Can we stop the ‘Google grazing’ and improve student learning?

The Leader in the Times Higher Education magazine entitled ” A Google-eyed view of the world” makes for interesting reading. Here are the passages that got me thinking:

“Information online is catalogued only by popularity…… [I]t lacks the sanction of a bouncer who knows how to throw out the trash before the place succumbs to a trashing. Not all views are equal and not everyone’s opinion deserves respect. But the web’s demotic reduction pretends otherwise. That is a difficult lesson to unlearn for a younger generation that has not been taught how to discriminate………

More insidious is the assumption that easy retrieval of knowledge is synonymous with its comprehension. The promiscuous nature of online searching allows an acquaintance with vast numbers of sources. Arguably, this can be as stimulating and rewarding as browsing serendipitously among the bookshelves. But to students unaware of any hierarchy of esteem and used to grazing rather than drilling, an easy association with so much information must be dangerously comforting.”

The Leader is mainly concerned with making the case that libraries and librarians are essential resources but it also made me think about how we might tweak the setting of our written assignments to include a statement that asks students to justify why they used the references in their bibliography. One advantage would be that it would overcome the problem of superfluous referencing. This might sound a little odd (“surely more referencing is a good thing”) but actually it is possible to dilute scholarship through ‘Google grazing’ if the aim of the learner is to show the marker that they have read widely and, by assumption, achieved deep learning when, in fact, they have only engaged in surface learning. Clearly, an experienced marker would spot such a weakness but the process of reflecting on the sources used should help the learner in the presentation of argument.

Another advantage of writing a reflection on the bibliography is that it will make students think about the type of references they use and why such sources are important. Peer-reviewed journal papers and books, reports from Government and respected Institutions may have more credence than blogs or party political websites, for example, but students would have to make the case for the type of sources used in their reflection. Finally, an additional learning activity like this could help to alleviate the problem of plagiarism for if a student has to justify why they use sources they have to understand their importance. I suspect some students will always try and cite another’s work without due reference but If students can get added value (i.e. higher marks) by writing about sources used then this may provide an incentive not to plagiarise.

I recognise there are costs for both student and staff in adding this extra dimension to an assignment but with careful management the benefits for learners and the learning process may be greater.

Anyway, just a few thoughts. Have a good weekend.