The Gathering Phase

The pros and cons of pre-researching resources, and  using technology during the Gathering phase of a project

I believe pre-researching resources for your learners has its pros and cons. Some of the pros include;   

·         It saves time that would otherwise have been wasted if the learners were to look for the resources themselves.
·         It helps in identify the dependable resources from the quack ones since learners are inexperienced in this respect.
·         It helps in identifying the relevant ones from the ones that are not relevant for that very topic/task.

The cons include;

·         Some sites are unreliable and it takes time to evaluate and consider them good for the tasks.
·         Some have very limited information and lack in -depth
·         Some resources are not free and one has to subscribe first before they can access them.
·         For some sites, one has to first register in order to get to information and it becomes too much when you have to keep registering just to access those sites.
The gathering phase of the project should be in line with the roles given to each individual or group of individuals. It entails the teacher Pre- researching sites for the learners and making sure that the information and the data helps in starting the learners off on the thinking process. The resources must also have a meaningful and clear connection to the task given and the information required.

The advice I would give my learners is to be very careful with the resources online because not all of them are credible sources that can be relied upon, not all information on the NET is correct and anybody can post anything. It would be wise for them to check the credibility of such sites before using it as a source of reference