Driving question

What all do you know about West Virginia? Can you find it on the map? What are the state symbols and natural resources?


I am doing my Wiki on history for second grade!

Evaluation

Questions

1. Which two of example WebQuests listed below are the best ones? Why? We chose to pick the best Webquests are the Ancient Egypt and the Underground railroad. Both were packed full of information that subject, they also did a good job at getting everyone involved. 
2. Which two are the worst? Why? We chose the Ice Cream and Where is my hero. Reasons for that is the "We scream for Ice Cream" tells you how to make ice cream, we didn't see how it could be helpful in the classroom. The same goes for the Hero one,while it was great to get motivation it didn't really give students information. 
3. What do best and worst mean to you? The best ones mean to me that it contains the most educational value to inform you, but not to bore you.  It would also get us involved. The worst would have no educational value and almost a waste of time. 

Blogging Questions..

1. I think that keeping a blog for this class is very appropriate because it is a technology class. Blogging is also a creative way to get the class involved and interact without being face-to-face. There wasn't too many dislikes about keeping a blog for this class, they weren't hard and I thought we were given enough time to do them in. 

2. I think that posting a blog helps you become a more effective  teacher because in a technology based world it integrates simple technology into the classroom. Using something simple like blogging keeps the students interests longer rather than just book work.  With such a technology based time and age it should be very important to have that in a lesson and use it. It will not only keep you up-to-date (and be a cool teacher) it is also safe and easy for everyone to use. 

3. As far as posting after this class I'm not so sure. I personally never really understood the point of blogging, but I can see where it can be helpful and exciting in the classroom. I never had the urge to blog. But I might post something once in a while if I wanted to vent. 

4. Collective Intelligence - The ability to share and pool knowledge and compare notes with each other toward a common goal. From blogging with the class I was able to share ideas and get feedback > At the same time  I was able to give feedback to others and  see what others thought. 

Wikipedia Reliability

Wikipedia Reliability Worksheet

Article title:
Answer the following questions to see how reliable a Wikipedia article is.

1. Start with the main page. Does it have any cleanup banners that have been placed there to indicate problems with the article? (A complete list is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages/
   Cleanup.)

Any one of the following cleanup banners means the article is anunreliable source:

This article or section has multiple issues.
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
The neutrality of this article is disputed.
The factual accuracy of this article is disputed.
This needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling.
This may contain material not appropriate for an encyclopedia.
This article only describes one highly specialized aspect of its associated subject.
This article requires authentication or verification by an expert.
This article or section needs to be updated.
This article may not provide balanced geographical coverage on a region.
This is missing citations or needs footnotes.
This article does not cite any references or sources.

2. Read through the article and see if it meets the following requirements:

Is it written in a clear and organized way?
Is the tone neutral (not taking sides)?
Are all important facts referenced (you're told where they come from)?
Does the information provided seem complete or does it look like there are gaps (or just one side of the story)?

3. Scroll down to the article's References and open them in new windows or tabs. Do they seem like reliable sources? (For help in determining the general reliability of a source, check out the Knowing What's What and What's Note: The 5 Ws (and 1 "H") of Cyberspace handout.)
   
   Reliable references:
   
   
   Possibly unreliable references:
   
   
   Definitely unreliable references:
   
   
    
4. Click on the Discussion tab. How is the article rated on the Rating Scale(Stub, Start, C, B, GA, A, FA)? What issues around the article are being discussed? Do any of them make you doubt the article's reliability?

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5. Based on the above questions, give the article an overall ranking ofReliable, Partially Reliable or Unreliable.

• You may use a Reliable article as a source (but remember that even if a Wikipedia article is reliable, it should never be your only source on a topic!)
  
• You may use a Partially Reliable article as a starting point for your research, and may use some
  of its references as sources, but do not us it as a source.
  
• You should not use an Unreliable article as a source or a starting point. Research the same topic in a different encyclopedia.

How did you rank this article (Reliable, Partially Reliable or Unreliable)? Give at least three reasons to support
your answer.

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EducChat

Wikipedia Questions?

a. What is Wikipedia? is a web-based encyclopedia. Ran by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organisation. 

b. How would you answer the question posed in this piece “How reliable can a source be when anyone can edit it? Well, according to Wikipedia it only works in practice not in theory. We are suppose to know what is valid and what isn't.

c. Who do the creators of Wikipedia place their trust in when it comes to weeding out misinformation? Whoever is on the website watching it.

d. Why did founder Larry Sanger leave Wikipedia? He said he wanted to give his authority to the "experts"

e. What would abuse or vandalism look like on a Wikipedia page? At first you wouldn't be able to tell. It would look like the rest of the page however if the information was so outrageous than it would stand out.

f. What do the statistics quoted in the third paragraph of this piece reveal? That the website it growing rapidly.

g. Why do you think Wikipedia is so successful? I think that it is successful because it is the first site that appears when searching for information. Because Wikipedia is an "encyclopedia" people trust it to be a reliable site. The site also contains hundreds of easy to read, easy to get information on whatever subject searched.  

h. Why might Wikipedia’s creators not want to accept advertising? With making 3 million and only having to pay $5,000 they see no reason in trying to advertise. Whatever they are doing is obviously working for them so why should they risk it with advertising?

i. How does Wikiscanner help increase the reliability of Wikipedia entries? The authors  can remain anonymous. 

Website Evaluation