RADAR: An approach for helping students evaluate Internet sources
Abstract
The Internet has become an integral part of all aspects of the life of twenty-first-century learners. Yet research shows that students’ ease and familiarity with the mechanics of the medium are not matched by their ability to evaluate electronic sources critically. Both faculty and library professionals are acutely aware of this, and much help is available to students in the form of checklists and guides to evaluating Internet sources. Students still seem to be falling through the cracks, however. The author suggests the adoption of the ‘RADAR’ approach to evaluating Internet sources. Just as a ship’s captain needs electronic radar to navigate safely and efficiently through the ocean, so the information searcher needs a similar scanning device, that is, a critical, mental radar, when exploring the vast sea of information on the Internet. This device can help students develop a critical awareness of the need to establish the Relevance, Authority, Date, Appearance and Reason for writing of each web source that they encounter. Preliminary qualitative research amongst both native and non-native English-speaking college students suggests a positive user response to both the concept and the tool, providing grounds for further empirical investigation.
... In another one of the older checklist or acronym-based models, Mandalios's RADAR method, topical relevance plays a more central, significant role. Mandalios (2013) anticipated my argument about the importance of relevance, noting that ...
... Information literacy approaches have operationalized the concept of relevance in many ways. Some have relied on a subject-based definition of relevance, such as those that have incorporated it into source evaluation heuristics (Blakeslee, 2004;Mandalios, 2013). Others have emphasized its cognitive, affective, and situational aspects (Bruce, 2008;Lenker, 2017) or explored the impact of the system/algorithmic relevance assessments for information seekers in different contexts (Archambault, 2023;Saunders, 2008;Swanson, 2004;Whitworth, 2014). ...
The process of determining whether a source of information is relevant is multidimensional, dynamic, and subjective. This essay puts information science scholarship on relevance, including the process and nature of making relevance judgments, in conversation with models of teaching and learning information literacy. Teaching librarians are encouraged to recognize students’ relevance judgments as sites of reflection and instruction. This essay suggests a variety of ways librarians might do this, from re-thinking source evaluation methods to emphasizing the opportunities available at the source selection stage. The process of determining relevance is a practical site of reflective possibility and deserves greater attention in information literacy teaching and learning. Discussing relevance judgments can help students better understand and evaluate sources, reflect on their own and others’ perspectives and motivations, and create opportunities to discuss the impact of information systems.
... Librarians often teach how to evaluate the authority of sources in order to identify sources that are appropriate to use as either a secondary or primary source. Such teaching has been typically dominated by checklists and tests (named using acronyms such as ABC, CRAAP, RADAR, and 5 Ws) that verify that a source conforms to the western academic way of knowing in order to be used as a secondary source (Schrock 1998;Blakeslee 2004, 4;Mandalios 2013;Radom and Gammons 2014). Almost all such tools include evaluating authority via proxies such as publisher status and the authors' credentials (Sye and Thompson 2023). ...
This paper examines one way that colonial logic is embedded in western academic practices. It argues that the conventional dichotomy between primary and secondary sources in the humanities and social sciences reflects western monocultural hegemony in its application to non-western knowledges. In these fields, primary sources are treated as objects, analysed as evidence, and used as data, while secondary sources get to act as subjects and are engaged with as experts. This paper identifies a problematic dynamic where Indigenous authorities whose expertise does not align with western academic norms are categorised and used as primary sources, thereby stripping them of their agency and subjectivity. Their knowledge is extracted, commodified, and appropriated for the benefit of the west. Further, the paper critiques the role of librarians and archivists in perpetuating this colonial logic through their instruction practices and professional frameworks and standards, especially around primary source literacy and evaluating authority. These practices promulgate monocultural tools through which knowledge is extracted and evaluated. This paper calls on librarians to critically assess their role in maintaining colonial structures that continue to marginalise Indigenous Knowledge.
... The popular CRAAP Test for evaluating sources (Blakeslee, 2004) has no criterion for metacognition in its acronym. Similarly, the RADAR criteria (Mandalios, 2013) are source-focused, with no criterion for examining oneself. In Caulfield's (2019) SIFT the first action, Stop, can include the metacognitive step of checking your emotions. ...
Though the ACRL Framework holds metacognition as crucial to exercising information literacy, its emphasis was reduced from prominence in early drafts to a single mention in the final document. At the same time, few of the frequently-taught sets of source evaluation criteria include a step for self-awareness. This raises the question: do librarians explicitly teach metacognitive concepts when they teach source evaluation? Online library guides about source evaluation from various colleges and universities in Washington state were analyzed, and librarians who taught source evaluation were surveyed to determine whether and to what extent metacognitive concepts were included as part of the source evaluation process and how important librarians perceived metacognition to be relative to common source evaluation criteria. This research found that metacognition or self-reflection is not commonly considered or taught as an integral part of the source evaluation process.
... Literature cited in this review was appraised using the 'RADAR' framework (Mandalios, 2013, p.473). The RADAR (rationale, authority, date, accuracy and relevance) framework is a tool that assists in evaluating the quality of chosen literature (Mandalios, 2013). This framework was chosen to enhance the methodological rigour for the literature review. ...
Introduction: Alarm fatigue is a consequence of sensory overload due to frequent nuisance alarms from physiologic monitoring devices. This ‘cry wolf’ phenomenon occurs frequently in the context of continuous cardiac monitoring and ST segment monitoring.
Research significance: The effect of these alarm types on nurses’ perceived alarm fatigue in Australian settings is yet to be examined. Accordingly, this thesis explores registered nurses (RN’s) perception of alarm fatigue. The effect of ST segment monitoring on perceived alarm fatigue, as well as the necessary resources for RNs to reduce alarm fatigue is also a focus of this thesis.
Methodology: The research was guided by a convergent mixed methods approach. The Healthcare Technology Foundation’s (HTF) Clinical Alarms Survey (CAS) tool was adapted to the Australian setting and administered to a convenience sample of 28 critical care RNs employed in the intensive care services (ICS) and coronary care unit (CCU) of a tertiary hospital in New South Wales, Australia. The quantitative data underwent descriptive and inferential analysis. A purposive sample of six survey participants engaged in one-on-one semi-structured online interviews to explore perceived alarm fatigue. The qualitative findings underwent reflexive thematic analysis. Both datasets were amalgamated, with the quantitative findings supplementing the narrative findings.
Results: Staff with less clinical experience and education reported increased complexity and challenges with managing ST segment monitoring. The themes of clinical experience, knowledge, technology, nursing workload and the value of alarms were found to be pivotal in participant’s perceived alarm fatigue. Narrative survey data revealed concerns related to alarm fatigue and alarm distress in both patients and staff, with clinical experience reported to affect alarm management. The survey results indicated that nuisance alarms, though frequent and disruptive, had a limited effect on the nursing response to alarms.
Conclusion: Alarm fatigue was present in the study participants; however, it did not affect each participant equally. Nurse’s clinical experience and knowledge affected both alarm management and perceived alarm fatigue. ST segment monitoring was reported to contribute to alarm fatigue, but the effect was limited due to the urgency of the alarms and the relevance of the alarms to patient outcomes. The participants requested alarm management education, usable technology, changes to policy and appropriate staffing to manage alarm fatigue.
Publication Details
Vidyaeva, M. R. (2023). 'Crying Wolf': Generating New Understandings of Alarm Fatigue Using a Convergent Mixed Methods Approach [Master of Philosophy (School of Nursing, Midwifery, Health Sciences and Physiotherapy]. The University of Notre Dame Australia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/443
... ¿Qué dicen otras fuentes? A su vez existen otras estrategias existentes como la desarrollada en la California State University denominada CRAAP (Currency; Relevance; Authority; Accuracy; Purpose) para determinar la calidad de un contenido; la estrategia RADAR (Relevance, Authority, Date, Appearance, Reason for writing) (Mandalios, 2013) y la denomina escala TOHI que mide los factores que influyen en la formación de la confianza en la búsqueda de información, aunque con un enfoque en salud (Rowley et al., 2015). ...
Introducción: La aceleración de la “sociedad en red” ha sido dramática, pasando del hipervínculo del internet a la web semántica, donde la creación de contenidos y los algoritmos son cruciales. Con estos cambios, también se ha ido modificando la forma en que aprendemos. Esta mediatización de contenidos ha alcanzado el aprendizaje político y ciudadano, dejando a la escuela con nuevos desafíos como son la desinformación y la polarización electoral. Metodología: Se usa una metodología mixta, siguiendo las orientaciones del proyecto Civic online reasoning de Stanford, adaptando los History assessments of thinking (HATs), realizando una adaptación de preguntas y rubricas, a la par que se realizan entrevistas a los actores claves. La muestra incluye a 160 estudiantes secundarios chilenos y a 9 profesores. Resultados: Se evidenció que la mayoría de los estudiantes demuestran dificultades significativas en habilidades como lectura lateral, comprobación de hechos, entre otras. Discusión: Frente a ejercicios diseñados para evaluar habilidades, los estudiantes no hacen uso del razonamiento cívico online, coincidiendo con los estudios internacionales, se plantea el uso de la estrategia SIFT para su mejora. Conclusiones: Se deben crear estrategias interdisciplinarias que aborden el problema desde el sistema escolar, desarrollando material práctico para los estudiantes.
Zusammenfassung
Die anhaltende Desinformationskrise stellt eine massive Gefahr für unsere Gesellschaft dar. Bibliotheken steuern mit Schulungsformaten und Lernressourcen praktische Gegenmaßnahmen bei. Zur Wirksamkeit müssen Angebote allerdings einheitliche Begrifflichkeiten sowie Konzepte zu Mechanismen und Wirkung von Informationsstörungen umfassen, aktuelle technische Trends und Forschungsergebnisse berücksichtigen und praxistaugliche Recherche- und Evaluierungswerkzeuge beinhalten. Vor diesem Hintergrund präsentiert der Artikel ein niederschwelliges Angebotsformat für Bibliotheksnutzende.
The prominent German social philosopher Oskar Negt, who passed away in February 2024, highlighted the importance of education for the health of democracy when he famously stated in an interview in 2004: ‘Democracy is the only form of government that has to be learned, while all other forms of government do not. Dictatorships or a system of terror repress political education. For me, all real education is political.’ Education is not the panacea for all societal problems, especially not those that have deeply rooted structural causes, but these structures are maintained, and can be changed, by people, which underscores the important of education. This applies also to the context we are discussing in this book. Education is, I argue, a crucial and widely acknowledged yet under-utilised element in our approaches to equip citizens with the mindset, knowledge and skills needed to withstand the appeal of far right and other anti-democratic forces.
This paper highlights the complex relationship between epistemic and moral obligations, arguing that it is possible to discuss epistemic responsibility independently of moral responsibility. However, some authors acknowledge the existence of a multidirectional link between epistemic and moral norms in web-based communication and information practices. They illustrate the intertwined nature of the epistemic and moral obligations of internet users by recognizing that certain epistemic criteria, particularly those concerning reliability, require the fulfillment of specific moral norms, while the latter govern the formation of beliefs that serve as the basis for online activities in an epistemically responsible manner. Finally, they discuss the consequences of lacking clear norms for responsible information sharing in digital spaces, highlighting the importance of their implementation, which should be abundantly supported by research findings and accompanied by educational programs.
This article aims to review three different approaches to training critical thinking skills in the context of new media. These approaches are illustrated with specific examples, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. The three approaches are: tips and strategies, inoculation, and the metacognitive approach. Tips and strategies involve using schemes or ready-made sets of questions that are helpful in verifying information. Inoculation entails exposing media users to small doses of disinformation to develop their resistance to manipulation. The metacognitive approach focuses on making internet users aware of cognitive biases, such as confirmation bias and memory errors, commonly encountered when processing information. The article discusses examples of studies that have applied these approaches to training information processing skills, drawn from the Google Scholar database for the years 2016–2024. It emphasises the need for further research to determine the most effective approach in combating disinformation and protecting internet users against false information and manipulation. This article contributes to pedagogical knowledge by presenting strategies to combat misinformation and stressing the need to adapt them to students’ specific needs. By analysing various methods and approaches, it serves as a valuable resource for educators and policymakers aiming to introduce innovative and effective teaching methods in the disinformation age. You must log in to download the document
The universities are looking forward to include information literacy for credit into their curriculum. Information literacy is the study of information to understand what an information is, how to evaluate the information, and how to use the information. Credit information literacy course and credit-bearing modules with existing course can help to promote the information literacy. Information literacy is critical in today's hi-tech environment and universities need to provide information literacy into higher education. Information literacy can help to improve the ability of acquiring and handling information to retrieve the desired information. A trained and skilled information researcher can avoid the errors in information usage. Information literacy for credit can provide students to make genuine research projects, right data acquisition ability, and quality of information.
Information literacy (IL) is the set of skills and knowledge that allows us to find, evaluate, and use the information we need, as well as to filter out the information we don’t need. IL skills are the necessary tools that help us successfully navigate the present and future landscape of information. Information and technology affects every person in every possible setting—work, education, recreation. This paperoffers an overview of IL focusing on three contexts for successful IL learning and teaching: (i) the information process itself, (ii) technology in context, and (iii) implementation through real needs in real situations. The author covers conceptual understandings of IL, the range of IL standards and models, technology within the IL framework, and practical strategies for effective IL skills learning and instruction in a range of situations.http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/djlit.28.2.166
Although most college faculty expect their students to analyze Internet and scholarly sources in a critical and responsible manner, recent research suggests that many undergraduates are unable to discriminate between credible and noncredible sources, in part because they lack the proper training and relevant experiences. The authors describe two case studies from different disciplines (psychology and history) that offer a variety of strategies instructors can use to help students learn to critically evaluate and analyze Internet and scholarly sources.
Student Learning in the Information Age, by Patricia Senn Breivik. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1998. 120+ pp. $34.95 There can be little doubt that the information age is a reality and that it has changed the face of college campuses in dramatic ways. Students receive data from every direction with new information gathered from the internet, the worldwide web, various databases, and from instantaneous e-mail sources. Learners are no longer challenged by "top-down" education, and the teacher who attempts to impart knowledge from behind the podium is no longer as effective. Libraries are not just massive buildings housing towers of books where students spend little time, but are resource centers that challenge them to create and evaluate information as well as to absorb it. Patricia Senn Breivik's monograph, Student Learning in the Information Age, highlights the problems and the challenges of facilitating learning in the information age and directs the reader toward a more comprehensive and collaborative resource-based environment. She asserts that educators need to limit the "reserves-lecture-textbook" approach in favor of more active methods of learning. Students, she says, need to become more information literate. It is not enough for them to acquire data, but they must learn what to do with it once they have it. Breivik's thesis centers around two main concepts: resource-based learning and lifelong learning. She describes resource-based learning as a "commonsense approach to learning" where students use a number of sources (books, journals, television, online databases, the Internet, CD-ROMs, etc.) to "access, evaluate, organize, and present information" (p. 25). Students involved in resource-based learning would solve their communities' problems by researching and documenting issues important to them. Faculty members and librarians would collaborate and be on hand to guide the students through the process, directing them in ways that are meaningful to them as individuals. In this way, students learn how to address important concerns, research alternatives, and evaluate data as it is presented to them. They are not just reporting the facts, but are learning how to discern truth from fiction and to make the learning process relevant to their own lives. This in turn creates individuals who are prepared to continue thei r learning outside the classroom. While Breivik's argument for resource-based learning is convincing, she also addresses the challenges that institutions face in creating such an environment on their campuses. As with any major initiative, funds and personnel are the major challenges. Campuswide information literacy programs will require additional personnel, especially in librarian positions. According to Breivik, institutional leaders who want to improve information literacy across their curriculum would be best advised to create more librarian positions, because librarians make the most impact across disciplines. In addition to increased personnel needs, Breivik also outlines the need for new technology. If institutions plan to make information literacy a priority, they must provide computers for student and faculty use, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Training on the proper use of software is also a necessity. …
It is not uncommon for college students to be instructed to use scholarly library resources and to avoid using the Internet. This article argues that students should be allowed to use open-Web resources and that the classroom is the best place to teach students how to evaluate the quality of information available on an Internet they will use long after they have left the institution.
Undergraduate students of today often lack the ability to effectively process research-based literature. In order to offer education students the most up-to-date methods, research-based literature must be considered. Hence a dilemma is born as to whether professors should discontinue requiring the processing of this type of information or teach effective skills on how to process research-based information. This article offers a solution by way of an updated version of a reading strategy designed for the college-level student known as SQ6R. This guide offers students a systematic approach to understanding complex research studies. Explanation of each step of the method is offered.
The purpose of this research project was to determine whether students are using unauthenticated resources, whether they are evaluating their resources, and whether there is a gap between the quality of resources expected by instructors and the quality of resources used by students. Using case study methodology, the authors interviewed instructors and students and analyzed Web resources cited in research papers in two English composition classes. The findings show that students are using unevaluated resources and that there is a gap between what instructors expect students to use and what students actually use. Ways to alleviate ìworries with the Webî are discussed.