Where on Earth can you learn to build an Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie? On the Internet of course!
By following seven simple steps, you too can protect your mind from potential prying by a world of total strangers. Unfortunately, for all you ready to go use up all the Reynolds in your kitchen cabinet, the Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie is nothing but a hoax! I bet you didn’t see that coming… and who could blame you? The site is full of positive testimonials, contact information, extensive history on the product, external links, and even a special note to potential website evaluators!
Although hoax websites are extremely fun to look at, they also call into question the credibility of the information that is made available to our students on the web.
Giving students these types of examples of bad online information addresses the issue head on, and I believe that it would at least make students think about being more discriminatory with information that they accept as true.
I believe that it would also be beneficial for students to view websites, such as Snopes. This website is dedicated on outing the “rumors” of the web. By debunking false information circulated on the internet, Snopes demonstrates that ALL information cannot be believed. It is imperative that we also teach students to have this type of mindset.
You could even take it a step further (if you feel that your students may still not be grasping the concept or maybe in the beginning), and actually give them a checklist to evaluate the information they find.
Wikipedia: Good or Bad?
In response to Crovitz and Smoot’s article on Wikipedia, I tend to agree with their argument. I have always heard in classes that information from Wikipedia is not reliable, but I personally don’t believe that, and with more studies on the topic, I believe that more and more educators will become more open to it too.
I mean, who says that two (or millions more!) heads aren’t better than one? As future educators, we all believe in the power of collaboration with our own students in our own classrooms- with Wikipedia isn’t the idea still the same? Although it is on a much larger scale, the goal is still to collaborate with many different minds and report on the information truthfully. I believe the misconceptions of Wikipedia and other Wikis stand in the way of benefits that students can reap, such as their work reaching a much larger audience, and actually having relevancy in the real world. In addition, the information on Wikipedia is always current-this sets it apart from many print sources that students could be used as resources. Although it should not be used in research as the sole source (which is true for any type of resource), it can be a starting point to get students thinking.
Overall, I like the idea of all Wikis, and plan to use some sort of aspect of them in my future classroom.
Examples of Other Wikis
