The Alchemist's Blog

Defining a Virtual Learning Space for our students

Harry Pence | 13 April, 2006 14:20

I recently read the following description of a podcast on the new information literacy. It sounds as though it is in the direction I would like to follow, so I will link to it.

The link is:

Teaching information literacy: Who’s teaching the teachers?

Posted: 07 Apr 2006 08:12:27 +0000

Ewan McIntosh
University of Stirling, Scotland
http://edu.blogs.com

For many educators, “information literacy” is just another buzzword with little meaning for their day-to-day teaching and the learning of their students. So far, it’s fallen to IT departments and librarians to teach students the intricacies of university email systems or library catalogs.

Information literacy in the 21st century, however, is less about technicalities and more about the way we teach. Students learn in the classroom and outside it. (emphasis added!)

Social software has created new ways to seek information. Less relevant today is the official reading list and the subsequent frustration when paper books and journals are not in stock. Far more relevant are the decisions formerly taken by the educator but now transferred to the students to make. It this viable information I’m looking at? How can I turn it into useful knowledge? How can I gain a greater wisdom in my subject? Knowing where to find knowledge and how to interpret it is where information literacy comes in.

This screencast will explore some of the reasons why these skills are not being taught as well or as often as perhaps they should be. If taught, and not just caught, skills in exploiting social software can help student and teachers make better judgement on information and opinion and turn this into valuable knowledge. If caught, and caught wrongly, social software can lead to false information, narrow scope and less rigor.