My recent work at Kingsgrove North High School, gave the opportunity to present Information Literacy Skills sessions to the Year 7 cohort.
I decided to try a session on Website evaluation given they have done some work on online encyclopedias and comparing information from online sources.
When I did my Master of Education Degree, I was guided through the 5W's of Website evaluation modelled by Kathy Shorock. Believe it or not, its the same model used by Historians to evaluate the relevance of sources - Who? What? Where? When? Why? I decided it was the most straight forward approach to teach them how to evaluate a website and then be able to apply that in History or any other subject.
It is such a handy research skill even in printed form.
Using the resources provided on Schrocks website, I got the students (as a class) to evaluate a website that I picked for them applying a set of criteria. To make it more interesting, I selected a history website in which I manage. Initially, I found that they struggled a little with the concept of the 5W's in the initial discussion, but once we began working together on the sheet and examining the website, they started to develop a good grasp of what they need to consider in selecting relevant websites for their research e.g. use of visual images, tables, graphs and further reading.
I will admit, that even I learn't some useful skills in how to create and maintain a website. I got ticks for the visual images, spelling and grammar, accuracy of information and links to further reading. However, there was no home page which can help one gain an overview of what the site is about.
