Evaluating and Using Online Resources 
in the Classroom

It's easy enough to visit Internet resources, but quite a different matter to evaluate and use them in your classroom. The following pieces give suggestions on these important issues.


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 recently been revised?
  • Are additional sources, bibliographical documentation, or links provided?
For more information on evaluating Internet sources, click on the following links:

Ten C’s for Evaluating Internet Sources
http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/departments/writegt/htmlhandouts/Ten%20C%20internet%20sources.htm
Montgomery College offers this PDF document with ten concise tips for evaluating Web sites.

Evaluating Web Resources
http://www3.widener.edu/Academics/Libraries/Wolfgram_Memorial_Library/Evaluate_Web_Pages/Original_Web_Evaluation_Materials/6160/
Widener University provides Web site evaluation resources.

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

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.

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?

Involve your students in Web site evaluation by having them rate a site before using it. The following Web site provides evaluation forms for primary through secondary grade levels: http://www.tammypayton.net/courses/print/evalweb2.shtml

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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. Web sites relevant to almost any topic you teach—from broad subjects (the suffrage movement) to specific details (the text of Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech)—are now accessible. The rapidly increasing number of primary materials on the Internet can be of great use in the classroom. For example, in addition to reading the text of a document, letter, or journal in a textbook, your students can see a scanned image of the original printed off the Internet. Here are several ways to expand this idea:

  • Create a file in which teachers can deposit printouts from Web sites they have used. Encourage students to share their finds as well. Placing the file in a central location will encourage teachers and students to add to and use the file.
  • Take your class on virtual field trips via the Web sites of historic sites, museums, and historical societies. For instance, print out the Web page from the Charlotte Hawkins Brown State Historic Site, the Greensboro Historical Museum (repository for artifacts and documents associated with Dolley Madison, the only first lady from North Carolina), and the Edenton State Historic Site (site of the Edenton Tea Party) to share with your students to supplement your study of North Carolina women.
  • 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: 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://www.classroom.com/
Classroom Connect offers many resources, both print and online, on using the Internet in the classrooms.

Curriculum Ideas from CyberBee
http://www.cyberbee.com/intclass.html
This page contains examples of how the Web can be used in the classroom.

History/Social Studies Web Site for K–12 Teachers
http://k-12historysocialstudies.com/
This site, named one of the top ten teaching sites for the twenty-first century by the Education Source, encourages the use of the World Wide Web as a tool for learning and teaching and provides help for K–12 classroom teachers in locating and using the Internet in the classroom.

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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