Crossroads of Information Literacy, Technology, and Media
Info literacy, technology, and media intersect frequently.
The topic this week is Information literacy, technology, and media and how they are related . All of these rely on each other and come to crossroads frequently. For example, when teaching about information literacy, you have to involve technology because that’s where most information comes from. You also have to teach about how to discern fake news and real news in the media. All of those are intertwined and rely on each other. These are also iterative, so we need to practice these iterative processes starting in elementary school, and continue in middle and high school. This will prepare them for what is expected in college and beyond. The ALA document shows that the goal of higher education is to transition from novice learner to expert in a field and continue developing that expertise in the working world. That’s what K-12 teachers need to keep in mind: that becoming an expert in a field is the goal for each child, no matter what that field may be.
So, one might ask, “What day-to-day things can K-12 teachers do to teach kids about information literacy, technology, and media?” and “How can we prepare them to become an expert in their field?”
Teachers and librarians can…
- Incorporate ISTE standards into lessons.
- Display this diagram in their classrooms for a constant reminder for students.
- Discuss real news going on in the world. Is it fake? Is it not? How do you know?
- Use technology frequently. Most schools already do this, especially with the PLD movement (AKA Personalized Learning Devices, or one-to-one devices), however some teachers still do not use them frequently enough. Technology is the future, so we need students to use it now.
- Incorporate research frequently into class projects and assignments.
I like how the podcast said that media is similar to food nowadays not being good for our health. When you see a food that is unhealthy, you have a choice. You can eat it or not. The same goes with our information diet. If we see news that appears to be enticing, we do not have to consume it. We need to take ownership and say “This is not good for me” and try to consume healthy info calories. Just like food, just because news is in front of you (like a juicy cheeseburger...my personal favorite), you do not have to consume it. Man, it tastes good at the time, right? But in the long run, it’s unhealthy.
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| Unhealthy food calories are similar to unhealthy information calories. |
I’m sorry to admit that my own informational diet is not diverse at this point. It’s not even healthy. I do not take the responsibility to see out news from reputable sources. My news used to come from following the local news channel on my Facebook account, but now I do not even have this. However, I do have a reason for this. On my news feed, I only saw bad news. Not just bad news such as taxes are increasing. I’m talking about terrible news involving child and animal abuse. I chose to not even read those articles, but even just the headlines would resonate in my head over and over. I’m a mother of four and a dog owner and animal lover. These things would bother me so much and would upset me. I became so fed up with this that I just blocked all news on my Facebook.. I know I need to charge this and I am glad that this week we addressed this . As a media specialist, my job will be teaching these three things highlighted this week: information literacy, technology, and media. How could I do this without being information literate myself ? So how can I change my information diet without being consumed by terrible news? I made a short list of goals that I’d like to accomplish.
My personal goals for a better information diet:
1.Don’t rely on news on Facebook . It tends to get sensationalized and they mainly show bad things that will get a lot of shares.
2. Get news from the actual news on TV or their website. This way, I will see a full range of news: local, state, national, international, good, bad, etc. The news that posts on my Facebook news feed does not allow me to see this variety. Therefore, everything seems bad.
3. Talk about the news with my husband and friends. It’s good practice to know where I stand on certain issues.
References:
Association of Colleges and Research Libraries. (2015, February 2). Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Retrieved from
Gungor, M. (host). (2017, March 7). The Liturgists[Audio podcast]. Retrieved
Partnership for 21st Century Learning. (2015, May). Framework for 21st Century Learning. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/P21_framework_0515.pdf
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