Critical Internet Literacy

Images above: A castle on a stack? The power to manipulate images

Related links
Geogsplace
Socialsense
Thebarton Senior College Moodle
Spatialworlds
Geographical thinking Scoop.it  
Spatial literacy Scoop.it  
History and geography Scoop.it

Email contact:
manning@chariot.net.au

Critical Internet Literacy

Recently at our faculty meetings we discussed the issue of Critical Internet Literacy.  This posting provides some information on assessing the validity of online resources and a range of bogus sites that have been created to peddle nonsense or falsity on purpose. As students are using Internet sources more and more, it is imperative that students develop critical literacy to determine the veracity of any site, regardless of its professional appearance. In fact, the technological and economic ease anyone can now develop a really professional and seemingly official site makes Critical Internet Literacy more important than ever.

Evaluating a site for veracity

The attached article suggests the following tips to avoid being ‘conned’ by ‘suss’ internet sites:

•  Check for additional sources before you share anything
•  Learn which websites not to trust
•  Unfollow any websites that lies to you
•  Use common sense.

A more detailed listing involves examining the site for:

1. Accuracy (Is the information reliable? Are the links accurate? Sources cited? Information believable?)
2. Authority (Who is the author of the site? What are his/her qualifications? Is the site sponsored by an organization? Is the organization reputable or legitimate?)
3. Objectivity (Does the information reveal a bias? What is the point of view of the author? Is the information trying to sway you? Do the links also reflect a bias?)
4. Currency (When was the site last updated? Is the information kept up to date? Is the publication date indicated? Are the links up to date?)
5. Coverage (How is the information presented? Heavy use of graphics, text, statistics? Topic coverage cursory or in-depth?) 

Here are some even more detailed questions to check out a site are:

1. The source of the page

*Who wrote the page?

*Can you contact him or her?

*Does he/she list his/her qualifications?

* Is this person qualified to write this document?

*What type of organization provides the page? Is it:

Government:       .gov

Education:           .edu

Business:            .com

Organisation:      .org

*What country is the page from?

2. Purpose  
What is the purpose of the document? 

To:

* Inform

* Entertain

* Share information

*Advertise or sell a product or service (business/marketing)

* Influence views, beliefs 

* Personal enjoyment

 

3. Structural features

Identify some of the structural features of the web page eg

• use of colour
• font size and style
• graphics
• video or animation
• tabs 
• links

  4. Audience
  * Who is the audience?
  * What features have been included to appeal to this audience

• Structural features
• Language features

5. Objectivity of web documents
* How detailed is the information?
* What opinions (if any) are expressed by the author?
* Can the information be checked from other sources?

6. Currency of web documents
* When was it produced?
* When was it updated?
* How many dead links are there?
* Is the information up to date?
* How much advertising is there?

Check these sites out for veracity

Checking out the following sites are a useful (and fun) way for students to use the questions above to check out the veracity, reliability, usefulness and bias of a site.

The buy dehydrated water site

http://www.moonmovie.com/moonmovie/default.asp

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus.html

http://www.rythospital.com/

http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html

http://www.umbachconsulting.com/miscellany/velcro.html

http://www.genochoice.com/

http://www.dhmo.org/

http://www.improb.com/airchives/classical/cat/cat.html (scroll down)

http://haggishunt.scotsman.com/


http://www.hetracil.com/

http://ding.net/bonsaikitten/

http://havidol.com/

http://www.modernplasztika.co.hu/audioful_eng.html

http://www.icrwhale.net/

http://savetherennets.com/

http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/bread.html

http://www.petroldirect.com/

http://www.sandman.com/telco.html

Enggeog!

 Image above: The Global words site. The fifteen units of work in Global Words have been produced by World Vision Australia and the Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA) to integrate the teaching and learning of English and Geography with global citizenship education

Related links
Geogsplace
Socialsense
Thebarton Senior College Moodle
Geographical thinking Scoop.it  
Spatial literacy Scoop.it  
History and geography Scoop.it 

Email contact: 
malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu


The English-Geography link

People often talk about the quite obvious link between Geography and History. This posting highlights the synergy between the learning area of English and Geography. Although the materials are focussed on upper primary and junior secondary, some may be quite relevant to some of our students (particularly ex-NAP). In 2010, the Primary English Teachers Association Australia (PETAA) have helped along this link by producing a resource called Global Words with World Vision Australia. This excellent resource facilitates the teaching of geography though English.

Global education topics in Global Words units of work are approached through a range of texts and texts types. Topics are covered across the three educational levels of junior Primary, upper Primary and junior Secondary include:

• Refugees and migration
• Indigenous peoples
• Neighbours and the Asia Pacific region
• Sustainability

Recently PETAA and World Vision have updated the resource by releasing an additional three units of work which integrate the teaching and learning of English and Geography with global citizenship education. 

* We are similar but different - Year 3

* A diverse and connected world – Year 6

* Water in the world – year 7
 

As is said on the site:

"At the centre of both global citizenship education and the study of English is the aim of supporting students to become ethical, thoughtful and informed citizens, predisposed to take action for change. The Global Words units, and the supporting resources, aim to build the essential knowledge, skills and values young people need to participate actively, critically and creatively as global citizens."

PETAA are also running free professional learning sessions in Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Darwin and Melbourne over the next three months.

Instant feedback from students

Image above: Straw Poll website for contestable geography or pre-knowledge testing.


Related links
Geogsplace
Socialsense
Thebarton Senior College Moodle
Geographical thinking Scoop.it  
Spatial literacy Scoop.it  
History and geography Scoop.it 

Email contact: 
malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu

Where am I??  
Adelaide, Australia: S: 34º 55' E: 138º 36'


An easy and quick polling option to get geographical discussion underway

Further to the Spatialworlds contestable geography posting on PollEverywhere, here is another useful inter-active polling site for students to share their views on geographical issues. The website is called Strawpoll (www.strawpoll.me) and is a great website that enables you to create short polls for students to complete. This then generates a website that students can go to in order to answer the questions. Responses can then be displayed on the interactive white board in real time in the form of a Pie Chart.  Here is a video showing how to use it, showing the tool is not time consuming at all and very easy to use. It is even easier that PollEverwhere but more simplistic. A really impressive aspect of this site is that no software is required and students can easily access the poll. A really good option for the quick, on the spot poll in the classroom.

The video option

Image above: The Windows Movie Maker


Related links
Geogsplace
Socialsense
Thebarton Senior College Moodle
Geographical thinking Scoop.it  
Spatial literacy Scoop.it  
History and geography Scoop.it 

Email contact: 
malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu


Videos of teaching moments

As demonstrated at a recent staff meeting, the video option when wanting to capture 'teaching moments' is certainly now easy.  We can capture up to 15 minutes of our lesson for students to watch for catch-up or reinforcement purposes. In 2014 there is an expectation that we have a go at using this technology and upload some of our important teaching moments onto Moodle, YouTube or blogs. Here is the process to get started over coming weeks to learn the technology using either a Flipcamera, digital camera or even your IPhone. 

Step 1: Upload Movie Maker onto your computer (unless you want to use one of the many Mac movie production programs i.e. IMovie).  Movie Maker is free and extremely easy to use in terms of format and editing tools. It is not the most elaborate movie program but do we need to make highly sophisticated productions? Personally, I just want a quick and easy program to put my movie into a format to upload to YouTube or onto my Moodle/Blog.

Step 2: Shoot the movie on your Flipcamera, digital camera or IPhone. Just put on a tripod and start recording. 

Step 3: Connect your camera/phone and locate your video on the device. To do so connect your camera or phone to your computer via a USB connection and navigate to the file on your device to see that the video worked OK. 

Step 4: Load your video file on your device  onto your hard drive. 
Save the video file onto your hard drive in a location you can easily access  .

Step 4: Load your video file into Movie Maker. 
Open Movie Maker and click on the right side of the screen where it says, "Click here to browse for videos and photos". 

Navigate to your video file on your hard drive and select.

Your video will now appear in Movie Maker. Use the edit tools as required.

Step 5: Save your movie on your hard drive in a location you can easily access. Click on 'Save Movie'on the right hand of the Home screen to save.

Step 6: Upload your edited video to the storage site as required (YouTube, DropBox or Moodle).

Stage 1 and 2 Society and Culture: a good option for many

Image above: Stage 1 and 2 Socialsense blog

Stage 1 and 2 Society and Culture at Thebarton SC

"A look at ours and other societies with connection in mind."

One Stage 1 Society and Culture class and two Stage 2 classes (one being the SACE ATAR) were conducted in 2013 at TSC. 

The Society and Culture subject is able to be designed to be as relevant and achievable as possible for our students. The flexible content and assignment structure is ideal for our students, with teachers able to provide a wide range of assessment tasks. 
In 2013 twenty three students commenced Stage 2 Society and Culture (non SACE ATAR class), 5 withdrew, 16 gained a passing grade and two left school in Term 3 but were still awarded a grade.
Of the 23, 12 were ESL students with a NAP background (3 of these withdrew), 3 were re-entry students with Anglo background (1 of these left)and the other 8 were re-entry students with an ESL background (2 of these withdrew and 1 left).   
The attached PowerPoint provides details of the course, a link to the classes SocialSense Blog and some work samples.

The Society and Culture courses are a great option for our students and are courses we should promote with the students successfully completing the Stage 1 Humanities courses.

New DECD resources on the Australian Curriculum

Image above: The new DECD resource on the Australian Curriculum.

Certainly worth a look! 

Over recent months the 'Teaching for Effective Learning' section of DECD has posted some useful materials on their "Making the Australian Curriculum work for us' resource to support the teaching and learning of the Australian Curriculum in SA schools. Here is a glimpse of the recently posted materials on the DECD site . They are certainly worth a look! 

As you can see below the resources deal with history  mathematics, English, science and geography and includes creative animations, broadsheets on the curriculum and 'talking heads'. I understand there will be plenty more useful things to come.  

The Story of the learning areas animation. An excellent animation on 'What is ... for'. 

Talking heads on the learning areas 

The curriculum's, year by year, all on one page in the Learning Area Explorer.

Sound bites from the public on their perception of the learning areas

Flowcharts for faculty pathways

Image above: Humanities: about being human!



Related links
Geogsplace
Socialsense
Thebarton Senior College Moodle
Geographical thinking Scoop.it  
Spatial literacy Scoop.it  
History and geography Scoop.it 

Email contact: 
malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu.au

Flowcharts to share

For our recent Open Night the following faculty flowcharts were created.  Feel free to promote the Humanities, English and Business pathways at Thebarton Senior College to your students.  Here they are:

Humanities

English

Business