Information Literacy Helps Us Fight Data Smog
In my previous post on Mobile Learning, I mentioned the importance of teaching information literacy to students. I thought you might enjoy this video/slide show that describes the elements of Information Literacy in more detail. To me Information Literacy equals the skills and ability to filter through and discern what’s good and what’s not from all the information we’re fed as well as be able to find things from the right places. The ACRL site (Association of Colleges and Research Libraries) defines an information literate person as someone who has “learned how to learn.” It’s true that we’ve always needed information literacy skills and to some extent we’re taught them in the form of how to look up information and research in libraries, but we aren’t formally taught how to sift through the internet.
Understandably, in this day and age where we’re potentially exposed to an apparently infinite amount of info via the internet these skills are even more important. I guess if you think of it, back in the day (say more than 50 years ago) it might have been easier to trust only things that were in print. After all, they had to go through a publisher.
The video I’ve embedded in this post reviews the principals of Information Literacy. Perhaps teaching today’s students to put these basics into rigorous practice should be the first step we take in developing a generation of truly accomplished life-long learners.
Information Literacy Principles:
- D – Define
- I – Inquire
- S – Search
- C – Collect
- O – Organize
- V – Verify
- E – Express
- R -Reflect
Video from University of Mary Washington
[...] What Is Information Literacy? [...]