Curating Resources

I found an interesting article that contained some great hints on how to evaluate the credibility of sources on the internet. This is an important skill that students must learn if they want to curate resources that are proven and will benefit their learning. Below are some following tips that will assist. These points should be included in a scaffolded lesson with students before they are left on their own. "1. Is there any evidence that the author of the Web information has some authority in the field about which she or he is providing information? What are the author's qualifications, credentials and connections to the subject? 2. With what organization or institution is the author associated? Is there a link to the sponsoring organization, a contact number and/or address or e-mail contact? A link to an association does not necessarily mean that the organization approved the content. 3. Does the author have publications in peer reviewed (scholarly and professional) publications, on the Web or in hard copy? (If an author does not have peer reviewed articles published, this does not mean that she or he does not have credible information, only that there has been no professional "test" of the author's authority on that subject.) 4. Are there clues that the author/s are biased? For example, is he/she selling or promoting a product? Is the author taking a personal stand on a social/political issue or is the author being objective ? Bias is not necessarily "bad," but the connections should be clear. 5. Is the Web information current? If there are a number of out-of-date links that do not work or old news, what does this say about the credibility of the information? 6. Does the information have a complete list of works cited, which reference credible, authoritative sources? If the information is not backed up with sources, what is the author's relationship to the subject to be able to give an "expert" opinion? 7. Can the subject you are researching be fully covered with WWW sources or should print sources provide balance? Much scholarly research is still only available in traditional print form. It is safe to assume that if you have limited background in a topic and have a limited amount of time to do your research, you may not be able to get the most representative material on the subject. So be wary of making unsupportable conclusions based on a narrow range of sources. 8. On what kind of Web site does the information appear? The site can give you clues about the credibility of the source."(Montecino, 1988). After this important lesson, students need to know how to curate this information - so that they can use it later. A great way to introduce this segment to students is to Let students pick a topic and then choose one curation tool to collect various forms of information. Such tools can range from Pinterest, Paper.li, eduClipper, Searcheze, Storify, Scoopit (limited free version), Pinterest, MentorMob (formerly LessonPaths, Blendspace, and Learnist. Let students choose how they want to collect, display, and collate their information. It's important that they have ownership because then they will use these sources again and again. The way information is filed should be easily recognized and called upon in future years for future projects. If students collate and categorize the information they way to - they will be more apt to find this information again. Teachers could use LiveBinders to keep their topics categorized and easily accessible. You don't want to continuously re-invent the wheel, but LiveBinders lets you continuously add new information and continuously add more categories. Pearltrees is a place to collect, organize and share everything you like on the web. You can add everything you like and organize it naturally so as to enrich your collections and collaborate on your favorite topics. Pearltrees lets you lay out your web content into trees, which makes it an excellent tool for visual learners. Another great choice for me because we are using Ipads is Dipity. Dipity is a great timeline creation tool that allows you to incorporate text, images, and videos into each entry on a timeline. Dipity has a collaboration option and has multiple options for sharing your timelines publicly or privately. Montecino, Virginia. "Criteria to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources." Education & Technology Resources, Aug. 1988. Web. 26 May 2015.