Re: Gen: Choosing websites for student use/Site selection policies

[librarysciences <librarysciences@BELLAONLINE.COM>]

Robert,
Thank you for sharing the sites and suggestions.
It may be hard for some to believe, but many of work in areas where there
are no district policies.  Seven years ago I contacted my superintendent's
office for selection policies and was told that I should just use whatever
catalogs I have on hand.  In reality they had no clue what I was talking
about.  Things have gotten better due to the librarians taking charge, but
there is still no written policy at the district level.

That is one of the joys of this listserv.  Those of us who often operate in
a vacuum have an oportunity to share, learn, and have valuable support.

Pace e Bene (Peace and Blessings),
Paula S.W. Laurita, LMS
St. John the Baptist Catholic School, K-8
Madison, Alabama
Mandel Fellow, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
plaurita@stjohnb.com
www.bellaonline.com/career/professions/library_sciences

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Eiffert" <beiffert@HOME.COM>
To: <LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 3:02 PM
Subject: Re: Gen: Choosing websites for student use/Site selection policies


> How do you choose appropriate Internet sites for student use?
>
> Basically, your District Selection Policy would be followed.
>
> There are many evaluation guides available, one good one is 'The Quality
> Information Checklist' at http://www.quick.org.uk/menu.htm. While geared
to
> kids, it covers all the main points that would be in your Selection
Policy.
>
> Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators  is a great source for evaluation
tools
> as well as quality links.  http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/
>
> To some extent, I would prefer not to have a separate or more specific
> selection policy for Internet resources.  While it may help to have some
> procedures set up to help in any selection process, I would hope our
> professional training would be enough to make quality choices.
>
> What resources do you find helpful in locating these sites?
>
> I subscribe to many lists and check recommendations. There are also many
> good library blogs. To assist teachers and help focus kids it is often
> necessary to find the specific section of quality sites to link to. So I
> will point to collections within American Memory or NASA for Kids, etc.
>
> If you approach the selection of materials through the Big6
> (http://www.big6.com) process you will find that your choices are pretty
> clearly delineated
>
> How is your district/building handling the issue of filtering?
>
> We got filtered early spring after 4-5 years of unfiltered internet. There
> was effectively no difference since Web use policy is focused on use for
> school purposes. I think we have more problems with 2nd and 3rd graders
> teasing each other with the 612's on the shelves.
>
> To a large extent this is a non-issue. Develop intentive use of Internet,
> integrated into curricular studies. Provide  links to age-appropriate
sites
> for kids to search for info rather than expect expertise in developing
> search terms for the whole internet. ie: Give links to quality zoo sites
for
> the animal reports. And teach all the search skills they need for success.
>
> This is all over-simplified. Much, much more could be written and
discussed
> about any portion of any of the above topics.
>
>
> HTH,
> Robert
>
> --
> Robert Eiffert, Librarian at Image Elementary
> Vancouver WA
> http://www.ima.egreen.wednet.edu/library.html
> beiffert@.egreen.wednet.edu
>

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