Digital Blog Post #D

In chapter 5 the first thing that caught my attention was the section titled "Evaluating Online Information". As someone who has gone through high school and some college, I do have a basic understanding that you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet...however, I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know how careful you needed to be. In school you need to research and report on that research, so it has to be accurate. There were a couple things I didn't even realize I needed to look out for. One being, websites that have messed up information. This would be a website that is poorly organized or cluttered with distractions like random graphics. Another one is websites that have mostly useless information. The list goes on to explain what seems useless to one is useful to another and that censorship in school is tricky because of our society, which is a free one. As a student I never thought to be careful of what website I got my information from (excluding Wikipedia of course!), but as a student who wants to become a teacher, it makes me think more deeply of it. It will be my job to deem what is appropriate for my students to use and what isn't. I think it's something that will take some work and practice to really know what the signs of a non-credible website are.

As I was thinking about the work I'll have to put in as a teacher to promote positive web researching, I read the next passage that goes over criteria for evaluation web resources. Perfect! The book lists five things to look for

1) Accuracy- this one describes how the information looks, that it is information that is reliable and gives clear credit to the author.

2)Authority-you check this one for the credentials of the author, are they a knowledgeable person on the subject?

3)Objectivity-for this one you'd look if the information is non-biased or not, which includes checking for ads as they can reflect the bias in the article.

4)Currency-this is when you'll make sure the information you're reading about is up-to-date. Especially in this time of life, things are changing every day.

5)Coverage- and this one describes if the website is easy to view and read.

This section was perfect because I was thinking to myself "where do I begin to learn what is acceptable and what isn't?". That list helped me so much to think about every detail on webpages I view and use as research now, as a student and a teacher. This web link gave another good overview of the above topics.


The last section in the article talks about cyber bullying. This section is very important to me. I have never been affected by bullying but so many other people I know have as kids and adults. In 2016 the internet and social media have become the most important things to a child's life. It also works as a way for people to put on a different persona, a braver one. Online bullying gives you a way to say a lot of things you would never say to someone's face. It can also make you anonymous. I am going into teaching at a time when the internet is so huge in everyone's life, especially kids. Cyber bulling is one thing I can almost guarantee I'll have to deal with at some point in my career. It will be important for me to teach my students to use the internet positively and to think before they....type. The book emphasizes the important of teaching kids the consequences of bullying before it happens. When I was a student in middle school we had a program called peer counseling. This was students who got together to help others who were having problems with each other work it out. For me, it was more face-to-face problems but I think it would be a great tool for online problems as well.

T. (2012, September 20). Don't Play with Plagiarizing! Retrieved September 25, 2016, from http://talknerdy2me.org/dont-play-with-plagiarizing/

    S. (2012, March 22). THE CYBER BULLYING VIRUS. Retrieved September 25, 2016, from           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5PZ_Bh-M6o

 Teachers ' Guide on How to Evaluate Web Content. (n.d.). Retrieved September 25, 2016, from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/07/teachers-easy-guide-on-how-to-evaluate.html

Maloy, R., O'Loughin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.