The process of research has drastically changed over the past thirty years since the arrival of the internet and Google. The time of microfilms and encyclopedias are a thing of the past. While there are numerous advantages of the world wide web and its seemingly unlimited amount of access to information, it also brings some pitfalls for our students as they pursue knowledge.
LukeStatzer (2023)
What are those pitfalls? Why is it not a good research practice to allow students to simply type their question into the Google search bar and take the first response that is generated? Isn’t that something we all do because it’s convenient and it saves us time? In the article “Don’t Just Google It”, the authors also question the effects the Google search engine has on students’ learning. “This raises the question, we believe, of whether “just Googling it” qualifies as a form of problem solving or whether it turns learners into spectators. Online tools put information at our fingertips, but they can also lead us astray” (Weber & Morales, 2023, p.62). It is important that students learn that just because a website is listed first in a Google search that does not mean it is the most credible source. I have found that students associate that order with importance. I have often observed my students typing in their question into the Google search engine and then reading the blurb that Google generated without ever clicking on a website. When they did click on websites, it was usually only the first few websites before being satisfied that they had completed their research. Rarely if ever did they go beyond the first page of search results. According to Digital Writing: A Guide to Writing for Social Media and the Web, the use of algorithms and search engine optimization play a huge role in Google’s prioritization of websites and videos. “Google’s primary objective, after all, is to make money from advertising revenue by allowing businesses to bid on keywords. Their primary objective is not to provide the most truthful, relevant, or highly vetted sources to you” (Lawrence, 2022, p.82).
Students have to be taught how to effectively navigate search engine results. They need to be able to determine if a website is credible. These skills are currently part of Alabama’s Digital Literacy and Computer Science (DLCS) standards. However, are we teaching them to our students? I can admit that I did not always do the best job at teaching digital research skills in my classroom. Why? One reason is that teachers are overwhelmed with all of the lessons that they are writing and facilitating that DLCS are rarely integrated due to time and priority. Lawrence (2022) suggests that another problem in determining factual internet content is that the teacher’s own digital skills may not be up-to-date (p.90). Many times teachers see digital resources as a way for students to apply their knowledge instead of developing knowledge. However, we do our students a disservice if we are not teaching them how to effectively use the technological resources that are available to maximize their learning. In their journal article, Weber and Morales (2023) discuss several defenses of online media. They discuss how technology can be a contributor instead of a distractor to students' learning. They acknowledge that teachers need to instruct their students on how to take on an active learning approach when using technology (p.66).
As teachers, we have to make sure we understand how to effectively navigate the internet for factual information and teach our students to do the same. Technology sources, like the internet, will continue to advance and we must advance with them.
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I enjoyed reading your article. I was a teenager in the 80s and World Book Encyclopedias were my go to for all information. I agree that students should be taught how to navigate search results on Google. Although my previous school had a technology coach that implemented teaching the DLCS standards to our students through a few classroom visits, students continued to accept the first result on the search engine when researching. Many students want fast answers and are not willing to put forth the effort to read through several sources when searching for reliable information. I like the idea at the end of the Weber (2023) article where the author states a good way to bring effective discourse to the classroom is to allow the students to Google a topic using their own input search wording and compare their varied results through discussion and reflection (p. 70). The students may quickly find out that not all information on Google is reliable information (Lawrence, 2022, p. 83).
ReplyDeleteNikki, I appreciate your comment. I felt so lucky to have found the article from Weber and Morales. It is so well written and gives so much insight into criticisms and defenses into how online search engines like Google impact our students in today's world.
ReplyDeleteWeber and Morales (2023) mention that, "teachers sometimes find personal computing devices to be distracting or to contribute to passivity rather than activity in the classroom" (p. 61). I can relate to this. We used to have to dig much further to find the information we needed for research projects. Google is also impacted by outside sources and may not always be the most reliable. For example, companies can bid on Google search result ads to help keep their web presence high up on the search list (Lawrence, 2022).
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