Internet Detectives- Useful for teaching what sources NOT to use in academia

During our recent ICT module, we talked a lot about the use of the internet to support academic work.  Of course, there are a plethora of sources out there just waiting for us to use them and this makes the task of the modern day student far less onerous when it comes to synthesizing information for their essays and reports.  However, this brings with it its own set of issues, such as the old 'copying and pasting' trick, where large swathes of information is dropped into work as well as the use of sources not appropriate for academic work (wikipedia, anyone?!).

As lecturers I see it as our responsibility to alert students to the dangers of online sources, and the 'Internet Detective' application we were introduced to during our ICT module is perfect for just that.

The application takes the user through a variety of scenarios, explaining how to investigate the authenticity of websites (looking at URL etc.,) as well as how to decide how robust a source is for inclusion in academic work.

I used it recently with my first year cohort.  Whilst there is no doubt that the 'chalk and talk' strategy of explaining things to students has value, the ability of applications such as 'internet detectives' to allow students an experiential perspective of the concepts being discussed is, in my opinion, invaluable.

So, what did the students think of it?  Feedback was mainly positive, with many expressing the wish they had been introduced to this sooner.  Students liked being able to work through the task in their own time, with the application assessing them via a true false/multiple choice system as they worked through the tasks.  It seemed to put things into context for them and helped them to see that the internet is not 'what you see is what you get' but rather a minefield of scams and deceptions that they need to be able to spot.  I will certainly be using it again.  The only negative comment was 'it's a bit cheesy...'- ah well, we can't have everything I suppose!

If anybody wishes to try this (cheesy) but very useful resource, it can be found by clicking here.