What are your thoughts after reading about the term literacy? Write a definition of literacy and add it to your notes.
My definition of literacy
The ability to understand knowledge and information regardless of the information context and the ability to apply and use this information in a shifting and interchanging environment.
Do new formats and delivery modes or multi-modal resources require users to have different literacy skills to make meaning or is this just an extension of the traditional literacy definition above?
Yes & no. I think, especially with the traditional sense of literacy being viewed as just words and numbers, there is definitely room to still include these in the definition – however, I cannot say that a student would be truly literate if he/she was not literate in several different areas of literacy at once. You cannot have one without the other. They require many different skills and techniques in order to create meaning and understanding and can be catalysts.
Discussions of information literacy in this module are diverse and interesting. In your journal (Thinkspace), reflect on what you can take from the discussion of information literacy to your IL role in school.
I dont believe that teachers realize that the information literacy does not come naturally to many students. this could be due to number of factors
- the lowering of traditional literacy skills (Pesutto 2019)
- the complex information contexts students currently find themselves in
- the inclusion of digital information and technologies that makes information so readily available – but not viable.
My role as the current TL at my school is that of resource manager ( being pregnant and on a half load of HSC classes hasn’t exactly made me particularly productive). Coming from a background in both Design and Technologies as well as Information software technologies, i believe that I am one of the few teachers at my school who has witnessed first hand the snaffling behavior described by Coombs (2009) and the lack of ability in students to utilize digital technologies efficiently. Because so much of the landscape of information now is so readily avaiable online, it is imperitive that skills in both information literacy and digital literacy are heavily fostered – a role that should be shared by TLs and teachers collaboratlively
it is the role of teacher librarian to introduce and foster these skills but also encourage and provide support to teachers to ensure that these skills are reinforced in the classroom and are not taught as “one off” lessons every fortnight – a model used in many schools.
References
Naplan Results Brought Good News and Bad
John Pesutto – https://www.smh.com.au/national/naplan-results-brought-good-news-and-bad-20190830-p52mgx.html – retreived 12/09/2019
Combes, B. (2009). Generation Y: Are they really digital natives or more like digital refugees? Synergy, 7(1).
