Using the Internet for student research in public schools is problematic at best. The World Wide Web was not conceived nor implemented as an educational tool for the K-12 community. No standards are applied to those who develop Web sites, and there are numerous examples of spurious, inappropriate, and even dangerous sites. Search tools such as Google and Yahoo have inherent problems when used in our schools. Search results are ordered by popularity rather than relevance, and no value is placed on age-appropriateness. Any search invariably yields more resources than needed, resulting in researchers spending excessive time eliminating the unusable.
A study conducted by the Educational Testing Service and seven universities concluded that 52% of high school seniors and college students were unable to determine if the content on a Web site was objective. Only four out of ten knew how to refine a Google search in order to eliminate undesired results. The implications are dire when considering the fact that the students in the study were expected to be "computer literate".
The NC Department of Public Instruction has addressed these issues by providing our public schools with Internet-based alternatives to Google and other search engines. The NC Online Windows on Learning (NC WiseOwl) program has been offering a free package of online subscription resources to our schools for ten years. Students, teachers and parents are able to use these materials at school or home – anywhere that Internet access is available. The databases include Gale Infotrac, a collection of over 3000 magazines in online format – ranging from popular magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and National Geographic, to children's magazine such as Ranger Rick and Weekly Reader. Full-text articles extend back five years and may be printed in text format or, in many instances, in Acrobat format, with graphics and photographs.
Grolier provides a wide array of databases on WiseOwl, including two encyclopedias, an atlas, a science encyclopedia, a general reference resource, and several other specialized collections. The WiseOwl offerings are rounded out with an eBook center, Amazing Animals (for young children), and a Spanish-language encyclopedia.
EBSCO offerings include a staggering array of databases, including specialized resources such as automotive, health, and career products.
The search tools on NC WiseOwl are specifically designed for educational use. They vary by grade level (elementary, middle school, high school, professional) in both sophistication and content searched. For example, a student searching the InfoTrac database from the Elementary Zone is accessing fewer than 100 of the 3400+ titles in the overall database. The different search interfaces all include special tools to assist students with the research process. Of particular usefulness is the inclusion of a citation for every article, so that students can easily credit their sources in reports and projects.
Perhaps the most important feature of NC WiseOwl search tools is the fact that they encourage students to learn the techniques used to refine queries and eliminate bloated hit lists. This is accomplished with the inclusion of options and pop-down menus that make the logical process of narrowing a search obvious rather than obtuse. The skills learned by exercising these options will directly translate to Google searches when they are appropriate.
NC WiseOwl provides not only a safer Internet alternative for K-12 public and charter school students, but also a vastly more effective resource.
