What is information literacy?
Information literacy has several major components. First and foremost, a person must be able to identify that there is a need for more information in order to solve a particular problem. Then they must be able to find the correct sources, evaluate the validity and credibility of the sources, and efficiently use the information to solve the problem at hand. In the digital world that we live in, where an overwhelming amount of information can be found with the click of a button, you can see that this information literacy becomes a very important topic. Information literacy spans all subject areas and grade levels. It is a skill that can be utilized at school, at home, and in the workplace.
In order to successfully integrate information literacy into any setting, the following steps are necessary. These steps do not need to be done in order, nor do all projects need to contain all seven steps. However, all students should be practicing and learning how to effectively complete each of the following components of information literacy.
In order to successfully integrate information literacy into any setting, the following steps are necessary. These steps do not need to be done in order, nor do all projects need to contain all seven steps. However, all students should be practicing and learning how to effectively complete each of the following components of information literacy.
- Define: Decide what is the question or problem that you are seeking answers to.
- Access: Use print and electronic resources to search for and locate resources that pertain to your particular topic.
- Evaluate: Look at the resources that you have found with a critical eye. Are they relevant? Are they reliable resources? Are they unbiased resources? Do they pertain to the question that you defined or the topic that you have outlined?
- Manage: Organize the information so that you can find it and use each resource when you need it.
- Integrate: Pick relevant information from each resource, and put all the information together in order to draw a conclusion.
- Create: Sum up the information that you have found in order to fit the needs that you defined. This may take the form of sharing an opinion, depicting an event, endorsing a position, backing up a viewpoint, etc.
- Communicate: Present the information that you have found to others.
The image above is a replication found on the website before. It was replicated in order to produce a non-pixelated version of the image for the purpose of this project.
Information Literacy Skills | National Forum on Information Literacy. (n.d.).National Forum on Information Literacy. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from http://infolit.org/information-literacy-projects-and-programs/
Information Literacy Skills | National Forum on Information Literacy. (n.d.).National Forum on Information Literacy. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from http://infolit.org/information-literacy-projects-and-programs/
Please continue to explore our website to find out more about information literacy and technology in the following areas:
This website was created for the Exploring Key Topics in Tech and Ed assignment for Michigan State University's Master of Arts in Education Technology. It was created by the group More Techie Than You, of which its members are Jenna Ewend, Jeff Fisher, Annie Kim, and Diana Peters.
Jenna Ewend
@ewendjen http://jennaewend.wordpress.com/ Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Clinton, Iowa |
Jeffrey Fisher
@jfishtech http://jfishtech.wordpress.com Secondary Social Studies Teacher Camden, Michigan |
Annie Kim "Sytsma"
@MsAnnieKim http://anniekim23.wordpress.com Secondary English & Psychology Teacher Cedar Springs, Michigan |