Students today have access to online information all day every day, and at the same time there are more and more fake news websites being created and shared unthinkingly.  It is essential in this environment that students be guided in how to evaluate online information.  Several web resources are now available to assist teachers with this and this review considers two of them: Checkology and Common Sense Media.

Many of today’s students have a preference for visual media over text-based ones, so the use of infographics has become popular for conveying information in an appealing way.  With numerous free tools available online for creating infographics, you can get your learners to sum up or re-create their understanding of a topic or process using a medium they are bound to enjoy.

Looking back over the past year, there have been some major changes and surprises in various parts of the world, and it is no doubt clear to all that change is tough and unpredictable. It’s also happening faster than ever before and many of its consequences remain unpredictable. Are our schools really preparing students for this reality?

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When new poems are prescribed we often groan as it means more work for us; but usually, once we have started to delve into the background of the poet and explored the content of the poem, excitement begins to build as we uncover meanings, themes and ideas.

A great way of getting learners to re-create their understanding of a topic in a different medium is the use of the newspaper report, with headline and article. An easy to use and fun digital tool on www.fodey.com allows them to do this with an authentic-looking result. 

Learners today have become used to finding information as and when they want it, usually at their fingertips, literally, and mostly on their mobile phones. But how many of them ever stop to evaluate what they are reading there or assess to what extent the information may be credible or not?  This important aspect of digital literacy is a vital part of education today.

There are many aspects of a website that can be quickly evaluated and a few key ones are outlined below:

Emaze is an easy to use, Web-based tool that lets you create appealing presentations in minutes, using templates and ready-made slides. Because it is cloud-based, you can access them from anywhere and it even offers automatic translation from one language to another.  You can create a free account to access a number of templates and design options, as well as other users’ presentations.  There are also tutorial videos and support to help you navigate all the features of the site.

The TES.com website is one of the largest network of teachers in the world. They have various resources and forums on their site, and it now includes a great project for Teaching Shakespeare …