a slew of resources about the different topics we discuss in law, as well as many examples of case law that pertain to that area of law.  Since I started teaching this subject I have used the web for many different activities.  I would have to say that some of them are merely fact finding, but with the law and understanding it, it surely requires critical thinking skills that are included in my Internet activities that I have made for them.  Since that is one of the main components for the learning experience, I’m used to doing it (at first it was difficult) I feel very comfortable with this. 

So far in EDTEC 448 we have learned ways to go deeper into the Web and find more resources.  With this newly-learned skill, I hope to add a new activity for my students in one of our chapters - I will probably go with Torts and Personal Injury Laws to start.  I already have some things developed in this area, but I want to go deeper with it.  I didn’t do much updating in my business law curriculum this semester so I think it will be great to do this and use next year.  Ideally, I might be able to find so much information on Torts that I can use that as our “chapter” instead of basing it off the book.  I definitely wouldn’t mind this as our book is about a decade old!

In a previous post - I think it was on WikiSpaces - I mentioned the OYez Project.  This is a great site that has all of the Supreme Court rulings in summary format, including the assenting and dissenting opinions.  It’s always important that students have access to a site that is easy to understand - and this site does just that. 

In terms of design and layout, I think I will be using Weebly and see how it is to use.  I already use WikiSpaces and like it for some things, but I don’t think this will be the best option for my learning experience.  I have been designing web pages since I was in high school so it’s fun to be able to do this for my students! 

Blog 2: Teaching Students How to Evaluate Web Sites

Teaching Students How to Evaluate Web Sites:

Where does one begin teaching students how to evaluate and analyze sites? Well, what I think is most obvious is by doing some demonstrations (e.g., the Google sites Wes and I looked at in class, the Martin Luther King site, Robots in Victorian England, etc.) I can think of one that I would show my class that I found while working on the Virtual Field Trip assignment. I questioned a site because of it’s URL: oyez.org. What threw me off was the “Oh, Yes” that was re-worded into slang, and I thought, how could a site about the US Supreme Court use slang for their URL? So, I decided to read through the “About Us” portion, and checked out the “Benefactors” and “Advocates” pages and deemed it reliable. The virtual field trip was great, but I’m glad I was still skeptic enough to look through the site and examine it some more. Besides, I always like reading about who created the site and why (I’m just very curious I suppose).

I will no doubt make a lesson out of this for my freshman next year. For this lesson, my students will be able to: 1) identify different methods to validate reliable web sites; 2) collaborate to make a general checklist of what to look for when validating a site; and 3) understand the importance of recognizing valid and invalid web sites.

I will first make my own expectations of what the list should look like. Mr. Alan November has it right on for a place to start - using the REAL acronym: Read the URL, Examine the Content, Ask about the author and owner, and Look at the links (Web Literacy for Educators 2008, NovemberLearning). I would essentially be making a “minimum” list of what they need to include in their “Reliable Web Sites” guide. Anything extra would be icing on the cake!

I think it would be fun for students to develop their own list (or at least make it seem like they are developing this list). By making it a collaboration where they look at sites (here's a list from Alan November to get you started) and answer questions about the validity of it  (Kathy Schrock has one such list), they can in turn develop the class guide. Essentially, the lesson/assignment would be collaboration amongst each other, working toward an agreed upon guide (using November’s REAL), all the while doing it as a WebQuest. See Filamentality from EdTec448 Diigo Group.

I have to say I was mildly frustrated looking for some virtual field trips in my curriculum today. I’m hoping that my frustration is a result of the lack of VFTs for my subjects and not my search skills. I was able to find some, but I found it difficult to find VFTs about accounting (IRS, taxes, audit, Wall Street) and law (contracts, contract law). I will have to practice these search skills. I think I’m going to make a “Stickies” that consolidates the list so I can remember them more easily. Opening a book or my notes is not always the easiest option.

Blog 1 - Thoughts on Using Internet to Enhance Teaching and Learning

Your Initial Thoughts about using the Internet to enhance the teaching and learning process:

I first began the assignment by reading the introduction to the book.  It discusses a new technology that was found many years ago - paper.  Adults didn’t know how to use it, but kids did.  Soon enough, kids were abusing their uses of paper, so it was banned.  Many years later, they considered removing the ban.  This scenario is the perfect analogy that I have had to deal with over the past few years, being an Internet user, and more importantly, teaching computer classes.  I have wrestled with both sides of the equation:  it is easy for the students to abuse technology, yet they also need to be taught what is right and what is wrong, what is appropriate and what is inappropriate when using the Internet.  November offers encouragement for us teachers, making us role models:
“What this shift of control means is that the role of the teacher is more important than ever.  Now it is essential that we teach our children the discipline of making meaning from a very complex and constantly shifting global warehouse of information and communication.”  (Web Literacy for Educators 2008)

I found three things that caught my interest in how I use and teach the Internet in my classrooms:  Truncating URLs, reliable web sites, and reliable search engines. 

I have to admit that these are skills that have been ingrained into me for so long that I just assume that my students already know these skills.  Of course, some students are aware of which sites are invalid, while others just don’t know the difference.  Still, it’s important that all of them are on the same boat.  Being reminded of these three basic principles will greatly help my Internet research units for the future. 

Truncating is an extremely important tool for checking the source of pages within a web site.  Just check out History of Robots in the Victorian Era and see for yourself.  The site looks fairly valid - professionally looking, the images look realistic, so the undiscerning eye - or the adolescent eye - won’t realize it’s fake.  If we truncate the website, it then takes us to “Big Red Hair,” and if you scroll down to the bottom, the first giveaway is the trademark for “Boilerplate” - to Paul Guinan, the webmaster. 

But how do the students know which sites or search engines are valid?  Quite simply, a checklist and procedure for evaluating valid web sites can be used.  Teaching them the key places to look (I always start at the bottom or “About Us”) is that first step.  November mentioned the sale of search engine results, and it quickly reminded me of this Fresh Air conversation that aired on November 2, 2009.  Ken Auletta discusses his new book about Google and in the interview brings up the method in which search engine results are engineered for the highest bidder (he uses “sneakers” as the example).  This is done quite often on News Web Sites with the “most read articles” (and are often the gossip/celebrity/trivial “news” items).  See the entire transcript here with my annotations.

Why is it important for us to teach them?  For one thing, I cannot control what they do outside of my classroom when they use the Internet.  In addition, their parent/guardian might not be able to discern reliable sites and search engines.  More importantly, we as teachers are always developing their learning skills; that is, we are trying to give them the necessary tools to teach and learn on their own in the future and when they get older.

With the required freshman computer class that I teach in re-development for next year, I think this course could not have come at a better time!  We are in the process of shifting from a focus mainly on MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to divide it up between Internet Usage/Safety, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  This will be an important portion of our class as every student that graduates from the high school must take it - including those that move in after their freshman year.  With this topic discussed in the class, it will make our digital natives more competent and successful in using the Internet as an important tool for school and work. 

First Post

Back at PSU-Great Valley, doing this for EDTEC 448