What does information literacy and technology
mean for you as a teacher?
While information is helpful, resources specifically within the field of education is practical and necessary in order to visualize the concept. This section provides resources to aid educators in understanding information literacy and technology by providing examples of how districts and individual teachers are implementing it into their curriculum. Also included are websites to help teachers teach information literacy and technology, as well as resources to assist students in developing information literacy and technology skills.
This document is a copy of the information literacy and technology plan issued by Denver Public Schools (DPS). The document specifies that achieving the standards within the document is the responsibility of all teachers, administrators, and technology and media specialists within the Denver school system. The information literacy and technology proficiencies included in this document were invented as a way to ensure that all educators and students are efficient users of technology, information, and literacy tools. DPS has broken information literacy into sub-categories and have set the goal of transforming students to be efficient information and technology users, responsible citizens, knowledgeable constructors, quality producers, and multi-faceted, creative, and well-rounded users. DPS has created this intricate guide in order to help students fit into today's global world where information is readily available at our fingertips, but there is also a plethora of information to sift through. The competencies in the information literacy and technology plan are outlined as a support for the DPS staff to teach digital literacy in a way that will enhance and add to the core standards which they are already teaching. The standards outline what students should be able to do from preschool through fifth grade in the area of information literacy and technology. Students are taken through multiple areas of information technology such as computer operations, copyright and plagiarism, evaluation of information, as well as the research process in their journey to information literacy.
This is a great website for providing an example of how information literacy and technology skills should progress throughout elementary school. It also shows the skills on a continuum so, as a teacher, you can look at what skills students should develop before they get to you, what skills you should be teaching in your own grade, and what skills you will be preparing students to develop after they leave your classroom. This is a quality website if you want to explore how one school system quantified and implemented the key ideas of information literacy and technology into their elementary classrooms.
This is a great website for providing an example of how information literacy and technology skills should progress throughout elementary school. It also shows the skills on a continuum so, as a teacher, you can look at what skills students should develop before they get to you, what skills you should be teaching in your own grade, and what skills you will be preparing students to develop after they leave your classroom. This is a quality website if you want to explore how one school system quantified and implemented the key ideas of information literacy and technology into their elementary classrooms.
Lacina, J. "Learning to read and write using the internet: Sites you don't want to miss!" Childhood Education 83.2 (2007): 117-9. ProQuest. Web. 15 July 2013.
Jan Lacina focuses on how children today are being exposed to technology at a much younger age than in the past. Lacina explains that modern day students need to learn not only how to read on paper but how to “read” the web as well. The Internet offers numerous benefits to reading and writing. First, students can access a great variety of literature online that they would otherwise have a difficult time accessing. This allows students to feel a sense of ownership and enjoyment in their choices. Reading on the Internet also allows students to start and grow their own global learning network, expanding their worldview and access to information. These skills are essential for today’s working world and learning to adapt to the infusion of technology in their future workplace.
Lacina continues to list and provide applicable websites to help teachers integrate technology in their reading, writing, and communicating curriculum. Since this article was written in 2007 some of the links are outdated and not working, but the majority are and annotations are still accurate. It is a good comprehensive list for a place for teachers to start.
Lacina continues to list and provide applicable websites to help teachers integrate technology in their reading, writing, and communicating curriculum. Since this article was written in 2007 some of the links are outdated and not working, but the majority are and annotations are still accurate. It is a good comprehensive list for a place for teachers to start.
Trotter, A. (2009). Tech literacy confusion: What should you measure?. Education Week, 2(3), 20-22.
Andrew Trotter's article suggests the idea of being literate as no longer being achieved only through pencil and paper because the definition of literacy has changed. The reason that the definition has changed is because many forms of communication today are digital, and not limited to print. Trotter advises educators to incorporate the new meanings of being literate, such as introducing social networking tools like Facebook, into writing lessons or computer simulation technology situations. Some also argue that besides introducing new forms of reading and writing, the new 21st century definition of literacy should include internet safety, digital citizenship, and cyberbullying.
Trotter explains that the push to institute more literacy building technologies has come from the efforts of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB mandated that states help their students become more technologically literate in addition to other literacies. This federal law then allowed private companies to develop technologies, mostly to improve literacy in lower elementary grades, who then began to sell their technologies to school districts nationwide.
The final part of the article looks to the future of literacy and technology in education. Trotter shares that some experts are suggesting and/or proposing adding a technology literacy test to state tests across the nation, while others are suggesting that state testing be completed online only, which will help reduce time and costs for states. This, however, is a limited view, as it does not take into account the socio-economic factors that will create a bigger gap in the performance of students in the country.
The article brings up some good points as to the definition of literacy and how it has changed. However, the article first talks about improving literacy using technology in education and then changes the content of the article to cover “students becoming technologically literate.” These are two completely different topics that while they are equally important, Trotter forgets to incorporate the how.
Andrew Trotter's article suggests the idea of being literate as no longer being achieved only through pencil and paper because the definition of literacy has changed. The reason that the definition has changed is because many forms of communication today are digital, and not limited to print. Trotter advises educators to incorporate the new meanings of being literate, such as introducing social networking tools like Facebook, into writing lessons or computer simulation technology situations. Some also argue that besides introducing new forms of reading and writing, the new 21st century definition of literacy should include internet safety, digital citizenship, and cyberbullying.
Trotter explains that the push to institute more literacy building technologies has come from the efforts of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB mandated that states help their students become more technologically literate in addition to other literacies. This federal law then allowed private companies to develop technologies, mostly to improve literacy in lower elementary grades, who then began to sell their technologies to school districts nationwide.
The final part of the article looks to the future of literacy and technology in education. Trotter shares that some experts are suggesting and/or proposing adding a technology literacy test to state tests across the nation, while others are suggesting that state testing be completed online only, which will help reduce time and costs for states. This, however, is a limited view, as it does not take into account the socio-economic factors that will create a bigger gap in the performance of students in the country.
The article brings up some good points as to the definition of literacy and how it has changed. However, the article first talks about improving literacy using technology in education and then changes the content of the article to cover “students becoming technologically literate.” These are two completely different topics that while they are equally important, Trotter forgets to incorporate the how.
This website is intended to help teachers in explaining copyright law to their students. It includes five copyright lessons that teachers can follow. These lessons allow students to share what they already know about copyright law, see how and why copyright laws came into being, learn about fair use, and examine how to use materials created by others appropriately. Students achieve these goals by collaborating with others, participating in group discussions, role play situations, and class projects. There are also handouts to accompany each of the five 60 minute lessons on teaching and abiding copyright laws. These handouts include quizzes, a law and technology timeline, worksheets, fact sheets, as well as a glossary of terms. This curriculum resource is free, flexible, interactive, and it focuses on fostering reading, writing, and research, and critical thinking skills. By using these lessons, students have the opportunity to learn what is legal on the internet, how they can use their creativity in the context of copyright laws, and what their rights and responsibilities are when using digital technologies. This resource will help build information literacy skills of students.
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.