Presentation by Jenny Armitage and Penny Harrison at ULearn ICT conference in Christchurch New Zealand 09 on how to critically evaluate websites. Useful for teachers to use for classroom ideas and professional development.

1. Evaluating Websites
A Guide for Teachers
Jenny Armitage and Penny Harrison /2009

2. Links for this Powerpoint
 Please enter this address:
 http://delicious.com/Rm4/
 Keyword = uLearn09

3. Why teach it?
 The web is full of information that may
or may not be true. Seeing is believing?
 Anyone, of any age, experience,
qualification and learning can upload
information.
 While web address extensions might
give you some assurance, these cannot
always be taken at face value.

4. Why teach it?(cont.)
 Sometimes, information is copied from one
website to another, without being checked or
verified.
 This can lead to the ‘fact’ being accepted as
true, because it’s on so many sites.
 An example of this is the myth that ‘people
swallow up to 8 spiders a year’.
 Go check the facts behind this here:
http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/spiders
.asp

5. Defining ‘A Good Website’
 What makes a site good, bad or
indifferent?
 There are various criteria which can be
used to judge a website, as well as
numerous articles telling you what to
look for in a website.

6. ‘Good Website’ Sites
 Here’s a great site that gives many sites
and ideas for classroom use. Click on
the ‘Springfield’ link to have a look.
 Another great guide is Kathy Schrock’s
‘ABCs of Evaluation’.
 There are also sites with more
advanced content and vocabulary.
Here’s another university (Cornell) site.

7. ‘Camper’ the Website
C = Consequences / Constancy
What are the consequences of believing this?
How consistent is this information (can you
find other sites or sources to confirm)?

8. ‘Camper’ the Website/2
A = Assumptions / Accuracy
What assumptions have been made here?
How accurate is the data / information?
(who’s the author? what credentials?)

9. ‘Camper’ the Website/3
M = Meaning / Main Points
What’s the meaning of this?
What is the main point here?

10. ‘Camper’ the Website/4
P = Prejudice / Point of View
What prejudice is being shown here?
What other points of view could be
expressed?
Whose side is being presented?

11. ‘Camper’ the Website/5
E = Evidence / Examples
What evidence is given to support the
claims?
What examples are given to back up claims?

12. ‘Camper’ the Website/6
R = Relevance / Reliability
How relevant are the claims?
How reliable is the source, writer,
information?

13. ‘Camper’ the Website (detail)
C = Consequences / Consistency / Currency
Critical questions to ask yourself:
 What are the consequences of me believing all of
this as it is presented?
 How consistent is the information compared to
other sources?
 Is there a bibliography?
 Does the site link to other sources of information
about my topic?
 How current is the information?
 Is the site updated regularly?

14. Consequences, consistency, currency
We’ll check out this site:
http://www.zapatopi.net/cascadia/
Whizz through this site and check it out in Camper
‘C’ terms. How would you rate it?
(What are the consequences of believing this? How
consistent is this information?)

15. Assumptions, Accuracy, Authorship,
Audience (detail)
What assumptions have been made here?
How accurate is the information?
Who is the author?
What are the author’s credentials?
Who is the intended audience?
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
Whizz through this site and check it out in Camper ‘A’ terms.
How would you rate it?
How about if you combined this rating with the ‘Cs’ criteria?

16. Meaning, Main Points (detail)
What are the main points?
What isn’t here?
http://www.thedogisland.com/
Whizz through this site and check it out in Camper ‘M’ terms.
How would you rate it?
How about if you combined this rating with the ‘A and C’
criteria?

17. Prejudice, Point of View, Provider,
Purpose (detail)
Who is the provider of the information? Is the site edu? com?
org? gov?
What is the author’s point of view or bias?
What is the other point of view?
What is the purpose of the site - to inform, persuade, explain?
http://www.newtechusa.com/ppi/main.asp
Whizz through this site and check it out in Camper ‘P’ terms.
How would you rate it?
How about if you combined this rating with the ‘CAM’ criteria?

18. Evidence, Examples (detail)
What is the evidence to support the claim?
What examples are provided?
http://www.ovaprima.org/
Whizz through this site and check it out in Camper ‘E’ terms.
How would you rate it?
How about if you combined this rating with the ‘C, A, M and P’
criteria?

19. Relevance, Reliability (detail)
How relevant is this site to my research / key question?
Is the site reliable - easy to navigate, clear and quick to download?
Your key question is: Does blonde hair give you a
disadvantage in terms of health, appearance or
intelligence? Explain.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2284783.stm
Whizz through this site and check it out in Camper ‘R’ terms. How
would you rate it?
How about if you combined this rating with the ‘C, A, M, P and E’
criteria?

20. Other Ways of Evaluating : Hats
You can also use some of de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats for this:
 White Hat: What facts are listed on this site? Check for things like:
 are they verifiable?
 are they relevant to what I’m looking for?
 Green Hat: What new ideas am I being introduced to? Check for things like:
 how do I know that they’re relevant or real?
 why has no-one else listed them?
 Black Hat: what are the weaknesses of this site? Check for:
 do links work?
 are there errors of grammar or spelling?
 when as it last updated?
 is the author listed and contactable?
 Try these on this site: Boilerplate

21. Defining ‘A Good Website’
 What makes a site good, bad or indifferent?
 There are various criteria which we’ve already introduced you to
which can be used to judge a website (links given earlier)
 There’re numerous articles on the web (just type in ‘good
websites’ into Google for hundreds of ideas. Here’s one:
7Points (Vanderlay)
 Here’s the BBC’s take on it:
www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/askbruce/articles/browse/goodsites_1.
shtml (please note that one of their links - the BBC webguide -
no longer works! - not sure what that says!)

22. Website Addresses
 Make sure that the children understand at
least the basics, for example:
 ‘gov’ or ‘govt’ = government site
 ‘cri’ = crown institute
 ‘iwi’ ; ‘school’
 ‘edu’ = educational institution
 ‘com’ or ‘co’ = commercial site
 ‘org’ = non profit

23. Teaching Website Evaluation
 Website Addresses
 Website Authors
 Trusted Sites
 Phishing Sites
 Hoax Sites
 What makes a site ‘good’?

24. BBC’s Definition
 Here’s a link to how the BBC chooses
sites for their ‘Non-BBC recommended
sites’:
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/recomme
nded.shtml

25. Other Sites
 You are more than welcome to go to
Rm 4’s delicious tags and look there for
more information (tag keyword =
website_evaluation) :
http://delicious.com/Rm4/
 Listed there are webquests, background
reading, methods of evaluating,
matrices to evaluate, etc.

26. Remember…
 Seeing is believing….
 Penguins….