8 Evaluating and Using Online Resources
in the Classroom 8

It's easy to visit Web sites, but how do you assess them and put them to use in the classroom? The following sections give suggestions on using online resources.

Evaluating Web Sites
Anyone can create a Web site for almost any purpose, from an individual sharing family photos to a company selling computers. Few Web sites, including those containing educational material, undergo formal review or inspection. Educators using the Internet in developing curricula, therefore, must themselves determine the legitimacy of information presented.

To evaluate a Web site, ask the following questions:

  • Who operates the site? Is biographical or background information provided?
  • What is the purpose of the site?
  • Is the presentation of the topic balanced or biased?
  • Who wrote the material? What are the author’s credentials?
  • Is the information up-to-date? Has it been revised recently?
  • Are additional sources, bibliographical documentation, or links provided?

For more information on evaluating Internet sources, click on the following links:

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators: Teacher Helpers: Critical Evaluation Information
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/eval.html
DiscoverySchool.com hosts this compendium of information on Web site evaluation specifically for educators, including evaluation forms and a tutorial for students (complete with Spanish translation), links to many articles, and sites to use for demonstrating critical evaluation.

net.TUTOR: Evaluation of Web Sites
http://liblearn.osu.edu/tutor/les1/
This page offers a tutorial on evaluating Web sites.

To evaluate a Web site for classroom use, ask the following questions:

  • Is it appropriate for my students?
  • Will it hold their attention?
  • Does it relate to curriculum standards?
  • Will my students be able to navigate within it?
  • Does it load quickly?
  • Do the links work?

The Web site http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink/www.eval.html provides a Web site evaluation form, created specially for teachers, that addresses these and other questions.

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Integrating the Internet into Your Curriculum
The Internet, an ever-expanding global resource, has vast potential for use in the classroom. Even if your school is not equipped with Internet access for students, you can integrate the Internet into your curriculum. There are Web sites containing information on almost any topic you teach—from broad subjects to specific details. The rapidly increasing number of primary materials on the Internet can prove useful in the classroom. For example, in addition to reading the text of a document in a textbook, your students can view the document on the Internet and print out the scanned image. Here are several ways to expand this idea:

  • Create a file for printouts from Web sites you have used. Placing the file in a central location will encourage teachers and students to add to and use it.
  • Take your class on virtual field trips via the Web sites of historic sites, museums, and historical societies. For instance, use printouts of the Web sites of the historic sites and state parks in your region to supplement your study of North Carolina geography.
  • Develop WebQuests—inquiry-oriented projects in which most or all of the information used by learners is drawn from the Web—to creatively lead your students to high-quality, relevant Web sites. (For more information on WebQuests, visit http://webquest.sdsu.edu/.)

The Internet offers educators a wide array of information, from lesson plans to school administrative policies to state and national curriculum standards. Establish a file for printouts of this kind that teachers can share. Start with the following Web sites:
  • North Carolina Public Schools Infoweb (http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/) contains the North Carolina social studies curriculum matrix, information for teachers, recent legislative reports and assessment results, a calendar of events, and other information.
  • The American Memory Learning Page (http://learning.loc.gov/learn/index.html), from the Library of Congress, offers lesson plans, activities, and more that you can adapt for use in your classroom.

Networking with students and teachers is a great way of acquiring information and resources. Through chat rooms and guest books, you can correspond with other educators on a variety of education issues. The following ideas will help you incorporate networking in your classroom:
  • Visit http://www.teachers.net/chatboard/, a chat room for teachers worldwide, to gain insight into issues important to you.
  • Begin an e-mail pal program with a class in another state or country. Have your students create a message and e-mail it to the class. Print the responses and share them with your class. Through this exciting program, your students can learn about different parts of the country and other cultures around the world.
  • Contact teachers in other countries through a bulletin board or chat room for educators. Ask questions that relate to your curriculum. For instance, ask about some legendary figures in their country and compare them with legends from the United States. If you receive questions from other teachers, assign your class the task of researching and formulating the responses.

If your class has access to a computer with an Internet connection, create your own Web page. (Programs such as Netscape Composer and Front Page require little knowledge of hypertext markup language, or HTML.) Use the site to post information about your class or school or to post papers, short stories, and artwork created by students. Assign teams or the whole class the tasks of choosing the subject of the page and creating materials for it.

For more ideas on using the Internet in the classroom, see the following sources:

Linda C. Joseph, Net Curriculum: An Educator’s Guide to Using the Internet (Medford, N.J.: CyberAge Books, 1999).

Linda C. Joseph, a leading authority on using the Internet in schools, presents dozens of online projects, Web site links, search engines, information resources, research tips, and virtual field trips. The book covers all school subjects and grade levels.

Scott M. Mandel, Social Studies in the Cyberage: Applications with Cooperative Learning (Arlington Heights, Ill.: SkyLight Training and Publishing, Inc., 1998).

Scott M. Mandel, developer of the Teachers Helping Teachers Web site, educates teachers on how to use the Internet to complement their social studies curriculum.

Scott M. Mandel, Cybertrips in Social Studies: Online Field Trips for All Ages (Zephyr Press, 2001).

Mandel offers tips on using and creating virtual field trips in the social studies classroom, and provides twelve complete trips that cover common themes in social studies.

Classroom Connect
http://corporate.classroom.com/
Classroom Connect offers many resources, both print and online, on using the Internet in the classrooms. (Much of Classroom Connect is available only through a paid subscription.)

LEARN NC
http://www.learnnc.org/
A program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Education, this Web site offers quality resources for K-12 classroom instruction (including lots of lesson plans) and teacher professional development (including online courses), all tied to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

Teachnet.com: Smart Tools for Busy Teachers
http://www.teachnet.com/
This site offers a little of everything for teachers of all grade levels and subjects.

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