Reflection on Evaluating Websites Assignment

For today's in-class assignment, I completed a critical evaluation of a folklore and folk tale website, The Moonlit Road. Comprised of "Strange Tales of the American South," this site contained a varied collection of new and revisited Southern folk tales from various contributors. All of the tales were available in text form, and some were available as audio files directly on the page or via podcast. Four of the tales also had lesson plans available for teacher use.

This assignment taught me to look at all websites, especially those intended for teaching use, with an even more critical eye than I have previously. Choosing a website and using it as a classroom tool indicates to students that you, as the information authority within the classroom, consider it a reliable and worthy source. From this, students will learn what is considered a good source, whether the site in question actually is reliable and trustworthy or not. Teachers must be especially careful to be a good example of a critical evaluator for this reason.

For example, a casual look at The Moonlit Road site would give the impression that it could be a useful classroom tool when teaching about folklore and folk tales, especially given its inclusion of lesson plans with four of the tales. A closer look, however, reveals that this site is questionable as a teaching resource for a variety of reasons. The site's creators/administrators don't list any credentials for themselves as historians, folklorists, or even as hobbyist storytellers. Authors of individual stories also don't provide any information about themselves other than a first and last name; none include an email or contact address if you were someone wanting to seek more information about the story, its creation, or its history. Because of this, the site doesn't really help a teacher explain much to students about folk tales, how they're created and passed through generations, etc. By using this as a source, a teacher may unintentionally model for students that websites need not have clear credentials or specific sources for their information, which, of course, is a model that should be avoided.