No, I am not talking about hot dog links, although, now that you mention it I am hungry.  I am talking about website links.

Here is my link to a list of social-bookmarked resources that I compiled during my exploration: https://delicious.com/andreahall/tag_bundle/Collecting%20Reputable%20Digital%20Resources%20Quest

The three most useful tools or resources resulting from the web walkabout are: The checklist from the University of Maryland’s library website http://www.lib.umd.edu/binaries/content/assets/public/usereducation/evaluating-web-sites-checklist-form.pdf ;  UC Berkley’s library article on guidelines http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html ; and Web of Trust https://www.mywot.com/.

Students can be taught to safely collect tools and resources that can help them maximize their learning by creating a concise checklist like the one mentioned on the University of Maryland’s website to help them evaluate websites and making them aware of downloaded programs like Web of Trust that can protect them against suspicious websites.  Making students aware of endings that are strictly controlled like .gov or .edu will help them to make wise choices about trusting a domains content.  Students should also be taught about websites that seek to “trick” by using gov in its title but not in the ending string.

As part of an orientation to an online course there should be a discussion about how to use the internet wisely along with plagiarism.  I know that initially teachers tried to discourage students from using the internet, however, now teachers must focus on teaching students to use the internet wisely.  Help students to understand that any person can create a website, but not all are trusted.

Just another math educator talking about using trusted websites  or…. links