Week 5

After completing the MAPping information activity, what are your reactions to your findings? What will you do differently while searching on the Internet for information now? How confident are you with the information you've used in the past (as part of your college career and/or in your profession)?

The pre-test opened my eyes to the lack of knowledge I have in relations to understanding websites from their URL.    Through the activity I learned how to confirm the authenticity of websites and decipher the intent of the site developer.  Acquiring the history of the site was another skill I learned.  When searching I discovered quickly that site that appear quite credible were personally developed sites with no credentials whatsoever.   I quickly added these helpful sites to my Delicious account for further utilization.  Learning how search engines develop their lists from searches was also very enlightening for me. 

What are some implications for the future of our students if we fail to teach them these skills in school? After all, the schools may block access to sites, but students still have access at home.

This week’s activity assisted my train of thought regarding in online information inquiry to a great degree.  While I’ve long understood the importance of teaching students these skills, my own comprehension has been fragmented.  This gave me a better foundation to build from when developing lessons to prepare students to do online research.  If students do not have instruction on critical thinking skills such as this, they will be susceptible and defenseless throughout their lives.  I’m reminded of the expressions “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover” and “You can’t believe every thing you read.”  In our world this is reinforced again in the virtual world more than ever.  It’s frightening to think of the power the world wide web can have on our future civilizations if these skills are not nurtured in young learners and well-developed before they are adults.

Do you see any advantages for organizing your information via Delicious? What else did you find when exploring the other bookmarking applications? What are some ways you think you could use tools like these in the future?

I have used Delicious before per an instructor request, but had not utilized it to it’s full potential.  Before I didn’t realize that users could be networked or that each site could be tagged.  I had seen the word tag when bookmarking sites but had paid little attention to its purpose.  Delicious is fabulous for users in that it  can be accessed from any computer.  When exploring other bookmarking applications, I wasn’t as impressed.  Stumble Upon has the right idea by guiding by preferences but I don’t believe it allows it users to be as proficient as Delicious.  I can see using Delicious as part of the newsletter to parents in general education.  It could provided helpful links to homework assistance or instruction enhancement.  I could also see it being used by a librarian to help students, staff, and parents utilized sites that provide book trailers, games, and information regarding children’s literature.