written by Kristen Harms/ posted by Elegan Kramer
The following strategies will help students move beyond random surfing and clicking to using the internet and online reading meaningfully. Research shows that students need comprehension skills and strategies to specifically and effectively read and learn from text on the internet.
Which Link Should I Follow?
Students should stop, think, and make predictions about which site to explore. Students can answer specific questions off the computer to help them analyze what they are reading.
How Do I Navigate Within a Site?
Read the title of the page and the title of the Web site in the margin at the top of the window.
Scan menu choices. Hold your mouse over the navigational or topical menus that often appear down the left frame or across the top of the window, but don't click yet. Get a big picture of the information available within the site.
Make predictions about where each of the major links may lead and anticipate a link's path through multiple levels of a Web site.
Explore interactive features of dynamic images (animated images, or images that change as a viewer holds the mouse over them), pop-up menus, and scroll bars that may reveal additional levels of information contained within the site.
Identify the creator of the Web site and when the site was last updated. You can often find this information by clicking on a button on the home page labeled “About This Site,” but sometimes deeper exploration is needed to find the site's creator. Consider what this information indicates about the site.
Notice and try out any electronic supports the site has, such as an organizational site map or internal search engine.
Make a judgment about whether to explore the site further. If the site looks worthwhile, decide which areas of the site to explore first.
How Do I Know This Is True? Think and Check Critical Reading
