Last week, I heard about another teacher telling students their papers
would be discarded if they used Wikipedia.
Dana wrote about the teacher in Texas confiscating open source software
CDs since they were “stolen” and “unlicensed.”
Journalists dismiss bloggers for lack of “professionalism.”
People complain about not being able to trust unrecognized sources of
information and then complain about the egregious errors of the “real”
news sources.
Here’s the deal:
The internet gives us incredible access to a lot more information than
we grew up with. The key internet skill is not finding the information,
but learning how to tell the good from the bad.
What if that student who is not allowed to use the Wikipedia (that her
teacher doesn’t understand) had to build and curate a Wikipedia entry
instead of a term paper? She would get feedback from thousands of
interested scholars, instead of depending on one lost academic.
What can you share that have you learned about finding the good stuff?
It sounds like you’re talking about information literacy. Am I right?
Hi Sterling!
I just read the Wikipedia link in your post, and of course that was what I meant! *grin*
I’m also thinking we need a critical assessment skill to tell which truth helps when there is so much available.
Thank you for moving the idea forward!
Sourcing and timeliness is key – if the information credibly sourced, is it up to date? If those two points are evaluated, I’d take a blog entry over a “sources close to the administration said” AP story any day.
Hi Adriel!
Good point.
I also find there are some bloggers who write only what they are passionate about. They tend to be the ones with the best insights.
Thank you for your comment!