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Steering Clear of Cyber Tricks The video provides a clear overview of how to detect cyber scams, how cyber scams work, and what to do if you think you might have fallen for a cyber scam.

9 Resources for Website Evaluation Lessons

from Free Technology for Teachers by noreply@blogger.com (Mr. Byrne)
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Nine days ago I published Beyond Google
 
, an ebooklet designed to help teachers and students improve their Internet search results. What that ebooklet didn't include was resources for evaluating the quality of the websites that you find through Internet search engines. Therefore, I've compiled a list of nine resources that teachers can use as part of lesson plan about evaluating the quality and reliability of a website.

Downloadable PDFs from DocStoc and Scribd
1. Evaluating Information - A Guide to Websites
 
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- This is a one page list of guiding questions to consider while viewing a website. This guide is best suited to high school and college students.

2. Gary Library Website Evaluation Checklist
 
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- A two page document containing checklists in six different categories for determining the validitity and quality of online information. "Smiley" icons provide clues for younger students. Suitable for middle school and high school use.

3. Evaluating the Quality of Sources
 
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- A one page document outlining a list of questions to consider as you evaluate a website. This document recommends and provides a link for checking the WHOIS domain registry.

4. Boolify Lesson Plan for Evaluating Websites
 
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- A simple lesson plan from Boolify.org
 
that is appropriate for grades four through nine (give or take a grade).

5. Bear Essentials Evaluating Websites
 
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- This document is part of series of documents about finding and evaluating online and print references. These documents were produced by the Baton Rouge Community College.

Online Lessons and Activities
6. Cyber Smart Lesson Plans and Student Activities
 
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- Provides more than a dozen lesson plans and activities appropriate for grades K-12. Lessons cover everything from finding websites to evaluating websites.

7. Kathy Shrock's ABC's of Website Evaluation
 
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- Tried and true lesson plans, online activities, and handouts for teaching website evaluation. The resources found here can be adapted for use in elementary school, middle school, and high school.

8. Cornell University Library - Evaluating Websites
 
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- Geared toward college students, the resources here can be accessed by high school students. Many links out to other resources on the topic of website evaluation.

For Brushing-up on Your Own Skills
9. Evaluating Websites for Learners
 
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- Created by Maggie Verster
 
, this presentation provides justification for teachers previewing websites, creating their own search engines, links to resources for teaching website evaluation.

All About Explorers | Everything you've ever wanted to know about every explorer who ever lived...and more!A spoof site. None of the facts are true. Give it to kids as a primary resource, but ask them to cross-reference with other tools. See what results you get!

Don’t Spread that Hoax - Microsoft, Disney The GAP, VIctoria’s Secret etc, are not giving away stuff for free...Proctor & Gamble is not run by the Church of Satan...
Internet Hoaxes - Anti-Virus, AntiHoax, AntiMyth, AntiFraud, AntiChain Letter and Anti-Spam Resources and Sites

Purportal.com..."Search Before You Forward." This meta-search website offers one-stop access to five well-known archives of hoax, virus, and urban legend information (Snopes and About.com Urban Legends, the CIAC Hoax Database, the CERT Computer Security Database, and the Symantec Virus Encyclopedia).

QUICK - a resource to help young people evaluate the information they find on the Internet. It uses imaginary examples, quizzes and puzzles to allow young people to explore for themselves the concepts around information quality.

Skeptic...Skeptic is a playground for those who face life with an incredulously raised eyebrow. Debunkers can find videos, articles, podcasts, and more, casting doubts on all sorts of controversial subjects, from UFOs and ESP to psychic healing and, uh, the existence of God.
Urban Legends and Folklore - Current Netlore Internet hoaxes, email rumors and urban legends
Urban Legends Reference Pages - Rumors of War, A World of Luck, Cokelore, Critter Country, History, Horrors, etc. Is Oliver Twisted?? Check the facts!

WebQuest: Websites: Which Ones should you Trust?... developed by the Technology Training Special Collection, as a tool to directly teach the reading and questioning strategies needed to evaluate websites for authority, accuracy, bias and currency.