2. Information and Digital Literacy
The information overload within our society is a critical reason why users must have a strong background in information and digital literacies. Information literacy is discovering and understanding how information is produced and valued, then taking that information to create new knowledge (2016). Digital literacies, a subset of information literacy, encompasses the individual's ability to learn how to use and understand the technology and digital platforms. Information and digital literacies are intertwined in today's society more than ever.
My personal information diet centers on digital information more than print. When searching for a recipe, lesson plan, news article, or even a photo of my children, a digital application is the first thing I open. With a click of a button, I can access any information I want. The advantage of this concept is that users can gain knowledge at the point of need, but the disadvantage quickly sets in if the user takes all information at face value. School librarians must understand the authority, basis, and misrepresentations of some information provided and know how to caution themselves and check against these. Mostly, I tend to follow the "if it is too good to be true, it probably is" mentality and then fact-check the information, like suggestions from The Liturgists Podcast (Gungor, 2017). Do our students, though? Do they possess the skills to understand?
The School Library Journal used the term
"truthiness" when talking about new literacy in an article by Joyce
Valenza (2016). Anytime we open a book or visit a site, we must find and determine
the truthfulness of what our eyes see and read. There is no magic button to
tell us whether the information provided is real or fake. So, information and
digital literacy integration into school curricula are vital to the success of
our student's information diet. As school librarians, we must follow the AASL
and ITSE standards, or the Framework for Higher education. These documents were
created to guide librarians in assisting students in becoming information
literate and helping create expert information seekers for the future.
Great Resources for School Librarians:
Common Sense Education offers librarians and educators free lesson plans ranging from kindergarten to high school on various aspects of digital/media literacy covered in the standards and framework mentioned above.
FACTITIOUS! is a free online game that students can
play individually or as a class to see if they can spot fake news stories.
References
Association of College and Research Libraries. (2016, January 11). Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Chicago, Illinois. https://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/issues/infolit/framework1.pdf
Gungor, M. [Host]. (2007, March 7). Fake news & media literacy. [Audio podcast episode]. In The Liturgists. https://theliturgists.com/fake-news-media-literacy-podcast-page/
Valenza, J. (2016, November 26). Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a "post-truth" world. Neverending Search. https://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2016/11/26/truth-truthiness-triangulation-and-the-librarian-way-a-news-literacy-toolkit-for-a-post-truth-world/
It is true that there is no easy way to determine truthfulness. This is why the school librarian's role in helping students develop skills to evaluate information is so important. School librarians can help students to learn how to discern bias, validity, and reliability, so that they are equipped to accurately and independently evaluate information.
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DeleteMy information diet is also majority digital. When I was in school I feel like there was a much larger focus on print materials and the digital was just glossed over. I feel like with the amount of digital information that is out there, students should be taught how to discern specifically digital information. Great blog post, I look forward to reading more.
ReplyDeleteI also appreciated the resources found within Common Sense Education. They have so many excellent lessons for students of all ages to help them learn digital media literacy skills. The Liturgists Podcast was also very interesting to listen to this week. I thought it was timely for our culture because media and digital information has taken over the way we consume news, info, and research. We must be able to discern real news from fake news, and uncover bias and find accountability.
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