To introduce important basic educational resources, in print and online, in order to analyze current issues from a philosophical, social, historical, and comparative perspective.
To learn the principles of evaluating print and online materials.
To compare/contrast different search engines.
To distinguish between scholarly and popular periodicals.
To learn how to produce an annotated bibliography.
To learn how to cite both print and online resources.
ED251: Educational Psychology:
To access resources, including government documents, using Boolean searches and Library of Congress subject headings on CONSORT and OhioLINK.
To search for print and digital resources about an assigned topic.
Methods Courses: ED321 Early Literacy & ED333 Social Studies:
To search ERIC and know how to find resources indexed there.
To evaluate various search engines.
To evaluate websites.
To join a professional mailing list and newsgroup to keep a journal of discussion "threads" found on them.
Syllabi
that incorporate information literacy
Assignments
useful for teaching information literacy
ED110: The Role of the School:
Evaluating and Citing Web Resources
Using three databases listed below, look up nine different periodical articles, three in each database.
Education Abstracts
Periodical Abstracts
Lexis-Nexis
For each article, write a three-four sentence annotation. Evaluate each article as Positive, Neutral, or Negative in its approach to your topic. Use proper APA citation format to identify each article.
Use the search engine of your choice, search for information on your topic. Evaluate three of the sites using the following criteria. Use proper APA citation format to identify each site.
Sponsor: Individual, organization, corporation
Credentials of author (creator)
Slant/Bias: Information, marketing, advocacy, news, personal
Timeliness
Scope: Range of topics covered
Links to related topics (quantity and quality)
Using the same criteria, survey five other sites regarding your topic. Rather than writing an individual evaluation for each site, write a one-page summary explaining your impression of the way these sites represent your topic. Include a list of these sites, using proper APA citation format to identify each one.
ED251: Psychological Foundation of Education:
Activity 1
Understand Descriptors/ LC Subject Headings
Identify LCSH in CONSORT, Education/Periodical Abstracts
Use ERIC Thesaurus to identify descriptors in ERIC database
Access Information
Search CONSORT, OhioLINK, Periodical/Education Abstracts, and ERIC, using descriptors or subject headings.
Find and copy two articles on the same topic
One from a research journal
One from a general or specialized education journal
Cite two books on your topic
Evaluate Information
Compare/contrast different formats for presenting educational research
Performance Measurement
Write a summary of your findings from the compare/contrast process
Activity 2
Use Periodical Abstracts to find and print the following two articles:
"Who is This Child?" by Robert D. Barr in Phi Delta Kappan
"Reflection is at the Heart of Practice" in Educational Leadership
Activity 3
Access Information
Search Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Researcher for articles relating to your position paper topic.
Search CONSORT, OhioLINK, WorldCat, Periodical Abstracts, Education Abstracts, Ethnic Newswatch, ERIC, and Gender Watch databases for books and articles relating to your position paper topic.
Search the internet/WWW for information relating to your position paper.
Evaluate Information
Evaluate the information you found during your searches. (Will the information help you make your argument? Is the author credible? Does the material contain documented fact or just opinions?)
Identify five sources to be reference in your position paper. You must identify at least one internet site and at least two articles.
Performance Measures
Create an annotated bibliography with the five sources you plan to use in your position paper.
Create an outline detailing your argument for your position paper.
Write a five page position paper directed to a specific audience (the Governor, local school board, a grant-funding organization, etc). You must take a side to make an argument either for or against your topic idea. Maximum credit will be awarded to position papers which refute the counterpoint.
Activity 4
Access Information
Go to the following URL; take the IQ test online: www.iqtest.com
Evaluate Information
How did the online IQ test compare with the examples from the traditional IQ test?
Do you feel this online IQ test should be used to predict your GPA at OWU? Please explain your position.
Do you think the IQ test measured your intelligence, your ability to take a test, or both?
For this class, should you be divided into ability Level groups based on your score from the IQ test? Please explain your position.
Evaluate the WWW site.
What is the overall goal of this web site?
Who is responsible for this web site? Can you contact the person(s) responsible for this site?
Can you confirm that the person, company or organization responsible for this web site is a credible, authoritative source of information? Please explain your response.
Does this site rely on loaded language or broad, unsubstantiated statements? Please explain.
When was this web sit produced? Last updated?
Does this site provide any links to related sites? If so, are the links up-to-date?
Methods Courses
ED 321 Early Literacy
Mailing Lists: Students were required to join a mailing list, read it at least 3X per week, and make commentaries about prominent "threads" in a journal.
Web Journal: Visit 3 children's literature web sites a week, and write brief journal entries about them.
ED 333 Social Studies Methods
Search Engine Comparison: Each student was assigned a specific search engine to explore. All students were assigned the same topic. In a classroom discussion, each search engine was analyzed. Students quickly learned that not all search engines are alike or reliable. Many students learned about new search engines which they had never tried.
Bibliography
of useful publications and resource materials
Kapoun, Jim. "Teaching Undergrads WEB Evaluation."C&RL News. July/Aug 1998: 522-523.
Meyer, Randy. "It Takes a Cybervillage: Web Portals in Schools."Library Journal (supplement). (Fall 2000): 20-25.
Links
to useful websites
Beck, Susan E."Examples" The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly: or,Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources. July 1997.
