Week Three:Google and Beyond

Dear all,

Search engines are very essential for anyone surfing the web. Educators, in general, use different sorts of search engines. For this, it is important to teach students some criteria about using more reliable sites than others. One has to ask him/herself the following questions concerning the sites they are using:
Reliability
· To what extent can we count on the information provided at this site?
· Is the information authentic?
· Is it cited correctly?
Accessibility
· Is the site/article easy to find?
· How logically is the information organized?
Currency
· Is the information presented on the site current and updated regularly?
· Is the material relevant? When was it written?
Efficiency
· What can the site tell you?
· How fast can we access the information?
· Is it loaded with irrelevant material, which prolongs the search?
· Is the information laid out in a logical fashion, so that the readers can easily locate what they need?
Objectivity
· Can we trust the information for being pure facts and not opinions?
· Is the information included biased and not a mask for advertising or political/religious campaign?

I uploaded some pictures that show my students and I using technology while working on tasks in the English Learning Center

Best

Maha