EvalWEB Instructional Design

Instructional Analysis

The goal for this instruction is to enable students to determine the reliability of the information presented in a given world wide web page based on the site's address, page content, information available about the author and his or her frame of reference, the date of publication, and links associated with that page. Students will discriminate between online resources suitable for research and those of questionable research value.

To accomplish this goal, the students must assess the reliability of the potentially useful web page. This is a problem solving skill achieved through the application of several rules involving the source of the document, its timeliness, and its content.

  1. Students will assess the appropriateness of the web page's domain for the information presented.
    1. Students will identify the site's domain.
      1. Students will find the URL in the NetSite: line at the top of the browser window.
      2. Students will locate the computer name within the URL.
        1. Students will locate the double slash (//) in the URL.
        2. Students will locate the next single slash (/) in the URL.
        3. Students will find the computer name between the two items identified above.
      3. Students will find the top-level domain after the last dot (.) in the computer name.
      4. Students will identify the type of domain based on the table below:
        .com COMmercial web site
        .edu EDUcational institution (usually a university)
        .gov GOVernment web site (usually the US federal government)
        .mil US MILitatry web site.
        .net NETwork web site; usually an internet service provider.
        .org ORGanizational web site; reserved for non-profit organizations in the US
        .xx xx can represent any TWO letters; these are country codes, giving the country of origin.
    2. Students will determine whether the web page represents an individual or an organization.
      1. Students will recognize evidence of personal web pages.
        1. Students will identify the tilde (~) in a URL, and associate its presence with potential personal web pages.
        2. Students will look for directories such as /users/, /homes/ or /people/ in the URL, which may indicate personal web pages.
    3. Students will determine if the information presented is consistent with the URL.
      1. Students will compare the domain to the type of information presented (statistical data, advertisement, position paper, government report, etc.).
      2. Students will question the appearance of seemingly official data on personal web pages.
  2. Students will assess the author's authority on the subject presented in the web page.
    1. Students will identify the author of the web page, if possible.
      1. Students will skim the page for an author's name.
      2. Students will look at related pages at the same site for an author's name.
    2. Students will identify the author's credentials, if possible.
      1. Students will skim the page for evidence of the author's profession, education, and experience.
      2. Students will skim related pages at the same site for evidence of the author's profession, education, and experience.
      3. Students will identify the relationship between the author and the organization sponsoring the web page, if possible.
    3. Students will note the existence of contact information for the author.
      1. Students will skim the page for the author's email address.
      2. Students will skim the page for a link to the author's home page.
        1. Students will identify a home page as being a personal web page written by someone about himself or herself.
      3. Students will skim the page for the author's postal address or telephone number.
    4. Students will use the information found to assess the credibility of the author according to this table:
      Author's Name Given Contact Information Given Credentials Established Author is:
      yes or no yes yes credible
      yes or no yes no questionable
      yes no yes questionable
      yes no no not credible
      no no yes or no not credible
  3. Students will identify the date of last revision of the web page, and assess its implications on the page's credibility.
    1. Students will skim the web page for a date of last revision.
    2. Students will determine whether the information on the page is time sensitive.
      1. Students will determine whether the information on the page is likely to change over time.
      2. Students will determine whether the information on the page may become incomplete over time.
    3. Students will determine whether the information available about the last revision date affects the credibility of the page.
      1. If the information is not time sensitive, students will conclude that the information's reliability is not affected by the revision date.
      2. If a date is not found and the information is time sensitive, students will conclude that the information presented should be questioned.
      3. If a date is found and the information is time sensitive, students will determine whether the page was revised recently enough to contain credible information, and conclude accordingly.
  4. Students will critically assess content to determine the likelihood of its validity.
    1. Students will determine whether the information presented fits the students' prior knowledge of the subject.
    2. Students will compare the information presented with other sources.
    3. Students will determine whether the page is well-written.
      1. Students will note the existence of grammatical errors.
      2. Students will note the existence of spelling mistakes.
      3. Students will note the existence of mistakes in punctuation.
      4. Students will conclude that pages with more than one mistake per hundred words are not well-written.
    4. Students will determine whether the information presented is fact or opinion.
    5. Students will identify evidence of author bias in the page.
    6. Students will determine whether the information presented is likely reliable.
      1. If the information does not fit the student's prior knowledge, and the information does not compare favorably with other sources found, students will determine that the information found is not likely reliable.
      2. If the information does not fit the student's prior knowledge but coincides with information found in other places, or if the information does fit the student's prior knowledge but does not coincide with information from other sources, students will question, but not exclude the information.
      3. If the page is not well-written, students will question, but not exclude the information found.
      4. If the information presented is opinion or contains evidence of author bias, students will students will question, but not exclude the information.
      5. If the above criteria do not imply that the information is questionable, the student will conclude that the information presented is likely reliable.
  5. Students will follow links associated with the page, and assess the quality of the content found.
    1. Students will skim the page for links to similar sites.
    2. Students will follow found links and assess whether the information found appears to be credible.
    3. Students will determine whether the links on a page make that page more credible.
      1. If inappropriate or outdated links are found, students will conclude that the links detract from the page's credibility.
      2. If appropriate, useful links are found, students will conclude that the the links add to the page's credibility.
      3. If no links are found, students will conclude that links have no effect on the page's credibility.
  6. Students will conclude that the potentially useful web page is suitable or unsuitable for their research needs.
    1. If the page is determined unreliable within any of the categories, the student will conclude that the page is unsuitable for research needs, and should not be used.
    2. If the page is determined questionable within more than two of the categories, and the page is not unreliable in any categories, the student will conclude that the page is unsuitable for research needs, and should not be used.
    3. If the page is determined questionable within one or two of the categories, the student will conclude that the page is questionable, but to be used with caution.
    4. If the page is not determined questionable within any of the categories, the student will determine that the page is suitable for research needs, and should be used as a credible research source.

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EvalWEB Instructional Design -- last updated 4 January 1998 by J. Schinker.
The finished project is located at http://www.hudson.edu/hms/comp/evalweb.

© 2001-2005 Albert L. Ingram, Ph.D.