Here's an assignment from the post-graduate program I'm in, that's structured around the use of technology in teaching:
Howard Rheingold is a leading researcher on social networks.
Bringing a Critical Lens to Reading on the Web
As we begin to explore the internet and the wealth of information to be found there, it will be helpful for us to begin to develop a critical eye. To that end, I'd like you to watch Howard's vlog post on "Crap Detection" :
And my response to that is; I've watched the video, and found it to be interesting and thought provoking. When viewing it in light of my own practice, I know that I try to teach my students to question facts, and to be careful what they believe as they read. In fact, I've deliberately had them enter the lab and research a frog that doesn't exist, read all the facts on the web page about it, talk about if they've seen one, etc. before I've told them that it's all false. This leads to a discussion about checking facts in more than one place, being sure that links from webpages go to proper locations, and such. I only teach grade 4, so I don't get too technical. I suggest locations for students to go to for researching classroom assignments, that I know are more trustworty, such as those on EBSCO, or that I've already been visiting.
I still use the internet as a source of information, and it's so accessible that it's wonderful. I personally try to check my facts in more than one place, and not usually one that's linked from the first site.
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