Re: GEN:Computers vs print

[Jody Gerlock <Jody_Gerlock@pds.k12.nj.us>]

I've been following this thread with great interest, as I, too, have students
and teachers who run to the computers for everything and see it as a
"one-stop shopping" sort of vehicle for research. I have a big sophomore
research project coming up, and each year I try to arm myself with things
that are written about how computers may NOT be all they're cracked up to be.
This week I found a nice article by Steven R. Knowlton in a special section
of the Sunday NYT called Education Life. The article is called, "How students
get lost in cyberspace." The gist of it is that college professors are
finding that "Without guidance, the Internet's wealth of data can lead to
poor research papers." Here's the kind of things it says: "...educators say,
students are producing superficial research papers, full of data--some of it
suspect--and little thought."
One philosophy professor in NJ "...said his students' papers had declined in
quality since they began using the Web for research."
This is my favorite part:
"The Internet, [Gerald M. Santoro] said, is commonly thought of as a library,
although a poorly catalogued one, given the limitations of the search engines
available. But he prefers another analogy.
'In fact, it is like a bookstore,' Dr. Santoro said, explaining that Web
sites exist because someone wants them there, not because any independent
judge has determined them worthy of inclusion."
What I'm going to stress this year is that there IS valuable information out
there, but you have to understand the differences in types of webpages.
Everything I read and every presenter at conferences I've been to lately says
that the best and most reliable information usually comes from government and
university sites. So if the users can be taught to determine what kinds of
sites are reliable and which may not be, we're winning the battle. I'm
finding that if I convince the teachers that they have to question and set
guidelines, the kids will learn the proper ways to research using print AND
nonprint sources.
Jody
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Jody Gerlock, Librarian, Upper School        phone (609) 924-6700 ext. 241
Princeton Day School                                    fax (609) 924-7278
P.O. Box 75, The Great Road              email: Jody_Gerlock@pds.k12.nj.us
Princeton, NJ 08542
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