Blog Post #2
Three books in between over the ears headphones.
Information Literacy, Technology, and Digital/Media
In today’s age, we are constantly being inundated with information. Everywhere we look, no matter if it is in the real world or digital world, there is information that we must decode and analyze. The concepts of information literacy, technology, and digital/media intersect in various ways. In a way these concepts depend on and impact each other. Information literacy, or lack thereof it, impacts the usage of technology and the interactions on the digital and media realms. Another impact of these interactions is the types of media consumed. The types of media consumed could be impacted by the level of information literacy of a person or student. P21 uses four key words to aid in their definition of information literacy. These words are access, evaluate, use, and manage (The Partnership for 21st Century Learning, 2015). Each of these words require action and careful consideration on the user’s end. To be information literate, you must have the necessary technology, digital, and media skills or literacies. For example, the Big6 Skills depends on people already having proficient computer and information technology skills. Without these skills, it might be hard to go through the information problem solving skills presented by Big6. To aid in these skills and literacies, Common Sense Media presents solutions.
Common Sense Media’s website is filled with a wide variety of resources ranging from lessons, games, and toolkits to teach students get engaged and make a change. These lessons combine information literacy, technology, and digital/media to show students how to navigate and analyze information as well as media of all types. One great aspect of the lessons provided is how they are divided by grade level. This means the conversation about these topics can start early and be appropriate for each age level. Ideas that are introduced in kindergarten and the elementary grades are tied into the higher-level lessons. For example, media balance is a core topic that is introduced in kindergarten but revisited in each grade level in appropriate and engaging ways. In the kindergarten lesson there is an adorable and catchy song that discusses balancing inside time on a device and outside play time. In the 6th grade lesson, the same terms of balance are used, but new terms are introduced to help find balance in a different way. Two important terms that are introduced are red flag feelings and digital habits.
When it comes down to it, the P21 Framework for 21st Century Learning hits the nail on the head when they say, “effective citizens and workers must be able to exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills” (p. 2). This is what all the resources from this module aim to do. Using these resources strategically can help develop these vital functional critical thinking skills.
Information Diet
The reflection pieces and learning from the Common Sense Media resources and lessons allow for students and educators alike to seriously think about the information that they take in. Personally, I prefer to listen or watch my news and other information. I like to have visuals to go along with the news that I watch. Occasionally I will read articles that I see on social media, but when I do that, I try to find multiple articles about the same topic or event. I do this through the news that I watch on TV and other online sources. Growing up, my parents taught me to not simply trust the first thing that I hear or read, so I have always kept a healthy skepticism when viewing any information. With the way that the news and information is spread so quickly nowadays, it is vital more than ever to keep a healthy skepticism. While listening to the podcast for this module, I felt reaffirmed about my habits in terms of my information diet. The following video that I found on Common Sense Media is extremely useful to show others and nicely summarizes the main topics within the podcast.
Librarians must have healthy information habits to share those skills with their patrons. I am a firm believer in practice what you preach, and this is especially true for librarians and information. Also, librarians must do their best to put their personal biases aside and be impartial when it comes to the information they take in. Leaning into biases could translate into how you help or lead your patrons. This would not align with the values of our profession. We are leaders and must be good examples of information habits to our patrons.
References
The Partnership for 21st Century Learning. (2015, May). P21 Framework Definitions.
The Partnership for 21st Century Learning. (2016, January). Framework for
21st Century Learning. https://static.battelleforkids.org/documents/p21/P21_framework_0816_2pgs.pdf
21st Century Learning. https://static.battelleforkids.org/documents/p21/P21_framework_0816_2pgs.pdf
Gisele Butler
ReplyDeleteCaroline, I enjoyed your post. The Commonsense video, Media Balance Is Important, I would love to show all the elementary parents in the world. It would be great to find a way to share this video on Meet the Teacher night or at the open house. The information from Social Media: Is Your Breaking News Broken? is another good source that could be used in higher learning classrooms. I am not quick to post or read just anything and often wish others that I know wouldn’t be so quick to share information before sending, so that I didn’t have to do the fact-check and then tell them, hey you might want to delete that because that is false information.
I agree that one's knowledge of technology has a direct correlation with one's information literacy. I find it so sad and disheartening when scammers use interfaces, phone numbers or websites that look real to scam people, especially the elderly. I personally feel that there is not enough being done to prevent the elderly from being scammed by what they see on TV and what they see on the Internet. I wish the public library would go beyond offering basic computer classes and think about offering classes on how to be more discerning of sources on the internet and in other media. I also think school libraries could offer family digital literacy nights where they make parents and families more aware of trends in scams and disinformation on the Internet. I think that families would be very appreciative, especially since even I was not aware of some of the trends in mis/disinformation mentioned in the School Library Journal.
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