Today in class I was able to clearly break down the components of information literacy. These being, digital literacy, visual literacy and social literacy. Information literacy is often brought up when speaking about ICT, but I had not clearly separated all the parts of being information literate.
ALA’s defines information literate people as, ” those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. They are people prepared for lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed for any task or decision at hand.” (ALA, 1989) After reading today’s forum posts and ALA’s definition I know that technology skills continue to improve in education and technology will lead future learning. I think the ALA’s definition from twenty four years ago is still relevant and will be relevant in the future. The ways in which we teach information literacy will change again and again.
A question was asked, What are we teaching in information literacy? I think this completely depends on what stage the school is in in ICT. For those schools who are allowing students to use their own devices, have adequate resources, and the teachers are striving to be a step ahead with ICT than the technology will be used to aid students in “discovering” the curriculum. This should always be our goal. In order to achieve the goal, students have to learn the technology. This means learning how to use the device or software, or online search techniques.
The class discussions are inspiring, even though at times I am finding myself in information overload! For the first time in a class setting (where I was the student) I experienced having access to information at my fingertips. I love it! I can take so much more out of the limited time I have to be a student in class. For example a new idea or term comes up and BOOM, I can get a simple definition along with a good website bookmarked and tags. Digital citizenship came up. I could instantly find information about digital citizenship, and then be present in the discussion. If I didn’t have online access at that time there would be a good chance that I would continue guessing at what it really meant. By the time I got to a computer it would have probably been long forgotten. Digital citizenship is not a difficult concept to understand, but now that I have basic knowledge I am confident about using this term. When students have access to information like this and are information literate. I can relate to how much more confident they feel about their learning.
Don’t forget media literacy – although you can have media literacy in non-digital forms, most of our information is now coming from digital media outlets. I agree that the capacity to learn to learn is of premium value in knowledge-era societies. There is another aspect to giving students access to digital learning resources (devices, applications, infrastructure). When their learning becomes public, when their production of their learning, as knowledge-generation, becomes a published part of the Internet, their learning takes on new meaning. What would it mean to take all that human energy and potential that, at present, sits in classrooms for many hours a day, and turned it toward solving the most perplexing and challenging issues of humanity today? What if, at every age, students were being given a chance to make a difference in human discourse and solution finding? I guarantee these students are going to grow into active digital citizens.
Your comments mirror that of mine wrt bringing your own device (BYOD) and I know students who are permitted to use their laptops during class appreciate this connectivity and access. ‘Just in time learning’ has allowed for rapid pace learning and sharing (with it’s exponential implications) outside the traditional classroom, and if we weren’t so used to a system that is governed by ‘control’ (and being so polite as Canadians) our school system would have changed long ago! It sounds like you are embracing the ideals of this class by being active in our learning community and using digital media, which is leading to a deeper understanding of your concept of information literacy.
I think the question is how do we adapt/change our classrooms (even with baby steps) so that we meet the needs of our learners and fulfill our obligations to teach the curriculum? Inquiry learning (project based learning) using ICT seems to be the way to best prepare our students for today’s (tomorrow’s) society. Learning alongside our students allows us to model the process of learning with digital literacy in all its forms. With the new (proposed) changes to the curriculum, http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/transforming_curriculum.php we may be able to cut down on the PLOs allowing us to focus on the process of learning (thinking, communicating, personal and social connections etc).
“ those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. Do you feel that you are information literate? You mentioned that you feel that you can now access the information immediately in class when you need to. This sounds like a breakthrough to me as I am having trouble listening and responding to information with technology. My son said to me today” all you need to do is practice a little every day.! I believe students need the time to be familiar with their device and guidence to search and filter and present information.