To trust or not to trust: Websites

         How many times have you asked yourself whether a website is trustworthy or not? Nowadays, internet has become the main source of information for everyone, but we need to be careful about which websites we choose to trust. As teachers, we are looking for new information and innovative activities all the time, so it is extremely important that all the material that we take from the internet is reliable enough to present it in front of the classroom.

      Susan Beck talks about some Evaluation Criteria to select useful and trustworthy web sources. For instance, she mentions “Authority” as one aspect to pay attention to: Is there an author? Is the page signed? Is the author qualified? An expert? Those are some of the questions that you should ask yourself when visiting a website in order to have a clue of its reliability. Many websites offer a lot of valuable information, but when we want to contact the authors or look for their qualifications there is no data available.

          On the other hand, there are pages that give you that kind of information, a case in point is BBC Learning English. At the bottom of the page you can find the option: “About BBC Learning English” and if you click on this, you can find information about the contributors and the authors. In fact, you will find each of the author’s profiles, so as to get to know each of them and also contact them via mail in the option “Contact BBC LearningEnglish”.

       Another aspect to take into account according to Beck is “Currency”, which has to do with how updated the webpage is. You should check if the site is dated and also if the links that are provided there are currently working or just expired. For instance, in Handouts Online you will find at the bottom of the webpage “© Handouts Online 2015” which shows that it is updated. It also has a section where new worksheets and updates are shared regularly.

      Accuracy is also vital when analyzing web sources, you should be careful with those pages that present spelling mistakes or wrong information because that might mean that there is no one who checks or verifies the webpage’s material.

As you can see, there are many ways to check if a website is trustworthy or not. As a librarian and information professional, HopeN. Tillman recommends on her work Evaluating Quality on the Net that “We need to use the same critical evaluative skills in looking for information on the Internet that we would do in a book, a paper index, a musical score, or on an online commercial database”. 

So let’s try to be more critical when looking for activities, videos, texts, etc. on the internet, especially if we are planning to use that material with academic purposes.

DIGITAL IMMIGRANT OR NATIVE?

      We always knew that time creates generational gaps.  This issue has caused struggles between parents and children, as well as between teachers and students from the very beginning. But now, we are facing a phenomenon that has no precedents: the arrival of digital technology in the last decades of the 20th century.

    This phenomenon gave birth to a whole new generation called “Digital Natives”. According to Marc Prensky, Digital Natives “represent the first generation to grow up with new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videos games, digital music players, cell phones, and all other toys and tools of the Digital Age.”  Those who weren’t born in this digital world and are trying to adapt to it, are called by Prensky “Digital Immigrants”.

 What if we had to place ourselves under one of these labels?  Even though we grew up surrounded by technology we perceive some differences between us and younger Digital Natives.  A decade ago, technology was available only for those who had the necessary resources, but nowadays, people from different social classes can easily access to it. What’s more, they represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology.
      So we could say that Digital Natives are constantly evolving with technology, and we as teachers need to be ready to keep up with these new cultural changes. As it is unlikely that newcomers adapt to the old-fashioned methods of teaching-learning, it is our duty to find new ways to narrow the generational gap. Teaching students who are used to access to information instantaneously with what Prensky calls “the step by step” logic, might be a difficult task.

     Virtual games, digital texts, videos, interactive activities, are just some examples of all the things that can be done in the classroom to make it more motivating and appealing for students. The truth is that no matter the techniques that you may implement in teaching, the more we embrace new technology, the more connected we will be with our students. 

    Now, we would like to share with you an APP that you could easily use in the classroom.

In fact, one of us did it and it worked extremely well. Students love each opportunity they have to use their cellphones, so why don't we see that as way of both, motivating and teaching them? Take a look at Duolingo, an App that allows you to learn different languages through interactive activities that actually make you feel you are playing a game. Besides, you can practice listening, speaking and writing skills, and the best of all: it's FREE! and you can downloaded through Google Play from your mobile phone. Give it a chance and let us know how it worked for you!