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Thursday, 20th March 2003

Students and teachers cope with Web misinformation

Information Quality
Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Students and teachers cope with Web misinformation"
From the article, "Students say they often simply "Google" homework assignments. They visit the search tool google.com, type in their research subject and pick out the first few Web sites that appear on the list. That hit-and-miss approach often produces bad information, experts say. Teachers and librarians, who see more at stake than bad homework assignments, are revamping coursework and giving younger students a new, tough assignment: to think critically about whether the information they are getting is real, valid and accurate...Students tend to go to the Web and graze and don't make any distinctions of what they are popping into their brains," said Earnestine Adeyemon, librarian at Case Western Reserve University.of the Web, because they are Internet savvy, they don't want to read anymore," said Adeyemon, who also works with high school students. "They've lost a critical step in [research]." Why do libraries (school, public) offer remotely accessible databases if these students and educators don't use them and just run to Google or Dogpile (give me a break). Do the students know "library databases" are available from home 24x7x365? Do the teachers know? Is it another marketing issue? Do they know reference books still exist and can be found in the library? Does the educator understand the many differences in types of resources? At the same time do they know (so it can be taught) how to judge web site authority? Can students and teachers exploit any part of a search engines technology to help focus searches/increase precision. Doing this could help improve the likelihood of accessing quality material.

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