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Teachnology
Sifting fact from fiction on the internet is an essential skill for research. Ann Logan finds a site to help you help your students to develop it.
Getting web savvy
Students use the internet for research and learning, yet how do they know if they have found good, reliable information?
The answer is that many of them don’t. According to a report by think-tank Demos, Truth, lies and the internet, a large number of students do not have the skills to evaluate the online information they use. In fact, they often don’t know how to find the information they need and when they do, they trust the first website they come across.
Demos researchers polled over 500 teachers and found that 99 per cent believed digital judgement is an important skill, but these teachers rated their own students’ skills as being below average. Some 47 per cent of teachers surveyed said they argue with students about receiving school work that contains inaccurate content from the internet (for example, holocaust denial).
A large majority (88 per cent) said digital fluency should be given more prominence in the national curriculum, although teachers across different subjects said they lack the resources and training to teach these skills.
To respond to the issues raised in the report, Demos and its partners have been working with young people to create the Digital Disruption website. The site hosts a suite of free, interactive resources and lesson plans for years 7-13, and presents the latest news on digital skills. The resources don’t tell students what to think, but promote critical and independent thought. There are animations and corresponding lesson plans on a variety of topics, including those that help students to:
• determine the authenticity of websites and online films
• identify propaganda
• see how media can be manipulated to create a certain impression
• explore how we’re influenced by our social networks.
Ask your students to take a look at the video Vampire conspiracy on the site and see if they can identify the key techniques of propaganda. What questions should they be asking?
There is a second film, What you need to know, which shows just how easy it is to create a credible yet untruthful film online.
Digital Disruption plans to run workshops across the UK to further develop tools for the website, covering new themes. The events will also include teacher training activities. Watch the website for details.
• Truth, lies and the internet, Demos, 2011. http://demos. co.uk/publications/truth-lies-and-the-internet.
My ICT favourites
Bev Sharp is an English Advanced Skills teacher at St Bede’s Catholic College, Bristol.
Favourite apps
QR scanner Great for scanning QR codes (new- style bar codes) – you can also ‘convert’ links by Googling ‘QR code convertor’, creating links to revision guides, video links, etc. Also good for competitions and getting offers and discounts!
CamScanner This scans documents and converts them to PDF or email. Great for scanning pupils’ work and resources to share.
My favourite gadget is the iPhone. If I could, I’d give every pupil either an iPod touch, an iPhone or an iPad! They are wonderful to enhance teaching and learning, from reading books to You Tube to social networking.
I also love the new Kindle. We will be trialling them, as thousands of books can be uploaded and they can be annotated for revision.
Favourite software
Evernote Brilliant for storing all sorts of documents, even voice recordings, safely on the cloud. It can be accessed from PCs and even your phone. (Go to www.evernote.com).
Favourite websites
www.jux.com A fantastic blogging site that enables videos, images and blogs to be displayed side by side in an artistic way. Super for young and new bloggers!
www.wordle.net and www.tagxedo.com (word cloud with styles), great for poetry, themes and revision. A visual celebration of words!
www.spiderscribe.net is a cool site for note- making and revision. It’s accessible and appealing to all abilities, and can easily be printed.
Twitter is my favourite network for teaching and learning. Lots of fellow educators share resources and ideas. I’m networking with some amazing teachers – it’s not just about following celebrities and tweeting what you had for breakfast. Please follow me too! @B_Sharpie