This paper examines the practices Austrian high school students and teachers use to evaluate credibility of online information. It finds that students primarily use Google and Wikipedia to research information for school assignments, often ignoring other sources like books recommended by teachers. Students tend to only briefly scan the top search results from Google without considering additional search terms or going beyond the first page. Both students and teachers take for granted Internet use for schoolwork without guidance on evaluating information reliability. The study aims to understand how school and Internet contexts shape students' information practices and competencies.
A study of sixth graders’ critical evaluation of Internet sourcesaj6785
This study was a descriptive, task-based analysis to determine how sixth-grade students approach the cognitive task of critically evaluating Internet sources. Pairs of sixth grade students in an Information Literacy course evaluated four preselected Internet sites to determine their credibility and appropriateness for two specific research scenarios. Data for analysis included written responses, screencasts, and video of students while completing the task. Results suggest that these students tended toward simplistic modes of evaluation in the face of increased cognitive load, though some moved toward a more critical stance and many applied basic metacognitive strategies. The study points to the importance of instructional approaches that teach students to flexibly apply evaluation criteria in ill-structured environments, that teach advanced metacognitive strategies, and that instill habits of mind for critical inquiry. Instruction that empowers students to practice healthy skepticism even in the face of authority is also essential.
A study of sixth graders’ critical evaluation of Internet sourcesaj6785
This study was a descriptive, task-based analysis to determine how sixth-grade students approach the cognitive task of critically evaluating Internet sources. Pairs of sixth grade students in an Information Literacy course evaluated four preselected Internet sites to determine their credibility and appropriateness for two specific research scenarios. Data for analysis included written responses, screencasts, and video of students while completing the task. Results suggest that these students tended toward simplistic modes of evaluation in the face of increased cognitive load, though some moved toward a more critical stance and many applied basic metacognitive strategies. The study points to the importance of instructional approaches that teach students to flexibly apply evaluation criteria in ill-structured environments, that teach advanced metacognitive strategies, and that instill habits of mind for critical inquiry. Instruction that empowers students to practice healthy skepticism even in the face of authority is also essential.
Electronic textbooks are not new; but, they have not been widely used in the public education system. Even though many have predicted the popularity of electronic textbooks, the uptake has been less than anticipated. This article reviews research literature to uncover the use and the acceptance of electronic textbooks with foreign experience. It discusses research studies which have shown an effect on students’ learning and concludes with a discussion based on the studies and using foreign experience. by Murodov Nodirbek Oybek ogli and Shuxratjon Durmenov Nurmamatovich 2020. Foreign experience in the use of electronic textbooks. International Journal on Integrated Education. 3, 7 (Jul. 2020), 7-8. DOI:https://doi.org/10.31149/ijie.v3i7.456. https://journals.researchparks.org/index.php/IJIE/article/view/456/435 https://journals.researchparks.org/index.php/IJIE/article/view/456
This poster provides an overview of my DPhil thesis.
Francis, R.J. (2007) The Predicament of the Learner in the New Media Age: an investigation into the implications of media change for learning. Available online from Oxford Research Archive (June 2008) <http: />
Learning in one-to-one_laptop_environments___a_meta-analysis_and_research_syn...Cathy Cavanaugh
Over the past decade, the number of one-to-one laptop programs in schools
has steadily increased. Despite the growth of such programs, there is little
consensus about whether they contribute to improved educational outcomes.
This article reviews 65 journal articles and 31 doctoral dissertations published
from January 2001 to May 2015 to examine the effect of one-to-one
laptop programs on teaching and learning in K–12 schools. A meta-analysis
of 10 studies examines the impact of laptop programs on students’ academic
achievement, finding significantly positive average effect sizes in English,
writing, mathematics, and science. In addition, the article summarizes the
impact of laptop programs on more general teaching and learning processes
and perceptions as reported in these studies, again noting generally positive
findings.
Social research methods and open educational resources: a literature review (...CSAPSubjectCentre
A literature review written by Kate Orton-Johnson and Ian Fairweather as part of the C-SAP (Higher Education Academy's Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics) project "Discovering Collections of Social Science Open Educational Resources".
THE GRATIFICATION AND MISUSE PATTERNS OF FACEBOOK USE AMONG UNDERGRADUATE S...American Research Thoughts
This study explored the consequences of Facebook use in the lives of undergraduate
students and to what extent this social network site was subjective to their everyday requirements. In
this respect 100 college students from Govt. College Dharamshala were randomly chosen and after
reviewing several studies on Facebook use, a questionnaire containing 20 close-ended questions was
framed and circulated them in their free times. The collected data was tabled and analyzed with the
assistance of IBM SPSS 20. Finally, the study summarizes that the undergraduates access Facebook
for various purposes in their everyday life in which, academic search, online shopping, developing
(social) relations, sharing data, chatting, and killing loneliness are primary. The study also confirms
and supports the results of previous studies that the consumption of Facebook influences students’
academic, health and social life both negative and positive manners. It is alarmed that if the
dependency of students on Facebook is not taken seriously by parents, teachers and policymakers, it
would influence their social relationship, health status, moral attitude and academic performance to a
large manner in coming years.
IMPACT OF FACEBOOK USAGE ON THEACADEMIC GRADES: A CASE STUDYSajjad Sayed
IMPACT OF FACEBOOK USAGE ON THE ACADEMIC GRADES: A CASE STUDY
This article prove a Impact on Students grades but it was recommendation of author of this article that students can reap higher grades if institute will monitor its usage. for example open access for few hours in a day at mentioned time.
Presentation that explains the relationship between the Facebook use and academic performance, based on the results of an expressive and exploratory survey study on college students who use Facebook and who do not use.
Ref: "Computers and Human Behavior" by Paul A. Kirschner & Aryn C. Karpinski
Electronic textbooks are not new; but, they have not been widely used in the public education system. Even though many have predicted the popularity of electronic textbooks, the uptake has been less than anticipated. This article reviews research literature to uncover the use and the acceptance of electronic textbooks with foreign experience. It discusses research studies which have shown an effect on students’ learning and concludes with a discussion based on the studies and using foreign experience. by Murodov Nodirbek Oybek ogli and Shuxratjon Durmenov Nurmamatovich 2020. Foreign experience in the use of electronic textbooks. International Journal on Integrated Education. 3, 7 (Jul. 2020), 7-8. DOI:https://doi.org/10.31149/ijie.v3i7.456. https://journals.researchparks.org/index.php/IJIE/article/view/456/435 https://journals.researchparks.org/index.php/IJIE/article/view/456
This poster provides an overview of my DPhil thesis.
Francis, R.J. (2007) The Predicament of the Learner in the New Media Age: an investigation into the implications of media change for learning. Available online from Oxford Research Archive (June 2008) <http: />
Learning in one-to-one_laptop_environments___a_meta-analysis_and_research_syn...Cathy Cavanaugh
Over the past decade, the number of one-to-one laptop programs in schools
has steadily increased. Despite the growth of such programs, there is little
consensus about whether they contribute to improved educational outcomes.
This article reviews 65 journal articles and 31 doctoral dissertations published
from January 2001 to May 2015 to examine the effect of one-to-one
laptop programs on teaching and learning in K–12 schools. A meta-analysis
of 10 studies examines the impact of laptop programs on students’ academic
achievement, finding significantly positive average effect sizes in English,
writing, mathematics, and science. In addition, the article summarizes the
impact of laptop programs on more general teaching and learning processes
and perceptions as reported in these studies, again noting generally positive
findings.
Social research methods and open educational resources: a literature review (...CSAPSubjectCentre
A literature review written by Kate Orton-Johnson and Ian Fairweather as part of the C-SAP (Higher Education Academy's Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics) project "Discovering Collections of Social Science Open Educational Resources".
THE GRATIFICATION AND MISUSE PATTERNS OF FACEBOOK USE AMONG UNDERGRADUATE S...American Research Thoughts
This study explored the consequences of Facebook use in the lives of undergraduate
students and to what extent this social network site was subjective to their everyday requirements. In
this respect 100 college students from Govt. College Dharamshala were randomly chosen and after
reviewing several studies on Facebook use, a questionnaire containing 20 close-ended questions was
framed and circulated them in their free times. The collected data was tabled and analyzed with the
assistance of IBM SPSS 20. Finally, the study summarizes that the undergraduates access Facebook
for various purposes in their everyday life in which, academic search, online shopping, developing
(social) relations, sharing data, chatting, and killing loneliness are primary. The study also confirms
and supports the results of previous studies that the consumption of Facebook influences students’
academic, health and social life both negative and positive manners. It is alarmed that if the
dependency of students on Facebook is not taken seriously by parents, teachers and policymakers, it
would influence their social relationship, health status, moral attitude and academic performance to a
large manner in coming years.
IMPACT OF FACEBOOK USAGE ON THEACADEMIC GRADES: A CASE STUDYSajjad Sayed
IMPACT OF FACEBOOK USAGE ON THE ACADEMIC GRADES: A CASE STUDY
This article prove a Impact on Students grades but it was recommendation of author of this article that students can reap higher grades if institute will monitor its usage. for example open access for few hours in a day at mentioned time.
Presentation that explains the relationship between the Facebook use and academic performance, based on the results of an expressive and exploratory survey study on college students who use Facebook and who do not use.
Ref: "Computers and Human Behavior" by Paul A. Kirschner & Aryn C. Karpinski
Wie verweisen deutschsprachige Tweets auf Medieninhalte? Quantitative Inhaltsanalyse deutschsprachiger Tweets von als Individuen auftretenden Nutzer/innen, der Medieninhalte auf die sie verlinken und der Bezugnahme auf diese Medieninhalte
Como Investigador y Gerente he realizado una investigación revisando teorias gerenciales, por lo cual realizando un aporte critico construtivo en el tema de Management; me permito proponer las Nuevas Tendencias Gerenciales del Siglo XXI
Extent of social media usage by students for improved learning in Tertiary In...iosrjce
This study was carried out to ascertain the perception of students on the use of social media for
educational purposes. It was conducted in three tertiary institutions in Rivers State. The sample comprised 200
respondents randomly selected from three tertiary institutions in Rivers State. Five research objectives and four
null hypotheses were used for the study. Mean scores, ANOVA, multiple comparison test using schaffer model,
and Correlational Analysis were the statistical tools used in the study. The study found that social media is used
in the study. The study found that social is used for educational purposes in terms of communication, sharing
and exchanging ideas with improved engagement with technology. The study also revealed that social media is
frequently used for interactions with friends for classroom assignment, communication in and outside
classroom, promoting interactions during lectures, promoting informal learning, enhance course grades,
facilitating language exchange, video conferencing, creating room for educational and video sharing. In terms
of attitude of students, respondents generally have favourable attitude towards use of social media. The study
revealed significant differences exist in social media usage across the three universities involved in the study
and significant differences exist in usage of social media between male and female respondents; and in attitude
of students towards social media. Based on these findings, the study recommend that the use of social media
should be incorporated into the curriculum for enhanced universities education.
Culture, Gender and Technology Enhanced Learning (Richter & Zelenkauskaite, I...Richter Thomas
PrePrint of: Richter, T. & Zelenkauskaite, A. (2014). Culture, Gender and Technology Enhanced Learning: Female and Male Students' Perceptions across three Countries. In: Nunes, M.B. & McPherson, M. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 8th IADIS International Conference e-Learning 2014, part of the Multiconference on Computer Science and Information Systems (MCCIS), IADIS Press, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 3-12.
New literacies and Transformative Learning EnvironmentsCITE
Professor Ola ERSTAD, Institute for Educational Research, University of Oslo, Norway
http://citers2013.cite.hku.hk/en/keynotes.htm
---------------------------
Author(s) bear(s) the responsibility in case of any infringement of the Intellectual Property Rights of third parties.
---------------------------
CITE was notified by the author(s) that if the presentation slides contain any personal particulars, records and personal data (as defined in the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance) such as names, email addresses, photos of students, etc, the author(s) have/has obtained the corresponding person's consent.
The Impact of Social Media Technologies on Adult Learning IJECEIAES
Technology and social media have presented significant tools for adult learners to learn and advance continually. Fast technological advancements have enabled development of technologies used for learning. Expansion of various tools has given professors, educaters, trainers, instructers, many alternatives towards the implementation of the technology supported learning. The use of social media can improve adult learning outcomes and academic accomplishment. Social media is increasingly proven to be beneficial in adult learning and has a huge potential for adult education. This paper sheds some lights on benefits of social media for adult learners, this is incorporated through the review of previous work and some barriers that encounters social media for learning purposes. Also some social media models are reviewed to show the growth and effect of social media in adult learning context, and suggestions and recommendations are provided.
Exploring adolescent social media use and high schools: Tensions and compati...Vanessa Dennen
Poster presented at Social Media & Society 2018 (Copenhagen).
Authors: Rutledge, Dennen, Bagdy, Rowlett & Burnick
for more info on our project see: http://studentssocialmediaschools.com
Graduate students' attitude towards e learning a study case at imam universityDr. Ahmed Farag
In the past few years, a new wave of many technologies, particularly the Internet has emerged with the potential to further enhance the teaching and learning environment in higher education. Many studies in the recent years have shown that E-learning use in the classrooms has increased over the past years. However, the process of E-learning and its applications is limited in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Through this empirical study, a limited research was initiated to track the perceptions of the students toward the E-learning. The results indicate an overall positive attitude towards the E-learning
THE SUITABILITY OF SELECTED SOCIAL MEDIA FOR LANGUAGE EDUCATIONijejournal
This study determined the factors that influence the application of social media to teaching-learning process; investigated applicable choice of social media relevant in the teaching-learning process and; determined the impact of social media on students’ language learning. Descriptive survey research design was employed. The population consist all Basics 6-9 school pupils in Osun State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was adopted. 670 pupils were sampled using stratified sampling procedure. A selfdeveloped instrument titled ‘Social Media Teach (SMT)’ with reliability coefficient of 0.762 was used to collect data. Pearson correlation and simple percentages were used in analysis. The study found the factors influencing application of social media to teaching-learning process include ease of access to learning materials (77.5%); freedom of expression (62.5%); increase interaction (language use) between peers (60%) and; improving pupils’ language skills (55%). The factors accentuated that social media has a place in language education. Study also found some social media applications appealing to learners in language education in the study area to include Google+, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The study further revealed positive relationship between the integration of social media into language education and performances in school (r = 0.245, p ˂ 0.05). Study concludes that the integration of social media in language education will improve language skills, expressions and school performance at basic schools.
International Journal of Education (IJE)ijejournal
International Journal of Education (IJE) is a Quarterly peer-reviewed and refereed open access journal that publishes articles which contribute new results in all areas of Educatioan. The journal is devoted to the publication of high quality papers on theoretical and practical aspects of Educational research.
The goal of this journal is to bring together researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to focus on Educational advancements, and establishing new collaborations in these areas. Original research papers, state-of-the-art reviews are invited for publication in all areas of Education.
Computers & Education 55 (2010) 1721–1731
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Computers & Education
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu
Learning presence: Towards a theory of self-efficacy, self-regulation, and the
development of a communities of inquiry in online and blended learning
environments
Peter Shea a,*, Temi Bidjerano b
a University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, United States
b Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613, United States
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 13 April 2010
Received in revised form
20 July 2010
Accepted 21 July 2010
Keywords:
Online learning
Community of inquiry framework
Learning presence
Teaching presence
Social presence
Cognitive presence
Self-efficacy
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (P. Sh
0360-1315/$ – see front matter � 2010 Elsevier Ltd. A
doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2010.07.017
a b s t r a c t
In this paper we examine the Community of Inquiry framework (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000)
suggesting that the model may be enhanced through a fuller articulation of the roles of online learners.
We present the results of a study of 3165 students in online and hybrid courses from 42 two- and four-
year institutions in which we examine the relationship between learner self-efficacy measures and their
ratings of the quality of their learning in virtual environments. We conclude that a positive relationship
exists between elements of the CoI framework and between elements of a nascent theoretical construct
that we label “learning presence”. We suggest that learning presence represents elements such as self-
efficacy as well as other cognitive, behavioral, and motivational constructs supportive of online learner
self-regulation. We suggest that this focused analysis on the active roles of online learners may contribute
to a more thorough account of knowledge construction in technology-mediated environments
expanding the descriptive and explanatory power of the Community of Inquiry framework. Learning
presence: Towards a Theory of Self-efficacy, Self-regulation, and the Development of a Communities of
Inquiry in Online and Blended Learning Environments.
� 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Online education continues to grow and is playing and increasingly significant role in US higher education. Recent research indicates that
more 4 million higher education learners, i.e. 25% of all college students, are enrolled in at least one online course (Allen & Seaman, 2010)
This represents an increase of more than 100% from just four years ago. In addition to this rapid growth, research is beginning to emerge
indicating that online education has transcended the “no significant difference” phenomena. For more than a decade the accepted wisdom
has been that online education and its predecessor, “distance learning” resulted in no significant difference relative to learning outcomes
achieved through classroom ins.
Similar to Reliability vs. Authority: Credibility Assessment of Highschool Students (20)
Präsentation als Diskussionsgrundlage im Rahmen der Session "Das Internet: ein Massenmedium?" der>Gruppe Internetforschung, Universität Wien am 10.6.2009.
Acetabularia Information For Class 9 .docxvaibhavrinwa19
Acetabularia acetabulum is a single-celled green alga that in its vegetative state is morphologically differentiated into a basal rhizoid and an axially elongated stalk, which bears whorls of branching hairs. The single diploid nucleus resides in the rhizoid.
Macroeconomics- Movie Location
This will be used as part of your Personal Professional Portfolio once graded.
Objective:
Prepare a presentation or a paper using research, basic comparative analysis, data organization and application of economic information. You will make an informed assessment of an economic climate outside of the United States to accomplish an entertainment industry objective.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
A review of the growth of the Israel Genealogy Research Association Database Collection for the last 12 months. Our collection is now passed the 3 million mark and still growing. See which archives have contributed the most. See the different types of records we have, and which years have had records added. You can also see what we have for the future.
2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iateflwebinar2024
Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
Normal Labour/ Stages of Labour/ Mechanism of LabourWasim Ak
Normal labor is also termed spontaneous labor, defined as the natural physiological process through which the fetus, placenta, and membranes are expelled from the uterus through the birth canal at term (37 to 42 weeks
Model Attribute Check Company Auto PropertyCeline George
In Odoo, the multi-company feature allows you to manage multiple companies within a single Odoo database instance. Each company can have its own configurations while still sharing common resources such as products, customers, and suppliers.
This slide is special for master students (MIBS & MIFB) in UUM. Also useful for readers who are interested in the topic of contemporary Islamic banking.
Read| The latest issue of The Challenger is here! We are thrilled to announce that our school paper has qualified for the NATIONAL SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE (NSPC) 2024. Thank you for your unwavering support and trust. Dive into the stories that made us stand out!
Reliability vs. Authority: Credibility Assessment of Highschool Students
1.
Paper presented at the IAMCR Conference “Communication and Citizenship”,
Braga, Portugal, 1822 July 2010
Reliability vs. Authority: Difficulties Within Practices of
Credibility Assessment of Information by Highschool Students
and Teachers in Austria
Axel Maireder, University of Vienna
The Internet, social media in particular, has become an integral part of the
everyday life of youth. According to a recent study (GfK 2009) nearly a hundred
percent of the 13 to 17 year old Austrians use social media applications like
Facebook. Plentiful of studies researching the use of those means of
communication have been carried out in the last years (Gross 2004; J. Schmidt u.
a. 2009; Ito u. a. 2008; Wagner u. a. 2009). ‚Digital natives’ (Prensky 2001) hang
out, mess around and geek out (Ito u. a. 2008) in the web, which provides
communication spaces that fulfil functions of information, relationship and
identity management (J. Schmidt 2009).
Another communication space central to the life of teenagers is school, the place
the society ensures that children get prepared for the challenges and
requirements of life within this society (Fend 2006). This increasingly includes
competences on the use of information and communication technologies, which
are and will increasingly be central to social communication now and in the
future. One of those is the competency to reasonably assess the credibility of
information, which has become a key literacy in the knowledge society. Research
on the credibility assessment of information by students has been carried out by
a number of scholars (Franke & Sundin 2009; Rieh & Hilligoss 2007; Wathen &
Burkell 2002; Lorenzen 2001; Nicholas et. al. 2008), revealing worrisome
knowledge and competence gaps. However, those studies have primarily
1
2. focused on the actual assessment of information within particular settings,
leaving aside the contexts in which these assessments are made. Our study tried
to close that gap.
Research Focus
Our project systematically asked for the terms, forms and consequences of
Internet use in schools and for school‐related tasks as well as the impact of the
school on Internet practices of teens, especially the development of competences
for information research and information processing. The initial assumption of
our cultural theory based project (Schmidt 2005, Bauer 2006), was that the
openness and universality of the Internet as well as its network structure are
contradicting the hierarchical, authoritarian model of school education, its
performance‐orientation and its sequential learning culture. The aim of the
project was to identify the communicative and cognitive practices that are
formed by students and teachers in the context of the Internet and school and to
evaluate those practices as challenges within the information society.
Method
For the collection of our data we carried out narrative group interviews
(Bohnsack 2004) with students and teachers in thirteen different classes from
ten different high schools in six Austrian provinces. The students were aged 13
to 16. Aiming for high heterogeneity, we selected schools / classes that
preferably differed in demographics, location and type of education: Schools in
rural, suburban and urban areas, with high, medium and low percentage of
immigrants and classes of two age groups (13/14 and 15/16 years old)
emphasising on either technical, commercial or general education. In each class
we asked the students to gather in groups of five people, aiming for groups of
individuals with low frictions. We chose the two groups that gathered fastest in
each class, assuming that those are the groups in which the individuals know
each other best. We also tried to keep an eye on the allocation of boys and girls
in the groups. As most of the groups were homogeneous in terms of gender
2
3. anyway, we had one boy and one girl group in most of the cases. Altogether, 117
students took part in 26 group interviews. Additionally, we asked teachers in
each school to participate in group discussions separate from the students’ ones.
We conducted ten group interviews with 47 teachers altogether.
The group interviews conducted were very openly structured, aiming for lively
discussions between the participants rather than responses to specific
questions. Respectively, the moderation was low‐key, questions mostly
unspecific. The discussions lasted between 60 and 90 minutes and were
recorded on tape. The qualitative analysis of the data was undertaken according
to the strategies provided by Grounded Theory (Strauss u. a. 1996; Glaser u. a.
2005; Krotz 2005): open coding, recoding, development of hypothesis, testing
and adapting hypothesis in a circular process.
Results
The analysis of our data showed phenomena within three categories: The use of
the Internet as a tool for and an object of educational instruction, as a medium
for communication between students about school and as a tool for the
accomplishment of school tasks. For this paper, only the third category will be
further addressed.
Austrian students use the Internet intensively for work on school tasks like
homework, the drafting of essays or the preparation of class presentations. The
usage of the Internet for those tasks is mostly neither guided by teachers nor
subject to any guidelines issued by teachers or school authorities. The use of the
Internet is rather implicitly taken for granted by both students and teachers,
mostly without addressing the respective practices. Most of the time, the
Internet is the only information source used by the students. Books, magazines,
journals are widely ignored by the students, even if the teachers encourage them
to make use of printed media. Even if the actual task is to read a book to write a
summary or to interpret it, students prefer to find related secondary and tertiary
literature on the Internet and use them as basis for their work rather than to
actually read the book itself.
3
4. Research for information for school tasks starts almost always at one of two
websites. One is Google, which is researched using mostly one simple keyword
without combinations with additional words. Google’s results are scanned very
quickly according to the list provided and Links that are assumed to be relevant
are clicked. In this process the students assess Google’s ranking as a very
meaningful indicator of the respective Websites’ relevance and quality. Thus,
they hardly ever scan more than the first page of results and they go back to
Google every time after they have scanned a website it had linked to. If the
results of the first query are somewhat reasonable, only one is undertaken. The
choice of Google as the initial as well as central reference point in information
research practices is not surprising. Our findings support other studies in that
point (Rieh & Hilligoss 2008; Lorenzen 2001; for Austria Mager 2009).
The second website students use as their starting and reference point for
research is Wikipedia. It’s importance for students’ information gathering
practices can hardly be underestimated. The more so as the results showing up
in Google queries often list articles from Wikipedia at a high position. To both
Websites, Google and Wikipedia, students assign very high levels of credibility.
They are credible both on a conceptional and an operative level. The former
refers to the assessment of truthfulness based on certain concepts, the latter “to
the extent to which users think that the information is useful, good, current, and
accurate.“ (ibid, 146)
On a conceptional level, the students put trust into a quite vague concept of
‘Wisdom of the Crowds’ (Surowiecki 2005), assessing information more credible
the more people were involved in producing and evaluating it or the more
sources state the same particular information. The former refers to Wikipedia’s
concept of the collaboration of a multitude of authors and the respective check‐
and‐recheck mechanisms, the latter to Google under the students’ (wrong)
assumption that it ranks a page higher the more people consult it.
These assumptions starkly conflict with the teachers’ assessments of these
applications. They are very sceptical towards Google and in particular
Wikipedia. From their perspective, Wikipedia’s quality is doubtful, because the
4
5. content can be edited by everyone, and there is no control on who is writing.
Google is assessed likewise. As it’s ranking is rather based on quantitative than
qualitative criteria, sources get more credit the more other pages link to it,
ignoring the quality of the information provided. While the youth values the
openness of information systems as well as the quantitative measurements they
are based on as a guarantee for the quality of information, the adults are
sceptical for the same considerations.
This corresponds to the change from an authorative credibility to a credibility by
reliability, which was described by Lankes (2007). The credibility of
information, traditionally assessed due to the rather stable authority of a certain
source is increasingly a question of credibility conversations, a consideration on
the basis of a multitude of sources.
Correspondingly, the students interviewed in our study report that they relate
information from different sources (from the Google results) to assess the
quality of a certain information on a regular bases. The problem is, that the
students often do not sufficiently understand the concepts and backgrounds of
the sources and information systems they get their information from, resulting
in misinterpretations. The critical attitude towards Google and Wikipedia of the
teachers can neither be understood nor agreed upon out of two reasons: First,
the teachers critique conflicts with their practices. Despite their critique, they
use both Google and Wikipedia on a regular basis for both private and school
purposes. The students notice that sharp contrast between theory and practice.
Second, students and teachers talk at cross purposes because of their different
interpretations of the same basic assumptions.
On the operative level ‐ the usefulness of information ‐ the views of students and
teachers accord: Sources that proved their value, information that proved
relevant, reasonable, coherent, applicable for the task it was researched for are
considered credible. Accordingly, both Google and Wikipedia are sources or
information systems respectively, teachers and students trust on an operative
level, resulting in an extensive use.
5
6. Unfortunately, and that turns out to be a major problem, teachers often do not
evaluate the quality of information when grading student’s assignments. They
may evaluate the quality of the presentation or the language used, but rarely the
content ‐ the actual data and facts presented within a paper or oral presentation.
There are two major reasons for that: One is the workload associated with fact
checking and the other is their uncertainness related to information not
explicitly part of the curriculum.
However, as grading is the major feedback students need to get aware of what is
good and what is bad within their work, they are not getting aware of inaccurate
or even wrong information within their papers or – putting it the other way
around ‐ accordingly, little by little, ‘learn’ that the quality of information is less
relevant than the form it is presented in. Concurrently, they turn only sparse
attention to the accuracy of the information they process, putting little effort into
information research. Respectively they adjust their focus to the features of the
work the teachers evaluate, putting a lot of effort into the right composition,
style and design of their papers and oral presentations.
The practices the students mostly show when working on papers based on
information from the Internet range are simple copy‐and‐paste of website
content into their drafts and some minor adjusting of language style and design.
They rarely read the information they process intensively and writing text
mostly based on their own reasoning is a very seldom practice. Again, however,
the choice for a certain procedure is linked to the assumption of how the work
will be evaluated by the teacher, based on prior experiences.
Conclusion
The results of our project provide new and detailed insights into the changing
nature of credibility assessment from an authorative credibility to credibility by
reliability. Even if the results can’t be generalized as the culture of schooling is
different in other countries, the results from Austria can make researchers and
practitioners aware that certain problems in making today’s youth digitally
literate may also lie in problematic processes of interaction among teachers and
students.
6
7. Acknowledgements
The research presented in this paper was part of a project funded by the
Austrian Ministry of Education. The research was conducted in collaboration
with with Manuel Nagl (researcher) and Thomas A. Bauer (supervisor).
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