The internet has a significant influence on our day-to-day activities. It has become a primary source of information, particularly in education; students and teachers utilize the internet to gather information for the teaching and learning process. During this pandemic, it became crucial for us to access the internet because acquiring knowledge from books in the library and other physical resources seemed challenging. Through the internet, retrieving information appears to be a lot easier nowadays. Just type your keyword phrase into the search engine, and immediately you will find a variety of results related to the topic you are looking for. This method can benefit people who have limited access to educational facilities and do not have enough time to search in the library. Though this new way of searching and retrieving information is very convenient, emphasis on reading comprehension and having the skills in evaluating the most reliable and trusted source are very crucial.
Evaluating the information from the internet is one of the skills of 21st-century learners. Various activities can help students to hone this skill. Activities such as reporting and making a research paper require us to search and evaluate the reliability of the information, synthesize and eventually present or share what we have synthesized with other people. To gather proof to support the claim you get from an article or news, you will need to verify the information and cross-reference it. These are also great practices to hone the students’ reading comprehension. Despite the widespread use of the internet as a source of information, it says that currently, there is no assessment for online reading comprehension. It seems unbelievable because almost all of us rely on the information we read online. New literacies of Online reading comprehension require several reading practices like reading online to identify important questions, locate, critically evaluate, synthesize, and communicate online information. Effective online information use requires additional online reading comprehension practices, skills, and disposition. This statement is mainly true; we even include social media as our source of information.
Massive information can be found in every corner of the internet, and fake information can emerge from various sources and disseminate across multiple media. One of the characteristics of false information is that it appears to be created by reputable media sources. Misinformation in other forms, such as selectively referencing sources and media bias, adds to the confusion, making it more difficult for data consumers to discern what is true. So how can we avoid being a victim of fake information? Practice what we have learned in school. We were thought how to evaluate information. All we need to do is practice them whenever we use search engines and read online. Since searching for information on the internet will offer us an enormous amount of information, we need to be vigilant in evaluating the most reliable and valid information to avoid fake details. The capacity to distinguish between correct and incorrect information is an essential skill that we will employ for our entire life. Factual information, not false ones, may help us generate resources and make the country a better place for us and for the generation to come.
By: Mrs. Rossana M. Roco | Sta. Rosa, Pilar, Bataan
