In this section of the presentation, participants will explore the key elements of information management in the 21st Century. Specifically, we'll study the anatomy of a hoax website, examine Google's Related Search feature, and experiment with Diigo---one of the most popular social bookmarking and shared annotation services.
Early in March of 2012, Jason Russell -- leader of a group called Invisible Children -- posted a 30 minute video titled Kony 2012 on Vimeo that was designed to raise awareness around the atrocities committed by Ugandan Warlord Joesph Kony. In four short days, the video went viral, logging over 26 MILLION views. After watching the video, viewers were encouraged to take action -- signing petitions, donating money, buying kits to share information with neighbors, contacting their elected officials -- to end Kony's reign.
This all sounds great, right? Who WOULDN'T want to stand against a warlord accused of abducting children?
Here's the hitch: The situation in Uganda is far more complex and the Invisible Children organization is far less forthcoming than the video suggests -- facts that are explained and sourced in great detail in this Ethan Zuckerman bit and this bit from the Globe and Mail. Specifically, there are three reasons people are questioning the Kony 2012 project:
Kony himself isn't even in Uganda anymore.
The solutions supported by the Invisible Children project are not solutions supported by experts on Uganda.
Invisible Children only spends 33% of the money that they raise in Uganda. The rest goes to things like making documentaries.
Lonely Planet named Uganda as the top destination to visit in 2012, a credit to the nation's stability that is overlooked in the Kony 2012 video.
In fact, the Kony 2012 video was so emotionally loaded that the Mara Foundation -- a group dedicated to uplifting Uganda -- felt the need to craft their own video sharing the strengths of Uganda as a country.
For classroom teachers, the Kony 2012 project is a perfect example of why today's students need to learn to question the content that they are finding online. Just because content is popular and/or well polished doesn't mean that it is reliable. And unless our kids can take practical steps to make the distinction between content worth trusting and content worth questioning, they're going to spend their lives being duped.
Exploring the Anatomy of a Hoax Website
Think-alouds are a great way to show students the steps involved in judging the reliability of websites. Using the Spotting Websites You Just Can’t Trust handout, develop a Think-aloud that you can use to teach your students about unreliable websites. Consider building your think-aloud around the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus or Dog Island hoax websites.
Additional Resources
Anatomy of a Hoax Website -- Post from session presenter Bill Ferriter's blog showing how he was almost taken by a hoax website.
Harpseals.org , Sea Shepard -- Two great sites to use with high schoolers when studying the reliability and bias of online sources.
Coal is Clean -- This site is really interesting and can be used to talk about the reliability of online sources. At first, it appears to be a site that supports clean coal technology. In reality, however, it is an anti-coal site that is sponsored by environmental groups like Greenpeace.
Queen of the Extreme -- An example of the kinds of smear websites that often appear during political elections. Students need to learn to recognize the inherent bias in sites like this so they can determine if they agree with the positions shared.
Exploring Google's Related Searches and Reading Level Features
Using the Google Related Searches handout, study several topics that your students are required to research each year. Determine whether the Related Searches feature is a tool that can help student researchers in your school to break large topics into meaningful subtopics.
Google's Reading Level Feature -- Post from session presenter Bill Ferriter's blog showing readers how to find Google's Reading Level feature.
An Introduction to Social Bookmarking Services
Easily one of the most useful information management strategies is to become a user of social bookmarking services. Social bookmarking services allow groups of people to share their great web finds with one another. For students working in research groups or for teachers working on professional learning teams, this is incredibly useful. This Common Craft video will introduce you to the general concept behind social bookmarking:
Still wondering just how social bookmarking tools can be useful to learners -- whether they're adults or students? Then check out this introductory video from Pearltrees -- a new service recently reviewed by Kyle Pace that makes content curation easier for everyone:
You can get a sense for what Pearltree final products look like by exploring this collection of resources that I'm assembling around the concept of information management.
Exploring Diigo
Diigo is a social bookmarking service that is popular with teachers because it has tailored its service to meet the needs of educators. After installing the Diigo toolbar on your computer, spend a few minutes bookmarking websites connected to teaching with technology. Be sure to add tigresources or tigvideo as tags to the sites that you bookmark. Doing so will make it possible to easily share your finds with everyone.
You may also be interested in following all of Bill's bookmarks -- which center largely around educational technology and teaching language arts, social studies and science. You can find those links here.
Additional Social Bookmarking and Shared Annotation Resources:
Using Feed Readers and Twitter to Manage Information
One of the first steps that teachers can take to learn more about using digital tools to manage information is to explore the role that feed readers and Twitter can play in helping them to find valuable content quickly. To begin this study, it's important to understand just what feed readers are.
Introduction to RSS Feed Readers
The feed reader that I use for my professional work isGoogle Reader. While it isn't a particularly beautiful website, I like Google Reader because I'm confident that it will be around for a while. When I'm creating a collection of feeds for my students to explore -- like this page of Sustained Silent Reading sources -- I currently use Netvibes because it has a more interesting visual layout that kids tend to enjoy.
Educators are also joining together in Twitter to share content and resources with one another. To find this valuable content quickly, it's important to understand how to use Twitter's Search Feature to follow education related hashtags:
Introduction to Twitter Search
There are hundreds of teachers in almost every content area and grade level using Twitter hashtags to share content with each other. Some of the most common -- and popular -- education related hashtags are:
#edchat - General resources connected to education
#edtech - Resources on using technology in education
To find an exhaustive list of educational hashtags, check out this page from the Cybraryman's website.
What Will YOU Take Away from These Lessons?
Now that we've worked through our lessons on information management, it's time to do a bit of reflecting. What lessons did you learn here that you think you'll be able to use in your classroom immediately? Was there anything that made real sense? Is there anything that you’re still struggling to understand? What questions about managing information remain unanswered for you?
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