I have always believed that there was more to be learned than what came from a textbook. My children were part of several experiential classrooms, some worked, some didn't. I also found that one children thrived in a particular setting and her sibling did not, therefore I reached the conclusion that different types of curriculum affect children differently. (Now that's a novel idea!) It has taken me almost 20 years to understand the process behind this groundbreaking idea of mine.
In my exploration of resources during my collegiate career I have gained a new appreciation for virtual resources. Resources can be good, but they can also be bad. They are not uniform in their value and there is no concievable way to support the position that virtual resources are a "must" or an "only" resource to use.
What opportunities for the development of information literacy skills for students if they began to learn without textbooks?
As I participated in the Library Science Curriculum in my undergraduate program I learned about information literacy. While I have always been prone to question information I knew that there were many who did not. I am reminded of the commercial that quips, "It was on the internet, it has to be true." The girl believes that her internet boyfriend is a French model, when he is obviously not.
Through the utilization of virtual resources in support of text books or in some cases, in place of, students have the opportunity to verify sources, learn bibliographic skills, gain technical skills in keyboarding and specialized programming, and they learn to be adaptable to new technology.
Hows does these articles change or support your stance on using Wikipedia as learning resources in the classroom?
I still believe that Wikipedia can be used in collaboration with a text, or as a supplemental to a classroom environment. There is valuable information contained within the Wikipedia environment that is easily accessible and provides a starting point for additional research.
As always there is a certain amount of due diligence required on the part of the teacher to ensure that students are verifying and questioning, that they are in fact authenticating the information that they are being presented. The girl in the commercial could actually attempt to engage her "French" boyfriend in conversation, but I suspect that the only French he knows is the "bon jour," he says to her friend. Students need to learn to question what they are told and to verify independently whether it be online, in print, or even what they are seeing with their own eyes.
Find an image that relates to information literacy and schooling.Embed the image in your blog and provide proper attribution.
This image is a good starting point, but I think I would want to dress it a little bit to make effective to be used with students.
Ecclestone, M. (2009, May 23). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://meghanecclestone.com/2009/05/23/information-literati/
Jane, these old eyes need a bigger font, please. Thank you
ReplyDeleteI found that if you press "ctrl +" it zooms in to make it larger and easier to read. ;-)
DeleteI agree that Wikipedia can be a great starting point for additional research and students do need to learn how to verify and authenticate information resources.
ReplyDeleteI like the image that you chose. It is just a reminder that like any resource, there can be false information, but that doesn't mean that we need to label all internet info "bad."
ReplyDeleteI liked your image too, a bunch of my students think that if something is on the internet, it must be true. We can work as educators to make sure that they understand how to fact check and why this is important. Great image!
ReplyDeleteI like Jane's focus on the balance between print a digital resources.
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