Evaluating Websites

A Guide for Teachers

Jenny Armitage and Penny Harrison /2009

Links for this Powerpoint Please enter this address:

http://delicious.com/Rm4/ Keyword = uLearn09

Why teach it? The web is full of information that

may or may not be true. Seeing is believing?

Anyone, of any age, experience, qualification and learning can upload information.

While web address extensions might give you some assurance, these cannot always be taken at face value.

Why teach it?(cont.) Sometimes, information is copied from

one website to another, without being checked or verified.

This can lead to the ‘fact’ being accepted as true, because it’s on so many sites.

An example of this is the myth that ‘people swallow up to 8 spiders a year’.

Go check the facts behind this here: http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/spiders.asp

Defining ‘A Good Website’ What makes a site good, bad or

indifferent? There are various criteria which

can be used to judge a website, as well as numerous articles telling you what to look for in a website.

‘Good Website’ Sites Here’s a great site that gives many

sites and ideas for classroom use. Click on the ‘Springfield’ link to have a look.

Another great guide is Kathy Schrock’s ‘ABCs of Evaluation’.

There are also sites with more advanced content and vocabulary. Here’s another university (Cornell) site.

‘Camper’ the WebsiteC = Consequences / Constancy

What are the consequences of believing this?

How consistent is this information (can you find other sites or sources to confirm)?

‘Camper’ the Website/2A = Assumptions / Accuracy

What assumptions have been made here?

How accurate is the data / information? (who’s the author? what credentials?)

‘Camper’ the Website/3M = Meaning / Main Points

What’s the meaning of this?What is the main point here?

‘Camper’ the Website/4P = Prejudice / Point of View

What prejudice is being shown here?What other points of view could be

expressed? Whose side is being presented?

‘Camper’ the Website/5E = Evidence / Examples

What evidence is given to support the claims?

What examples are given to back up claims?

‘Camper’ the Website/6R = Relevance / Reliability

How relevant are the claims?How reliable is the source, writer,

information?

‘Camper’ the Website (detail)

C = Consequences / Consistency / CurrencyCritical questions to ask yourself: What are the consequences of me believing

all of this as it is presented? How consistent is the information compared to

other sources? Is there a bibliography? Does the site link to other sources of

information about my topic? How current is the information? Is the site updated regularly?

Consequences, consistency, currency

We’ll check out this site:

http://www.zapatopi.net/cascadia/

Whizz through this site and check it out in Camper ‘C’ terms. How would you rate it?

(What are the consequences of believing this? How consistent is this information?)

Assumptions, Accuracy, Authorship, Audience (detail)What assumptions have been made here?How accurate is the information?Who is the author?What are the author’s credentials?Who is the intended audience?

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

Whizz through this site and check it out in Camper ‘A’ terms. How would you rate it?

How about if you combined this rating with the ‘Cs’ criteria?

Meaning, Main Points (detail)

What are the main points?What isn’t here?

http://www.thedogisland.com/

Whizz through this site and check it out in Camper ‘M’ terms. How would you rate it?

How about if you combined this rating with the ‘A and C’ criteria?

Prejudice, Point of View, Provider, Purpose (detail)

Who is the provider of the information? Is the site edu? com? org? gov?

What is the author’s point of view or bias?What is the other point of view?What is the purpose of the site - to inform, persuade,

explain?

http://www.newtechusa.com/ppi/main.asp

Whizz through this site and check it out in Camper ‘P’ terms. How would you rate it?

How about if you combined this rating with the ‘CAM’ criteria?

Evidence, Examples (detail)

What is the evidence to support the claim?What examples are provided?

http://www.ovaprima.org/

Whizz through this site and check it out in Camper ‘E’ terms. How would you rate it?

How about if you combined this rating with the ‘C, A, M and P’ criteria?

Relevance, Reliability (detail)

How relevant is this site to my research / key question?Is the site reliable - easy to navigate, clear and quick to

download?

Your key question is: Does blonde hair give you a disadvantage in terms of health, appearance or intelligence? Explain.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2284783.stm

Whizz through this site and check it out in Camper ‘R’ terms. How would you rate it?

How about if you combined this rating with the ‘C, A, M, P and E’ criteria?

Other Ways of Evaluating : Hats

You can also use some of de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats for this:

White Hat: What facts are listed on this site? Check for things like: are they verifiable? are they relevant to what I’m looking for?

Green Hat: What new ideas am I being introduced to? Check for things like:

how do I know that they’re relevant or real? why has no-one else listed them?

Black Hat: what are the weaknesses of this site? Check for: do links work? are there errors of grammar or spelling? when as it last updated? is the author listed and contactable?

Try these on this site: Boilerplate

Defining ‘A Good Website’ What makes a site good, bad or indifferent? There are various criteria which we’ve already

introduced you to which can be used to judge a website (links given earlier)

There’re numerous articles on the web (just type in ‘good websites’ into Google for hundreds of ideas. Here’s one: 7Points (Vanderlay)

Here’s the BBC’s take on it: www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/askbruce/articles/browse/goodsites_1.shtml (please note that one of their links - the BBC webguide - no longer works! - not sure what that says!)

Website Addresses Make sure that the children understand

at least the basics, for example: ‘gov’ or ‘govt’ = government site ‘cri’ = crown institute ‘iwi’ ; ‘school’ ‘edu’ = educational institution ‘com’ or ‘co’ = commercial site ‘org’ = non profit

Teaching Website Evaluation

Website Addresses Website Authors Trusted Sites Phishing Sites Hoax Sites What makes a site ‘good’?

BBC’s Definition Here’s a link to how the BBC

chooses sites for their ‘Non-BBC recommended sites’:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/recommended.shtml

Other Sites You are more than welcome to go to

Rm 4’s delicious tags and look there for more information (tag keyword = website_evaluation) : http://delicious.com/Rm4/

Listed there are webquests, background reading, methods of evaluating, matrices to evaluate, etc.

Remember… Seeing is believing….

Penguins….