Internet can be used for valuable research
Generally, I encourage students to find more outside sources than the Internet--for example, books, newspapers, articles, etc.
Mainly because students do not look hard enough into the Net for information-- as one of the slides pointed out, you really have to muddle through the information to find a source that could be considered academic.
That said, there are indeed so many valuable resources as far as academic and scholarly type journals that are available on the web.
It's finding a way to get that out to students....even though we have "library" day, they still don't seem to utilize that.
Any thoughts?
Vallorie,
I agree students need to be shown how to find valid/reputable information/sources on the internet. Google Scholar has been good for books/articles. Many institutions have an online/virtual library and students do not take advantage of such a resource.
Antoine Lewis
I totally agree with Ms. Wood on this point! As instructors we must use our instructional influence to stress to our students the importance of the value of sources other than internet sites and web pages. When I assign research activities I mandate students give me a certain amount of internet sources and periodical, professional journal, magazine, book or text sources. It is way too easy to just use a single search engine to find various sites for a topic and use what I like to refer to it as 'the one stop shopping' technique. In my classes I encourage comparison and value shopping when seeking information.
Denise,
This is when we as faculty need to use the WIFM (What's In it For Me) principle. In addition to the academic achievement goals for a course, we want to also focus on personal development skills. This is achieved via several strategies: goal setting, end-result thinking, personal accountability, positive self-talk, self efficacy building, mentoring and team building. By developing these skills, the student will begin to see the positive effects of improved performance within the classroom setting. As the student gains confidence in this environment, the student will be able to transfer these skills to a professional environment. This, in turn, will ultimately lead to a higher quality of life for the student.
Antoine Lewis
I have seen a growing use of the easy way offered for research by the internet as well as how to do it videos to the point of not needing or bothering to learn background info or procedures that lead to understanding what you are doing completely. I expect this to be a future problem that we should expect to counter by helping students develop more critical examination practices related to info they accept and work off of.
Thomas,
I do feel this is the future and we as faculty and institutions need to make sure the students understand the Why, Reasoning & Purpose.
Antoine Lewis
I agree utilizing the library for resources such as books, newspapers and articles is important and accurate source of information for researching for a paper. Now a days, students just research on the internet and the information that they receive is not accurate they pick up the first search and they don't go further with their research. I encourage the students to use reliable search engine such as google scholar to write a accurate and informative paper.
Elaine,
The internet has a lot of resources and knowing what is reputable is important as anyone can submit to the web. Using google scholar is always encouraged by myself and the schools virtual library. In all the text is always the first source as I encourage student to incorporate it when completing assignment to stress the important of using the text and not trying to google or Bing a quick solution and not learn anything.
Antoine Lewis
Ditto, I agree. Internet research should be an accurate tool not one that is first picked off on websites such as bing. Educating our students is an important function to their success.
Al,
Internet research to me will be something that institutions will have to deal with. It is best to give the students a virtual library or database like EBSCOhost to retrieve their source(s).
Antoine Lewis
