Essential Skills for Today

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Information Literacy

• Essential Skills for Todays Learner

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The Information Age has arrived in our schools...

• Widespread internet access and worldwide access
  to information
• Students and teachers communicate via email
• Hardware and software abounds

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We are seeing students...

• Overwhelmed with information choices
• Hitting the print button and thinking theyve
  accomplished their research
• Spending an hour searching the internet for
  information easily found in an almanac or other
  print source
• Showing the inability to synthesize information
  found

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We are seeing students

• Failing to evaluate sources found, or their
  relevance to the project
• Clicking and not reading
• Engaging in rampant plagiarism. Cutting and
  pasting but not reading or understanding
• Regurgitating ideas of others - no original
  thought

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Information Access
Intellectual
Physical
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Students Need Information Literacy Skills
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Information Literacy happens when

• we set students free to explore information and
  ideas.
• we let them make decisions about how to use the
  information they have found.

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Information Literacy

• Ability to access and use information found in
  print and digital resources, and make it his own
  to create new knowledge
• Ability to manage information from all available
  sources-- internet, media, periodicals, books,
  CD-ROMs, subject matter experts

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Information Literacy

• A process
• A shift in thinking
• Vital to a students present and future success
• Students apply knowledge to impact their lives

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Information Literacy

• Students (and adults) are information managers
  and communicators who know how to manipulate vast
  amounts of information.

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Information is not knowledge!

• It becomes knowledge when the learner
• Uses information to create his own discrete
  insights
• Presents it effectively
• Draws own conclusions
• Uses Blooms higher order thinking skills
  throughout the process

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Students Use Information to

• Solve problems
• Apply information to real life situations
• Interact with information in meaningful ways
• Ask why and what if type questions

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Levels of Blooms Taxonomy Addressed through
Information Literacy

• knowledge
• comprehension
• application
• analysis
• synthesis
• evaluation

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An Effective User of Information

• Realizes the need for information
• Knows where to look for it
• Finds appropriate information in a variety of
  sources
• Makes critical decisions about authority,
  validity, currency, relevance
• Comprehends information gathered
• Synthesizes information to create new knowledge
• Evaluates the process and the final product
• (All addressed in Information Literacy Standards)

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Putting Information Literacy Skills to Work
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• Schools need to develop consistent approaches
• reinforced at all levels
• which move students towards
• a higher level of thinking
• beyond the simple act of finding information.
• Loertscher, David Reinventing Your Schools
  Library in the Age of Technology

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• The assignments and projects we give must change
  to reflect our information-rich society.

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To help students survive in the Information Age

• Focus on the process that students follow as they
  gather information.
• Change the assignments to require the use and
  application of higher order thinking skills.

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Focus on the Research Process

• Adopt an information problem-solving model like
  Big6 , Flip-it or IIM consistently across all
  curricular areas.

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Big6 developed by Mike Eisenberg and Bob
Berkowitz

• General approach to solving information problems
  and can be applied to any information problem
  situation
• A process to help students find their way
• Web site, workbooks, manuals, give workshops

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The Big6 Skills

• 1. Define your task.
• What do you need to know? How much info do you
  need?
• 2. Apply information-seeking strategies.
• Make lists of all places to get info
• List possible keywords to look up
• Read a basic encyclopedia article for overview,
  get definitions of terms.
• 3. Locate and access information.
• Get books, bookmark web sites, use online
  magazine articles, talk to people

• 4. Use the information.
• Read, highlight, eliminate sources,take notes
• 5. Synthesize the information.
• Organize notes, outline ideas,focus on most
  important data
• 6. Evaluate
• Look at rubrics, analyze how well you used your
  time, check to make sure you have all needed
  components

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• In conjunction with a information process model
• Utilize standardized note taking sheets, graphic
  organizers, for all research projects to help
  students organize and synthesize the information
  they find.
• Inspiration software KWHL sheets
• Note taking sheets FactFinder sheet

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• Teach students web evaluation skills
• Must be trained to look for authority, currency,
  accuracy, timeliness, relevance
• Require bibliographies or works cited references
  for all projects
• provide quick and easy access to bibliography
  samples and tools to create them.

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• Avoid teaching information skills which dont
  apply to a real assignment or project
  --meaningless when taught in isolation!)
• Like teaching swimming without going in the
  water!
• Give access to a wide variety of information
  sources. Encourage students to use a variety of
  resources to complete projects
• Let students alternate between print and
  non-print resources
• Solves problem of computer access and increases
  information literacy at the same time

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• Keep information sources and technology readily
  available, and in good working order
• Ensure that teachers as well as students are
  effective users of information
• Encourage collaboration
• Cross-curricular
• Teacher and LMS (strong partnership to develop
  information literacy skills

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• The Newest Issue Plagiarism
• Electronic data encourages new forms of
  undetectable and effortless plagiarism(CA)
• Information literate projects have the added
  advantage of reducing plagiarism
• What do we call it when a student copies
  information from an author?
• What do we call it when a student copies
  information from several authors?

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To prevent plagiarism

• Emphasize the processes involved
• Require proposals, outlines, drafts photocopies,
  print-outs of web sites, note sheets
• Require students to apply ideas not just describe
  them
• Require a reflection piece as part of
  assignment
• Give credit - Require bibliography or Works Cited

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New directions in teaching and learning

• Move away from simple one-dimensional reports
  or projects susceptible to cut and paste
• Discourage assignments that require
  regurgitation of information
• Introduce information resources as needed and
  teach by walking around.

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• Encourage the flow of information in many
  directions
• teacher to student
• student to student
• student to teacher
• allow students to compare, analyze, ask why and
  what-if kinds of questions
• involve sharing of project with class, school,
  community, world
• projects have relevance and purpose beyond
  handing in to single teacher for a grade.

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• New directions
• Students fully participate in the learning
  process (they are engaged learners)
• They interact with and make judgments about a
  variety of information sources
• They create a unique end product in which
  plagiarism is almost impossible

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Example

• Add your own example of a lesson here

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Applying skills to determine relevance
Detecting bias, opinion, propaganda
Using the right tool for the job
Information Skills Used
Conducting effective searches
Critically evaluating web sites
Citing sources properly
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Goal
create self-reliant, independent, lifelong
learners, skilled in using varied information
sources, who dont have to rely on others to
dispense information.