Policy Brief- Issue 3

Accuracy and Validity of Internet Resources : A Policy Brief

Overview :
The internet is a global library of information & resources, that is open ended and has no walls. It has come to be accepted as a universal learning tool. But students must realize that anyone can publish literature on the internet and therefore evaluating internet resources to determine their validity, is a critical learning skill they must quickly master.
There are several criteria that can be applied to determine if a web page is valid or accurate. The following guidelines provide a brief summary of the most important issues to be considered while examining web content for validity.
i) The URL itself is a preliminary indicator of validity e.g. domains like .org,.edu,.gov can be supposed to be relatively authentic.
ii) Secondly, the site design, its organization, purpose, currency can go a long way towards establishing validity.
iii) Author's credentials and the sources used by him/her are probably decisive when you are evaluating validity.
Current Status of this issue in our school :
The use of internet in the school curriculum is increasing, but no conscious effort has been made to address this issue. A majority of the students and even some teachers remain unaware of its importance
and therefore lack the will to make a conscious effort to acquire the intellectual skills necessary for evaluating internet resources.

Policy Options :
The school should adopt the following measures to promote student and teacher awareness towards this issue and facilitate learning of internet skills discussed above…..
1) To educate and motivate students -
i) Prepare and display guidelines( worded in simple and attractive language) to evaluate internet resources prominently at points of internet access in the school e.g. library, computer lab, classroom etc.
ii) Get students to fill out questionnaire/ evaluation chart/ form containing targeted ‘Y/N’ type of questions, whenever they use an internet resource. This will help them to start thinking of the questions they need to ask to determine validity of web content.
iii) Circulate handouts designed to develop Parent awareness, during PTA meetings or other such events.
Pros –The measures can easily be adopted and implemented at individual school level.
Cons – The publishing of relevant literature will require expenditure of time and money. The expenditure of money could however be minimized by having online questionnaires.

2) To ensure that teachers play a positive and constructive role –
i) Require teachers to create, maintain, update and submit to the supervisor, a computerized record/log/catalogue of internet resources reviewed by them in their individual academic context.
ii) Require teachers to recommend at least two or three resources( logged as per the above directive) whenever they ask students to use the internet.
iii) Organize ‘awareness programs’/ ‘orientation seminars’/workshops/ lectures for teachers on an ongoing basis.
Pros – This will get the teachers actively involved and thereby enhance student education in this area.
Cons – It will require teachers to spend time out of their regular curriculum and also some expenditure of money on the part of the administration.

Reference :
http://books.google.com/books?id=EA7ZXIqJ19cC&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=accuracy+and+validity+of+internet+resources&source=web&ots=zP7rsTupxF&sig=1m6JWq1hRvnTzpf9YjMpDvuqMCg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/special_initiatives/wa_resources/wa_teachers/backgrounders/harris_evaluating.cfm
http://www.lib.purdue.edu/ugrl/staff/sharkey/interneteval/accuracy1.html
http://www.lib.vt.edu/help/instruct/evaluate/evaluating.html