Chapter 5:
Researching and Evaluating Internet Information
Cheating? Photo credit to Howard Dickins on Flickr
Focus
Question 5: How teachers respond to problems of plagiarism when
students use online sources?
For me, the plagiarism in general reveals students’ moral deficiency
when it is intentional, or ethical ignorance of how to use information provided
by any source when it is unintentional. In both cases, the educator role is
extremely important to prevent it and teach students strong ethical values that
will help them become citizens honest, responsible and socially valuable.
Unfortunately our schools are not free of this scourge. Let's look at this data
coming from plagiarismdotorg: “A national
survey published in Education Week found that 54% of students admitted to
plagiarizing from the internet; 74% of students admitted that at least once
during the past school year they had engaged in "serious" cheating;
and 47% of students believe their teachers sometimes choose to ignore students
who are cheating.”
When you want to end up with an evil, one has to go to the roots of
this. The plagiarism can have many causes. Students may lack the necessary skills
to research, evaluate information critically, selecting the right one, organize
it, present it and cite it correctly. They also may not know the exact meaning
of intellectual property, copyright, public domain, paraphrasing, attribution,
etc. Then, there is the pressure of having good grades on tests, the large
amount of homework, and the demand that each individual teacher makes them
regardless the overall burden of the entire program of study.
So, as educators we must educate students in the correct use of
information by explaining to them clearly before they submit their work, how to
use the Internet responsibly and ethically. Also, I think that as teachers we
must avoid the easy way out in teaching. We must prepare ourselves and delve
into the information to make assignments that require students to think
critically and creatively, to become himself a researcher, an inventor and a
scientist, not just a consumer-ripper of information.
Indeed, browsing through this website was easy, entertaining,
interesting, safe and instructive. I believe it contains quality information
that can be very helpful both teachers and students. This is beautifully
designed and organized so that students can find the information leading them
to other valuable websites that they can investigate. In this way, it
contributes to the development of a critical thinking because far from
pigeonhole and limit them, it leaves them open to other possibilities so they
can select the best. Besides, this makes possible for them to learn how to do a
responsible and ethical use of information. But what I liked most is that this
site is quite instructive so, ZERO COMMERCIALS! NO PROPAGANDA! As they say: “Since one of our beliefs is
that providing an objective information service for children is not compatible
with simultaneously targeting them with marketing, we do not accept advertising
on the KidsClick! pages.”
This is an example of what kids can do
on this website. They can create cartoons; send them to friends, post, etc. I
titled mine: “Sleeping in class”
Summary and Connection:
This chapter has been very important for me because it has helped me know
how I can help my future students to develop the necessary skills to
investigate and evaluate online information. It has been especially useful to
me everything related to the Internet tools for students. As an educator I have
always worried about being able to provide students valuable and safe sources
of information, but I did not know exactly which one could be. Now I have
significant information to integrate these to the teaching-learning
process. Although I do not have much
time, I tried to navigate through some of these websites and I could experience
for myself the potential these have if, as educators, we make a proper use
them.
Great analysis of concepts and strategies in this chapter. The problem of plagiarism is vast but I do believe is due in large part to lack of education and societal/cultural changes that are impacting us. It will be interesting to see how we end up carving out our future in that regard! Fun site at kidsclick - looks like a recommended site for children!
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