Learning and teaching with the internet

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Learning and teaching with the internet

• Workshop 2
• About the Internet - Web Literacy
• by Jackie Miers

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Issues with using the web

• There is a lot of information to sift through.
• Searches often produce too many or inappropriate
  results.
• Quality of information is often a problem.
• Searching is time-consuming.

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Need to search NOT surf
Its a trillion page web!
Based on idea from Joyce Valenza
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Unlocking the contents of the web
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Constructing a search

• When constructing a search, your goal is to get
  the best results to appear on the first two or
  three pages.

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Major search tools

• There are over 2,500 search tools on the web to
  help locate information on the web.
• Search tools use software called spiders that
  comb the internet looking for documents and their
  web addresses.
• This is how they work.

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Google
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Types of search tools

• Search Engines These are useful if you know a set
  of keywords that describe what you want. 
• Meta-search Engines. These send your search to
  other search engines and directories and display
  the total results. 
• Subject Directories. These let you narrow down
  your search by choosing your subject from a list.
  It is a good way to start if you want to know
  what is available on a general topic.

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What type of a site is it?

• Some of the main domains include
• .com - a commercial site
• .org - a non-profit organization
• .edu - an academic institution
• .gov - a government site
• .mil - a military site
• .net - network
• - personal site

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How does the web work?
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Understanding URLs
jmresources/
searching/
index.html
http//
www.teachers.ash.org.au/
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Invisible /deep/ hidden web

• The webs largest growing resource.
• 40 times size of the visible web.
• Mostly made up of thousands of specialised
  databases that are inaccessible to web crawlers.
• These can often only be searched after
  registration or paying a subscription.

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Citation

• It is important that students cite the resources
  they use in their assignments.
• One method is to get them to create a table with
  relevant headings to keep track of the sites they
  have visited.

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Citation

• Interactive forms to facilitate citing.
• Noodlebib Starter
• Slade Citation Machine
• Interactive Citation Maker - for Primary School
  students from (OSLIS)
• Interactive Citation Maker -  for Secondary
  School students from (OSLIS)

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Downloading

• Downloading is how you access digital
  information.
• When you access a web page, for example, you are
  downloading the document from a web server.
• Once the digital data arrives, your web browser
  looks at the file extension (the letters
  following the ".").
• If it recognizes the type of file, it will
  display it.

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File types

• There are many different types of electronic file
  formats.
• The file type can be identified by its extension,
  shown as a usually followed by 3 letters.
• You need to identify the file type to know
  whether it will work on your computer, or whether
  you will need a particular type of software to
  play, or view it.

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Downloading