Web Literacy for Educators Chapter 7

Strategies and Evaluation

Putting it all together

We must teach critical thinking skills when we teach students to use the internet. November suggests using REAL.
R = Read the URL
E = Examine the content
A= Ask about the author and publisher
L= Look at the links

Read and look at the URL, do you look at the domain name or the extension?
Is the information helpful and correct? Are there links and do they work?
Is the author's name on the site, are they an expert, is there information about the author?
Forward links, does the domain change? Back links, where do they lead and what do they say?

Validating tools are listed on page 97
Sites for students to practice validating are on pages 97 and 98.

This chapter is a great resource for understanding how to validate websites and also for teaching students how to do this.