Internet Accuracy and Validity

Policy Brief

Internet issues, part 3: Accuracy and Validity

Theoretically Prepared for Montour School District, October 31, 2010

By Mindy Sanjana

Executive Summary:

The Montour School District (MSD) currently has computer labs in every school building. All classrooms have teacher computers and most have at least one student computer as well. All computers in the District are connected to the Internet by high speed modem and a commitment has been made to make this network entirely wireless.  The District, therefore, is well positioned to develop an Internet policy that will build upon this investment in hardware and infrastructure and ensure that all of the stakeholders in the MSD will be able to find information, conduct research, and use Internet resources for a wide-range of educational and creative purposes. The open and interactive nature of the Internet, however, is a two-edged sword. Although it can, within seconds, provide users with countless resources, these resources may not be accurate or objective. It is impossible to filter out inaccurate and biased resources from an Internet search. Hoaxes and hate-inciting sites masquerade as authoritative, creating a library of misinformation that students must learn to navigate. 

Overview of the Issues:

In the days before Internet access in schools, students acquired information from textbooks and from books and periodicals in the school and public libraries. These books were written by experts in their field and did not enter into the classroom or library until they had been examined and vetted for accuracy. Today’s students find most of their “information” online and do not realize that what they read needs to be evaluated before it can be believed or used as a basis for drawing conclusions. A comprehensive school Internet policy must address the dilemma created by teaching students to access a wealth of information that may in fact be inaccurate, biased, and/or a complete fabrication. Students must learn to examine any information that they locate online for the following traits:

Accuracy:

Is the information on a website verifiable? Does it conform to industry or research standards for that subject?  Will the information presented prove correct upon further investigation?

Authority:

Who is the author and what credentials does this author have that make him/her an expert in this field?

Objectivity:

Is this information free of bias?

Currency:

When was this information written and is it still up to date?

Policy options—Accuracy /Validity/Objectivity

Option 1: The Montour School District should ensure that students learn to be critical consumers of any material they find on the Internet. Instruction in these skills cannot be left to chance, but must be formalized in a new “Internet literacy” curriculum that will be integrated into the technology and library curricula at every grade level.

Pros:   

            Learning to assess the accuracy of information found on the Internet is a critical literacy skill that cannot be left to chance.

           

Cons:  

            Inaccurate or biased material could continue to pass into students’ work, despite the fact that they “should” have learned to recognize misinformation.  Using such students’ works as evidence, parents and others in the community could hold the school district responsible for educating students to be biased.

Option 2: The Montour School District should attach a disclaimer to the Internet permission form that parents sign when they enroll their child in school. This disclaimer would state that sources on the Internet do not always provide unbiased, accurate, complete, or current information.  Students should be careful to substantiate the validity of information they found online.

Pros:

            If a parent wanted to blame the school district for allowing their students to write papers that were biased or untrue, the district could point to the disclaimer in order to prove that they were given fair warning that the Internet was an unreliable source.

Cons: 

 Learning Internet literacy is as important in the 21^st century as learning to read and write. The school district provides student access to the Internet and allows the Internet to be used for research, so it has an obligation to teach students how to assess online sources for accuracy and objectivity.

References:

University of North Carolina Library checklist for evaluating websites: http://www.lib.unc.edu/instruct/evaluate/web/checklist.html

Southern Illinois Law Library Evaluating Websites and Other Information: http://www.law.siu.edu/lawlib/guides/eval.htm