Sorapure, Madeleine, Pamela Inglesby, and George Yatchisin. "Web Literacy: Challenges and Opportunities for Research in a New Medium." Computers in the Composition Classroom. Eds. Michelle Sidler, Richard Morris, and Elixabeth Overman Smith. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2008: 333-349. Print.
This article discusses web literacy and the student. They argue for a more comprehensive evaluative criteria for the web because not only are we currently use print evaluation as a basis for web evaluation, but also that practice does not paint a clear picture of truly evaluating and understanding what the web has to offer (such as interactivity, visual images, etc.). The article supports the idea that the web should be used in the classroom as a rhetorical tool and should be allowed in researched projects; however, we first need to teach students how to use it.
I liked that this article addressed an issue we still have today, and it made me wonder why we still have this issue. Academia is still wary of the online source and students are still unaware of how they should evaluate the source. I often get "well it looks credible because it looks like a professional site."
This site has five criteria for evaluation, and this one gives a general overview of evaluating websites.
Do you think it is still a problem w/students who have supposed to learn it; or is it just the fact that teaching these types of evaluative skills is part of what we do in FYC (and re-do with every incoming class)?
ReplyDeleteI would like to think that as students leave our FYC classes that they are better equipped to address these issues; however, I know I have had students come to my Comp II (having passed another profs Comp I) not knowing how to think critically about the web. That said, I do get students who come in with a good idea of what is "good" and what isn't, but I've found that those students tend to be well equipped to think critically overall.
ReplyDelete