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I evaluated the site entitled Earth Alert. I first started using this site before it became a part of discovery.com. I discovered this site from a section in Champaign's New Gazette paper titled, 'Earthweek' They had a section about various problems on the Earth. It also listed a url for Earthalert that showed the same information. Living in Springfield, I don't get the Champaign paper and was thrilled that I could use the internet to read this section. I shared it with my fourth grade students who were fascinated by the number of weekly weather disasters. My students enjoyed this site so much that I began having them do a morning report on one of the problems found at the site. They were to read the information and then report it to the class. Since I still use this web site today, I thought it would be a good resource to evaluate. I used the evaluation I found from the Library Use Education course listed above because of the plain language it uses. I feel my students could easily use this evaluation site also. I found the evaluation page almost complete. I included a section on working links in the accuracy section that the page creator did not have. After examining the Ten C's Method, I found that the evaluation page I used was not as thorough but it is better suited for fourth grade students.
Accuracy-This sections tells evaluators to look for a bibliography, check to see if graphs and tables are easy to read, and grammatical and spelling errors. Do all the links on the page work? My findings: No bibliography is listed just an author biography. Listed on the bottom of the page is a link to meet Steve Newman, the broadcast journalist who writes and updates the site. I found no errors and the graph he uses is very user-friendly. All links are currently working. Authority-Is the page reliable? Author, credentials and affiliations and goals and objectives of the page. My findings: The address is part of the
discovery.com site, clearly this is a reputable organization with the goal
of informing an audience. The author, Steve Newman, is an experienced
well known journalist who has his own column in more than 100 newspapers
throughout the country. A brief biography can be found on the site.
Currency- date created, date revised and clues in content that show the material is current. My findings: The page is updated daily giving continual current content. Upon investigation- I found that the discovery page originated in March of 97. Nine articles were listed on June 5, all but one were dated June 5th. The ninth was dated the 4th. Some of the articles included updates on fires that occurred recently. Objectivity- is
the page biased? Are there service or product advertisements on the
page?
My findings: Car advertisements were part
of the page. All other products advertised were part of the Discovery
Store, a retail store that sells educational toys and games etc. The text
was informative not persuasive or influential. Opinions were not present-
just facts. I'm not sure how to tell if the information is reliable
other than the credentials of the journalist.
Content- this area is concerned with how well you chose a page. Does it have the information you are looking for? Is it easily understood? Who was the text written for? My findings: This page does what it is
intended to do. It shares information with the reader about current
topics concerning the Earth's environment.
Resources to help in web page evaluations below: Another possible resource for students to use for web page evaluation is here. It is an easy to use page you can print for use. Liz's student evaluation page for upper elementary. You may wish to use the rubric for researching on the
web also found HERE.
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Background- an original Liz
Sanford artwork.
Page created 5-5-2000 by Liz Sanford
For EdPsy 490Net University of Illinois