Lesson 1: Cyber Community

Educational Technology and Online Learning 8Unit 2: Internet Safety

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Introduction

Youwill develop a comprehensive understanding of the concept of community and its application to the Internet.
Today's Materials

  • Print acopy of "Cyber Community Savvy" activity sheet by clicking Cyber Community Activity Sheets
  • Print 3 copies of the Web site evaluation for today's activity by clicking Cyber Community Website Evaluation
  • Print sample Web sites by clicking Cyber Community Websites for Evaluation

Instruction
To develop a comprehensive understanding of the concept of community and its application to the Internet, you will view a PowerPoint presentation. Click Cyber Community PPTto view the presentation. While viewing the presentation, you will complete the activity sheet titled "Cyber Community Savvy." To complete this sheet, you will brainstorm and create a list of at least 6 real people whom you consider to be important role models in your physical and cyber communities.
Activity
For today's activity, you are going to pretend that you are doing a report on “Killer Bees”.You need to determine which Web sites are appropriate references and which are not. For this activity, you will use the 3 sample Web sites and the Web site evaluation sheets that you printed earlier. You will review each of the three Web sites by filling out a Web site evaluation sheet for each. Two of the three Web sites contain bogus information and/or inappropriate elements. Can you determine which of the three Web sitesis appropriate?
Conclusion
Review the Web site evaluations with your Learning Coach using the following.
Web site #1, "Killer Bees are Coming"!
Did you recognize that the information was bogus? How could it be determined? With little knowledge of a topic, it is almost impossible to know if the information on a Web site is correct. You must find other sources to back up the information.

Web site #2, "Welcome to the Killer Bee Super Site"!
Did you recognize that the following content was inappropriate:

  • requirement that personal information be given to play the game
  • gambling advertisement
  • link to unsafe chat
  • too many advertisements

Web site #3, "Killer Bees make Killer Coffee":

This site should rate as a positive recommendation. Do you have any suggestions of how it might be improved?
What should you do if your evaluation of a website reveals that the site is unreliable or inappropriate?

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