Internet in 2 Weeks

[Karl Steinkamp]

Hey ML Teachers,

Just posted a similar question in regards to movies and TV. In my current semester ML course I have two weeks to focus on the internet from a media literacy perspective. With just two weeks what are the big questions I need to answer and objectives/topics I should prioritize into this unit. Any resources (websites, lesson plans, DVD's etc) that you could share with me would be a great help as well.

 

Karl

[Frank W. Baker]

Why not introduce your students to the INFORMATION LITERACY questions?  I maintain an INFO LIT page as part of the Media Literacy Clearinghouse, which has lots of resources.  Be sure to see the box with a list of fake web sites. You might expose them to a "fake" site and ask them to look at the methods the producer uses to make a site appear credible.

Frank Baker

[Karl Steinkamp]

Frank,

Thanks for the suggestion and link to the resources you have put together. I think info lit is definitely something I want to cover. I am also trying to figure out how I could quickly but in an effective manner hit the topic of social media on the internet.

 

Karl

[Andrea Brown]

If you have access to iDevices, the app BeSeen is a free app that does a nice job with social networking - the player "joins" a social network and has to make the right choices about how to participate to unlock the maximum number of friends. 

[Karl Steinkamp]

Andrea,

 

Thanks for this idea. We will have a 1:1 iPad program up and running next year so this is a possibility. The App is focused to a younger audience (my class is mainly 12th graders) but one of the things I like to do is to have my kids occassionally use resources like this (School House Rock is a favorite of mine) and still take the lessons out of it. Thanks again.

 

Karl

[Anna J. Small Roseboro]

An internet info lesson that proved to be an eye-opening experience for my students was one on internet domains.  What they are and what they could mean?  What should one expect to be different on a dot com versus dot org?  What about about dot net versus dot gov?  Should something posted on a dot edu site be considered "credible" since it's on an education site?  What about the extensions that follow the forward slash?

For some reason too many students think that citing several different URLs means they are citing several different sources. One teacher had her students do searches to discover the original posting of an article that appeared all over the place.  Students soon learned that many writers simply reposted an article which had no documentation at all.

Here's a link to slides used in lesson to prepare students to research in preparation for writing a speech.  These same strategies can be used to teach internet skills in a media lit class, too.

Research and Fleshing Out Your Speech

 

Please note some of the slides are based on information presented in the textbook used for that course, PUBLIC SPEAKING: Concepts for a Diverse Society 5th Edition by Clella Jaffe

[Karl Steinkamp]

Anna,

 

This is great stuff, something I am sure many internet curriculums overlook but yet such an important part of doing quality research on the internet. Thanks.

 

Karl