Can I Use the Internet?
At a Glance
Discipline
- Social sciences
- Humanities
Instructional Level
- College & CEGEP
Course
- Religious Worldviews 345-102-MQ
Tasks in Workflow
Social Plane(s)
- Individual
- Group
Type of Tasks
- Collecting & seeking information
- Analyzing
- Revising & improving
- Writing
Technical Details
Useful Technologies
- A curation website, like Netboard.me
Class size
- Small (20-49)
Time
- Part of a semester (4-6 weeks)
Instructional Purpose
- Application & knowledge building
- Assessment & knowledge refinement
Overview
The goal of the activity is to help students learn how to evaluate the quality of sources they use for gaining information. Students learn to better evaluate the credibility of online sources by actively evaluating the credibility of the sources used for their research.
This activity takes place across two stages. First students learn some techniques for finding resources for their topics and some tools to evaluate the quality of those sources. Then they practice these skills by finding and posting articles, with the evaluations. They then receive feedback on this step from the teacher. In the second stage, they revise the sources they use and then develop a summary and explanation of the key points for their topic, which is posted to the whole class. The whole activity takes 3 weeks of class time.
This activity is essentially a jigsaw activity, where the final research is shared with the class. Students then use each other’s research to help them develop and write two essays within the course.
Instructional Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Identify sources that cover their topic
- Find credible sources for their topic and explain why they are credible
- Summarize key points for their topic
- Apply revision strategies to their work
Workflow & Materials
Activity Workflow
Contributor's Notes
Students improve their ability to evaluate the credibility of online sources in different contexts. By actively engaging in explanations of the credibility, they are applying this knowledge and making adjustments and revisions to their skills.
One challenge is the amount of work this can produce for the teacher in a short period of time. Giving each student feedback on their article evaluations takes time. The teacher needs to check the credibility of the sources and the topics covered, which can take time. However, over time this becomes easier. Students from one semester to the next often use similar websites for their sources. You will become familiar with the common sites and this process will become easier.
- Students will be at varying stages of this process through the time spent working on it. Some students will do a good job in their articles right from the start, others will need more feedback and more time to make adjustments. During the work sessions for the second stage, allow students to work at their own pace. Some will finish early and won’t need to come to all the classes. Others will fall behind and will need some encouragement to stay on task, or will need the full class time.
- This activity shouldn’t be a stand-alone activity in the course. Ideally, students will then use the research they did for an essay. It is even better if you can get them to have to look at the research of other students for their essays. To do this you, can either give an essay topic that forces them to consider links or relationships between the different topics, or a compare and contrast type of essay.
Students started this project in groups. They sign up for one of the 5 main religions. Then they work in groups to identify and divide the subtopics needed to cover their religion. While most of this part of the assignment is done individually, students still tend to work with their group members to help identify good sources and understand some concepts.
Applied Strategies
Published: 05/07/2022
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