Chapter 5: Teaching Information Literacy and Digital Citizenship

Chapter 5: Teaching Information Literacy and Digital Citizenship

3 Concepts:

1) Teaching Students About Internet Searching

        In the past, people could use different search engines to look up all types of information. A person would type in a keyword or phrase and the “most reliable” information would pop up. Unfortunately, advertisers and webpage creators found ways to use materials that would fool a search engine into ranking their website higher than others. Now-a-days, Google has helped to eliminate this problem by sorting websites based on reliability, popularity, and whether or not it is cross-listed with other sites. Google provides numerous tools that benefit both teachers and students. Search education is a link that teaches students how to use the Google search engine.

       The following website is great for using lesson plans to teach students how to use Google Search.

http://www.google.com/insidesearch/searcheducation/lessons.html

        This lesson plan provides videos and “how-to” instructions for different lesson ideas. I personally liked the lesson on determining credibility of a source. The lesson talks about trusting your instincts and looking for information that shows whether or not the source is truly credible.

       Google also provides a tool called Picasa which allows students to find, edit, and share information online. This is useful for PowerPoint Presentations. Google also provides a tool called Blogger. I am using this tool to display my Digital Badge assignment. I think it would be great because students can use the blogger to submit journals, book reviews, and personal opinions on articles they searched using Google.

       This chapter also discusses search sites that are designed for students. Media specialists are great about locating these search tools/apps that students can also use safely at home.

2) Evaluating Online Information

      It is important for all internet users to understand what information is valid and what is not. It must be explained that anyone has the power to create their own site and use their own information – regardless if it is true or not. This is why it is important to find websites that are edited and approved by experts. There are 4 different strategies use to control and manage the information that might be suggestive: censorship, filtering software, partitions, and labels.

     Censorship eliminates materials such as websites or books banning them from a school. Filtering software is a required tool for federally funded schools that blocks materials from computers based on their keywords or phrases. A partition is filtering information by providing restricted access through certain pages. Labels are classifications that give ratings on sites to provide a standard of safe material for children. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia with a worldwide collection of users and editors. What is scary is that literally anyone can edit the information and make it untrue. Teachers can eliminate the use of finding wrong information by comparing Wikipedia to other online encyclopedias. Explaining that other encyclopedias are updated and edited by scholars will allow students to see the difference in credibility.  The main criteria that should be evaluated for web resources include: accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage.

3) Responsibilities for Digital Citizens

            It is important for educators to teach their students how to act as proper digital citizens. This is a broad term describing how to use technology appropriately. This could include: using social networks safely, citing sources, and preventing plagiarism. Many schools have adopted the Acceptable Use Policies (AUP) which states the rules of technology use and the consequences if the rules are broken. Copyright is a legal protection of a person’s creative work and cannot be used without the permission of the original creator. Fair use is a term that allows teachers and students to use limited amounts of copyright materials for educational and research purposes. Plagiarism is a term used when someone directly copies another person’s work and acts as if it their own. Cheating is a term used when technology is used without permission before or during a test to share information for themselves or for others to do well on a test.

         There are 3 factors that contribute to plagiarism and cheating in school: the web, high-stakes testing, and incorrect assumptions by students. There are websites that teachers may use if they want to check for plagiarism. Turnitin.com is one of the popular sites that teachers use for this. The best way to eliminate plagiarism is to stress citation ethics, emphasize essential questions, assess student progress during research process, and create assignments that can’t be easily plagiarized.

Conclusion:

          This was an important chapter to read before teaching students how to use technology in the classroom. One of my favorite parts of this chapter was the terminology of different internet information terms. For example, misinformation is the false, out of date, or misleading information on the internet. 

          Malinformation is the information that might be suggestive or inappropriate for internet users to see. The students can use a role-play activity that demonstrates each group of students reporting on the same topic. This will allow students to see the difference in generation of similar material on the same topic. Showing students how to be responsible digital citizens is important to practice their technology use, practice safety habits, and to demonstrate how to properly share information they have found on the internet. I also liked the strategies to eliminate plagiarism and cheating in the classroom. This will help to show students that we want them to take credibility for their own work and how to correctly display someone else’s work by properly citing and acknowledging them.