Teaching Zack to Think

As a partial digital immigrant I have to admit that I have rarely if ever double checked my references from the Internet. I too like Zach, well will more critical eyes, take information from sites that look good, sound good, and are from what looks like creditable individuals. I have do not double check the authors, check into the publishers of the page, check for additional information about the authors, or use the web address as an indicator of online credibility. Learning what to teach our students about has been a lesson for myself. I feel being on the edge of digital natives and immigrants has placed my understanding and formal instructions about the Internet and it's technologies into a void of sorts. I am not fully unaware of how to use the technology but I am primarily self taught. going through school I was taught how to use card catalogues, conduct interviews, or use those microfilm readers to look up old newspaper articles. Bad information was not so easily accessed or stumbled upon. I feel that the article is dead on when it says that "...kids must learn how to research, publish, and communicate working with the Internet and other information tools." The Internet has completely changed the way in which we research topics. researching Internet sites has spawned a new level of necessary awareness what makes a site or information creditable. There is no Internet librarian to ensure the library is stocked with credible sources and to deny entrance of nonsense articles or flayer's that reflect personal opinions or beliefs. Where libraries had a safe guard or an umbrella of protection to keep useless information out the Internet is vulnerable to the piles of opinions from anyone about anything. I agree that we must teach our students how to evaluate the resources they choose to use as references by looking at the author, the purpose, and the meta-web information. I,for one, will be evaluating my resources with a finer toothed comb.