ET 630: Telecommunications in the Classroom Christian Callender
Website Rationalization.
I chose the websites for my project based on the following criteria:
I chose several sites that met my requirements for each section of the lesson. First, I picked the official websites for the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention respectively. The idea is to have the students see each candidate first as they are portrayed by their own party; that is, in the best possible light. Then they can see how they are presented by the opposing party, which is in stark contrast to their portrayal by their own supporters.
The next group of websites the students will examine are the major media outlets, such as television and newspapers. These will help establish a baseline in what may be seen as the most balanced look at either candidate. We will compare and contrast these as well, and see where any biases for or against either candidate may be found.
The final two sites were picked solely because of their biases. One to the far left of the political spectrum, and one to the far right. Again, these will be compared with the major media sites to further highlight the differences in how the candidates are portrayed, and by whom.
The 5 W’s of Website Evaluation page was chosen due to its simplicity, although it still manages to illustrate the basics of how to examine a website for content.
The video clip is meant to show the students how satire is used in politics. As it is a YouTube clip, the students may have to access this one from home due to the firewalls in the school’s system. However, since this is just extra credit, it isn’t vital to the lesson, and can be discussed during the next class. I’m still looking for a version that I can definitely show in class, and hope to have it sorted out before this unit comes up this year.