Kevin's+Page

I found the portion of the article speaking about "producers" and "consumers" interesting. As someone who has only recently started blogging, and who has a registered domain name but no website, I definitely fall under the "consumer" category. I can see how the Web is becomming more symmetrical, though. It does seem that everyone has a blog. And, ore and more websites appear every day. My wife just started her own with some friends of hers. With all of this production, the fact that only 40% of the Web is commercial in nature is comforting. The article states that, "The rest runs on duty and passion." The Web has changed society, for the better. As more and more people create their own "masterpeices" they are bettering themselves and the world. What better thing to do?
 * Response to "We are the Web":**

I personally feel that students in today's world must be tech savy. They should absolutely know how to upload and download, create webpages, and use most software and hardware with ease. However, they should also know how to write an actual letter, address an envelope, perform mathematic functions, and organize data into graphs without the aid of the internet, calulator, or help menu. I have had many students swear to me that the answer shown on their calculator is correct even though it did not make any sense. They swore that the calculator could not be wrong. Yet, they failed to realize that it was their misunderstanding of the topic that led to the mistake, not the machine. I have also had students rely solely on Excel to create graphs without ever understanding the actual relationships between variables that makes graphing such an essential tool.
 * Reflection on 21st Century Skills:**

In short, students must understand how to use technology if they are to survive in today's world. However, in order to use this technology to its fullest these students should also have a good understanding of the theories, formulas, and principles behind the technology. Only then can they truly make the most out of it.


 * Voicethread link**: http://voicethread.com/share/108212/

My Comments To:**
 * Classroom 2.0:

Has anyone used Bugscope?
Posted by [|Christian Wood] on March 4, 2008 at 5:58am in [|Uncategorized] I came across this the other day, not quite sure how, but thank you, and was wondering if anyone has taken part. [I|http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/] [I|I] am still a pre-service teacher, looking for tools that I can bring to an urban classroom in the future.

Reply by [|Kevin Stiegelmaier] on May 13, 2008 at 2:52pm
 * I can see how this would be a great tool to use in a science classroom. It would be amazing for students, from both rural and urban areas, to catch glimpses of these everyday things like they have never seen before. It seems like there would be a never-ending supply of lessons that could be created using this site, for every grade level as well. Amazing!

My Post:**

Verifying the Accuracy of Websites
Posted by [|Kevin Stiegelmaier] on May 13, 2008 at 3:03pm in [|Uncategorized] Every year I assign a research project of sorts for both my 7th grade science classes and my science research classes. This project requires them to find information on a topic of their choice and present this information in any number of different ways (paper, movie, powerpoint, etc). One problem I always run into, though, is the fact that they trust all information they gather from each and every website they visit. I created a short lesson on evaluating websites in reponse to this problem and was wondering if anyone else had a similar lesson or idea on how to teach students ways to ensure the information they are using is accurate.

The short rubric I created is attached here [|website evaluation activity.doc], 31 KB http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topic/show?id=649749%3ATopic%3A141537#|Delete

Replies to This Discussion  [|Permalink] Reply by [|Nancy Bosch] on May 13, 2008 at 5:41pm Aren't there websites out there like [|http://thespoof.com] or [|http://theonion.com] that have "fake" web stories? or could you gain anything by looking at [|http://www.snopes.com] and discuss all the phoney stuff that come through email? If you didn't want the kids running helter skelter through the sites you could print some "fake" articles along with some "real" articles. I like the idea so much I might use it myself!! haha N= [|Permalink] Reply by [|Vicky S] on May 14, 2008 at 12:59am CyberSmart has some lesson plans on this at: http://www.cybersmartcurriculum.org/lesson_plans/  [|Permalink] Reply by [|Kathy Epps] on May 14, 2008 at 10:40pm Doug Johnson [|here] and [|here], [|Michael Lorenzen], [|Stephen Downes] and [|Wesley Fryer] have all written a lot on this subject.

How to you yourself verify that any information is accurate? Do you ask your students to verify all information? "Even" books in the library? News articles? I think it's a thought process and habit that goes way beyond web pages.  [|Permalink] Reply by [|Britt Gow] on May 15, 2008 at 1:55am Great rubric Kevin - it reminds me of a 'fake' biology article that I used - describing a new species that was a kind of hairless, ice-burrowing mole that came up under penguins and chewed right through them! There were some great discussions as to why this animal was unlikely to exist (adaptations). Students plagaurising information is bad enough when it's factual - let alone when it's fake!= [|Permalink] Reply by [|Leigh Newton] on May 15, 2008 at 5:21am Try this one. It looks like a fun way to learn about reliability of sites

http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_mah/documents/TCEA/hoaxtable.html TEACHING WEB PAGE EVALUATION USING HOAX SITES--DR. MARY ANN BELL HOAX SITES ARE FUN FOR GETTING STUDENTS TO SIZE UP WEB PAGES! Note: As with any resource, do review these pages before using them.= [|Permalink] Reply by [|Doug Walker] on May 15, 2008 at 5:45am Alan November has some great resources for this topic on his website. Here is the link to the [|information literacy resources].

I have also used [|www.cybersmartcurriculum.org].

"Take Care of Your School's Profile" from JUtecht, May 21st, 2008**
 * Reflection on Two Blogs:

This blog describes a situation in which a school was made aware that their description on Wikipedia was incorrect. Apparantly, someone had inappropriately altered the school's description, putting it out there for the world to see. This reminded me of something Bill spoke about in our last class. He talked about how companies search the interent for information about job candidates and how people should be mindful of their online reputation. In searching my name using Google I found that it appears in many race results, as an owner of a classic sailboat, and as a member in a few professional organizations. While none of this is especially exciting or newsworthy, it does say something about who I am. For this reason, I think it is a very good idea for people, and/or companies to maintaina watchful eye of their online reputations and be careful how they are being portrayed. Who knows... if some business owners search candidates' names to see what they can dig up, colleges may use this as part of their acceptance criteria, insurance companies may use it as a source of information about lifestyles, and advertisers may use it to garner vaulable information about a person's interests and spending patterns.

This lighthearted blog entry describes an interaction between Will Richardson and his son. Apparantly, Will bought his son a boomerang and the two of them were sitting at a computer to find the best way to throw it. Like all kids, Will's son went immediately to YouTube and Wikipedia instead of searching for a better source of information. Long story short, the boomerang ends up in a tree, not to be played with again.
 * "Boomerang" May 15, 2008**

While I have never asked my students to research how to throw a boomerang, I do ask them to look up important definitions, answers to questions, and general scientific information dealing with whichever topic we are learning about. It has become increasingly more frustrating when my students go immediatley to Wikipedia or another easy to find webiste for their information instead of simply using their notes or textbook. One of my students in particular uses the internet each and every time she needs a definition or help with a problem, even though the answers are right in her notebook. As a result, she often gets an answer but does not understand it. So, the immediate payoff of getting the information is cancelled out by the lack of long-term understanding. So, come test time, she struggles and does not do very well.

I think the internet ireally is an excellent source of information. However, that information must be carefully filtered, screened, and selected so as to be as useful as possible. After all, isn't a little bit of excellent information better than a ton of crap information?


 * Final Presentation:**