Information Aquisition in Education Technology

One of the many responsibilities a principal has concerning student achievement is to provide resources for his or her instructors on the campus. These resources are intended to assist instructors in teaching the knowledge and skills that students are expected to know and use in today’s society. One resource that can be recommended to instructors having to teach the strand on information acquisition in a computer technology class is www.bcschools.net/staff/Internet.htm.

This site covers all three Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Technology Applications under the information acquisition strand. The first TEKS states that the student uses a variety of strategies to acquire information from electronic resources, with appropriate supervision. This site introduces different search engines, such as Yahoo, AltaVista, and Infoseek and provides links to learn how to do searches. The second TEKS states that the student acquires electronic information in a variety of formats, with appropriate supervision. The site gives instructions on how to save graphics from the internet and how to insert images. The third TEKS states that the student evaluates the acquired electronic information. The site provides a link to Cornell University Library which gives information on how to evaluate the information that is found on the web.

The authority of this site is a level 3, an author, Cheryl Quade, is provided with an email address but she gives no credentials. The affiliation is a level 3. The site is support by Yahoo and the institution’s logo is used in the graphics and given in examples. The purpose reaches level 4. The title, “Internet Tutorial”, gives an idea of the topic to be discussed and sticks with the objectives. The objectivity is a level 4. There is no advertisement on this site but it does show the Yahoo logo in its graphics. The content is a level 4. The site gives clear information on how to use the net to acquire information. The learning process is rated as a level 2. The information will not guide the learner through active examples, but it does give clear instructions on how to acquire information. The audience is a level 4. The site uses appropriate language for learners to understand while expanding their knowledge on how to acquire and use information from electronic resources. The currency of the site is not provided; therefore, it is rated as a level 1. The website loads well, is easy to navigate, visually pleasing, and easy to read. This places the design on a level 4.

Finding a good resource that covers every objective needed to teach a topic can be difficult. Fortunately, this is one site that can be recommended to do just that.