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EVALUATION WIZARD: |
A summary of
evaluation. |
Evaluation
of http://wizard.imsa.edu/evaluate
Author's Expertise: Commentary
The
author is a team called the 21st Century Information Fluency Project. Members
are:
§ Dr. David Barr, Program Director
§ Bob Houston, Program Coordinator
§ Lora Kaisler, Online Curriculum Development/PD
§ Chris Kolar, Information Technology Integration
§ Beverly Morey, Secretary
§ Dennis O'Connor, Online Teaching Faculty
§ Jane St. Pierre, Marketing and Communications
Each
person has years of experience in his or her area of expertise. Everyone has
been to college. The fact that they have the backing of the Illinois School
Library Media Association and the U.S. Department of Education makes me think
they are highly reputable.
The
publisher or site for this web page is the Illinois Mathematics and Science
Academy, otherwise known as IMSA. "Located in Aurora, Illinois, the
Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy™ (IMSA) is an
internationally-recognized pioneering educational institution created by the
State to develop talent and stimulate excellence in teaching and learning in
mathematics, science and technology. IMSA's advanced residential college
preparatory program enrolls 650 academically talented Illinois students in grades
10-12. More than 14,000 teachers and 20,000 students in Illinois and beyond
have benefited from IMSA's professional development and enrichment programs.
IMSA serves the people of Illinois through innovative instructional programs,
public and private partnerships, policy leadership and action research."
Surprisingly I had to play with the URL to get to the IMSA web site; there were
no direct links. Most .edu sites are dependable.
All
of the Evaluation Wizard pages link internally to other Evaluation Wizard
pages, Wizard tools, and 21st Century Information Fluency Project Portal news.
From those pages external links go to places like other schools, organizations
that support schools, and companies that help teach information literacy
skills.
Other pages linked to this page
Pages
that link to the Evaluation Wizard are typically schools that use the form,
others who program in php, and news sites writing stories about unique web
sites. These pages provide perspective on how the world views this tool's
usefulness. These links cover at least three different domains, touching the
lives of many different types of people.
Information from traditional sources
This
is not really applicable yet, since the Evaluation Wizard is a relatively new
tool. Area newspapers have not written articles about it. There have been no
magazine or journal articles. Other resources would only define the words
"evaluation" and "wizard".
Question
six was last updated on August 20, 2002. The latest news article was added on
June 27, 2003. A form with questions would not need to be updated very often to
stay reliable. As long as the links and input/output work and questions are
relative to current web page practice, the date is fine. I am glad the date is
prominently displayed at the bottom of the page.
This
site really does make me stop and think about the web site I am choosing to
use. Is it worth using? Is it really good enough? I like that. The authors seem
to think it is important to be careful and think about a site before choosing
to use it, too. They seem to have taken the time to create useful tools, things
that can help me make a sound decision.
I
find no obvious bias. The language is rational, non-repetitive, explained
carefully, and thoroughly.
At
first I thought there was no evidence, then I discovered the "Evaluating
web sites as potential resources" under the Project Tips navigation
option. It offers links to tutorials and guides. These further explain the ten
sets of questions and even word them differently for younger students. Apparently,
a large number of educators feel this is a very important skill.
Availability of second opinion?
I
know where to find experts in the field of evaluation of web pages. Do you?
Once you have worked through a few evaluations and explored the hoax sites, you
will know too.