The blogging task for this week was to read through the online session “Internet Research” on our VCT-platform and to write a blog entry about what we consider important, what we have learned or what has been striking to us.
The first point to mention is that this online unit about “Internet Research” did not only give new useful ideas about research to me, but also deepened my prior knowledge on how to use the Internet appropriatly for myself but as well as a future teacher with my students.
The online session opens with a general overview of the advantages and disadvantages of Internet Research. I would like to start my entry by commenting on these “two sides” of Internet Research.
Nowadays, more and more students do use the Internet in order to collect information on a certain topic. It happens that consulting books for gaining information becomes subordinate. Lots of people, and especially students, like the idea that material can be collected easily, that the access is simple and that you can work independant of time and space. Using different search engines helps to look for information more precisely and helps to avoid an overflow of data.
But at the same time it also should not be forgotten that Internet Research bears lots of dangers and therefore has also got some disadvantages. By doing data collection via the Internet, the student (or user in general) has to be aware of the fact that given material could be outdated or questionable.
Furthermore, it might happen that you are flooded with information and that you cannot really separate the relevant from the irrelevant. Besides, most of the time the given information is not evaluated and that might lead you on the wrong track. Another big danger and disadvantage of Internet Research is plagiarism, which may happen easily if students only collect data without citing its sources.
As already hinted at, there are several different tools in order to search information, such as search engines, meta-search engines and catalgues. Each of them might be useful, depending on the topic you are doing research on. The online session from the VCT-platform also gives an overview of other means of research tools, such as linklists, Wiki-websites or online dictionaries.
The second big part of the online unit deals with the extra skills students should have in order to gather data correctly and easily. Firstly, students could use the Boolean logic, meaning the three operators: OR, AND, NOT (f.ex.: dogs OR cats, dogs AND cats, dogs NOT cats) . With this method it becomes easier to look for specific material, because you can sort things out. Another useful skill is doing research with specific symbols, such as +, – or ” “. The latter is quite useful when searching whole sentences.
But there is more to it than just knowing how to browse for infomation. Students should also be aware of the quality and reliability of the shown content. In other words, they should know how to evaluate information. While collecting data, it is important to know: who is the author? what is his/her opinion? which sources have been quoted? and how updated is the shown information?
What might also indicate a good source is the correct language or orthography. If a website is weak in its language, its also rather nonprofessional and unreliable. The last important skill is how to quote sources correctly. As future teachers we have to inform our students that it is their duty to indicate their sources, because otherwise they might commit plagiarism and get into trouble. It will also be a big part for them in their future life; at least if they want to go to university and have to write term papers. There are still lots of students who commit plagiarism, because they do not quote appropriately.
The last topic of the online session deals with the methodology of Internet Research. This means that teachers have several possibilities to teach data collection. We as future teachers can decide whether we want to use guided, half-guided or free research. It may depend on the knowlegde of the class concerning the usage of Internet or on the time period of teaching (i.e. research as an introduction to a certain topic).
In a nutshell, I have to say that it was quite helpful to read through the online session in order to deepen my knowledge and to get some new ideas. What I consider the most important aspect is that we as future teachers have to inform our students about the pros AND cons of Internet Research. It may always be good to consult books and magazines as well in order to get a wide range of different points of views. So an encyclopedia may also help to find information; not only Wikipedia which may also contain wrong ideas.
Furthermore, the Internet is not always necessary, for example if you only need general aspects such as history dates, country description (i.e. spoken languages, size etc) And finally, students have to get a helping hand on how to evaluate and quote sources. But we as future teachers have also to be skilled in “Internet Research” in order to show our pupils how to work correctly. So everybody should ask himself/herself: Am I a good researcher? I would consider myself a researcher, who can still improve a bit. 
