My Experiences
The assignments for module 3 have really opened up a world of possibilities for me. At first, I felt extremely overwhelmed as I read through the assignments we would have to complete this module. But I took a deep breath and began, taking on the assignments one by one. They really were a lot easier than they seemed like they were going to be, and I am actually enjoying the creating part, playing with the html on each page and finding new links, pics, and info to plug in. It truly appeals to my artistic side – a side of me that often gets pushed to the back burner as I plow through my school work. Making an annotation remix of the “identifying strategies” videos was way more fun than writing a paper about them. And analyzing actual hoax websites was a great hands-on activity that could definitely be used in the school environment (and even with my own kids) to spark conversations about what makes a source credible vs. what makes a source not credible.
The assignments for module 3 have really opened up a world of possibilities for me. At first, I felt extremely overwhelmed as I read through the assignments we would have to complete this module. But I took a deep breath and began, taking on the assignments one by one. They really were a lot easier than they seemed like they were going to be, and I am actually enjoying the creating part, playing with the html on each page and finding new links, pics, and info to plug in. It truly appeals to my artistic side – a side of me that often gets pushed to the back burner as I plow through my school work. Making an annotation remix of the “identifying strategies” videos was way more fun than writing a paper about them. And analyzing actual hoax websites was a great hands-on activity that could definitely be used in the school environment (and even with my own kids) to spark conversations about what makes a source credible vs. what makes a source not credible.
See my blog on judging credibility for more info:
http://shawneeedu106.blogspot.com/2014/10/how-do-we-judge-credibility.html
Extending My Experiences to the Classroom
Having students hack a website's credibility would be a great way to show students how easy it is to create your own hoax website – it would be an authentic learning experience that the students could connect with. Sometimes students get the Charlie brown syndrome – when adults talk, all they hear is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss2hULhXf04. Sometimes you just can’t tell kids how it is – you have to let them see for themselves – and these exercises are a great way to do that.