Thing 16

1. Pre-Assessment
Not to be completed.

2. Evaluate Student MeL Education Databases

Databases: Info Trac Junior Addition and Info Trac Student Edition Topic: The fall of the Berlin Wall a) Appropriateness: The content of both Info Trac databases seems geared towards current events and opinion pieces, containing many articles on recent issues, political events, and topics such as cell phone use and bullying, but they had limited information on this historical events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall.

b) Usability: Key word searches, the default method of search for both databases, for most students as well, yielded bizarrely irrelevant material in both databases. It wasn't that the material did not exist, but simply that one had to search by subject instead. Disregarding the fact that it is bizarre that documents from a subject search that actually do contain the keywords from our first search were not included in the first batch of search results while articles on fly-fishing and Tunisian dictators were, the time and effort required to find even a single usable document would likely result in many frustrated students giving up on finding something entirely.

c) Content: Despite using suggested search terms, the results found on Info Trac Junior generally were not relevant to the topic. Searching with the terms "fall of the berlin wall" yielded only nine results, many of which discussed completely unrelated topics such as the Arab Spring, Tunisian dictator Ben Ali, and even fly-fishing. Searching with

Thing 16

the term "Berlin Wall" yields similarly disappointing results. The most relevant article is thirtieth in the list and even this article is too short and unspecific to offer students any solid information on the wall itself.

Thing 16

Info Trac Student Edition also yielded strangely unrelated results when using a keyword search (the search method most students are likely to favor), but a subject search resulted in a pair of useful documents.

For both databases, although some quality resources can be found, they are buried inbetween irrelevant, absurdly short, and unhelpful documents. The quality of other potentially helpful resources is also reduced or completely undermined by the omission of images from the documents. This left a number of resources, whose text focused on the content of these images, completely useless.

d) Credibility for Classroom Use: I would not recomend these databases for classroom use. Although the material is there, the process of sifting through the false matches and insufficient results would likely only frustrate students. If one's goal is to teach students how to navigate a database, Info Trac databases seem ill suited to the task and more likely to discourage students from using databases in the future than anythign else. If

Thing 16

one's goal is to provide students a means of searching for solid information, Info Trac will also disapoint. One would be better off using a simple google search. The first page of results for the google search query "fall of the berlin wall" yields more information and useful sources for the high school or middle school levels than thirty minutes of searching on Info Trac did.

3. Evaluate and Advanced Student MeL Educational Database

Database: Academic OneFile Topic: The Stasi

Thing 16

a) Appropriateness: Though a number of the results for "East German Stasi" and "East German Secret Police" focus on films about the Stasi that would be inappropriate to show in a high school classroom, the articles themselves should cause no fear on such grounds. The larger challenge is finding an appropriate level of information. Many of the articles contain inadequate information, assume readers to be familiar with the Stasi, or merely review books and films covering the topic. This makes many of the documents inappropriate and ill-suited to students attempting to gain a basic knowledge of who the Stasi were and what they did. Use of Academic OneFile would be better suited to students working more in depth on a specific aspect of the topic.

b) Usability: Searching for just the keyword "Stasi" yields, as was the case with Info Trac Junior and Student, unrelated results. In order to find relevant documents students must know that Stasi were the secret police of East Germany. This could make conducting research challenging if students were asked to find information on the Stasi

Thing 16

without being provided this critical context. (This may occur if, for instance, students were tasked with creating presentations on various topics in German history and chose topics from a list without prior knowledge).

c) Content: Though there are a number of good resources available, the majority of results are reviews of books or films on the topic, not information on the topic itself. A handful of these reviews contain solid information on the Stasi, but many focus on the sources sighted or legitimacy of the book rather than the Stasi themselves. As was the case with Info Trac Junior and Student, the good sources are mixed in a sea of less than useful sources. Academic Onefile does appear, however, to have more of the former and less of the latter than either Info Trac database.

d) Credibility for Classroom Use: Though I would be wary of instructing my class as a whole to conduct research using Academic OneFile, I would be more willing to incorporate this database into my curriculum than the above InfoTrac databases. However, as many of the articles are more complex and challenging for high school students to read, I would likely lean towards recommending Academic OneFile as a possible resource for students researching projects, but allowing them to conduct research with more common methods such as Google and Yahoo search engines as well.

Thing 16

4. Create a Citation Using MeL

"The Stasi: Myth and Reality." Contemporary Review 284.1660 (2004): 318. Academic OneFile. Web. 21 July 2013. Document URL http://0go.galegroup.com.elibrary.mel.org/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA117860308&v=2.1&u=lom_a ccessmich&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w

5. Create a Citation using a Free Citation Maker Webpage

Citation created by easybib "The Stasi: Myth and Reality." Contemporary Review May 2004: 318. Academic OneFile. Web. 21 July 2013.

6. Post-Assessment
Not to be completed