I love the Ken Robinson changing paradigms video. I remember using this video on one of my blog post early in my Teacher Librarian journey. Back then, I was fortunate to see Mr Robinson in the flesh at EduTech and he was just as enigmatic at the presentation as in the viral short.
I believe one of the key drivers for change in the library sense is that recognition of future-focused skills being integral to our students. This has shifted the way that we teach and TLs are so fortunate to have such flexibility to be able to support and resource these needs effectively ( Fillipi 2016). In 203, the ALIA published a paper describing the key features of a future focussed library, It states that the key areas impacting the changing educational environment included
- Globalisation that allows for collaborative engagement
- Rapid Technology innovation and its impact on teaching and learning
- The impact of teacher librarians on student literacy and learning
- supporting teachers through developing digital literacy skills
- Acknowledging and incorporating 21st century learning goal
It also mentions that TL’s are key figures in creating knowledge building environments – being the key stakeholders in consolidating emerging digital literacy with a deep appreciation of literature ( ALIA 2012 pg 10). It is interesting to note, that even though this paper was published over 10 years ago, that it still rings true for todays TL. Teacher librarians are poised to be changemakers in their school environment – often sought for advice and given many of the managerial role and responsibilities similar to a head teacher (Lupton 2016). TL’s are very well adept at recognising future trends and how they can utilized to improve ;earning outcome – this is one of the main reasons I chose to retrain – I could see the future and we were doing nothing about it! However, the key factors of success in this is how well the TL role is understood and how well it is supported – Without support from upper management, a TL falls to the risk of becoming the typical stereotype. (Lupton 2016).
The prevalence of misinformation in our everyday world is described as having in incredibly threat to our way of life ( Buckmaster 2018) TL’s are at the frontlines of this battle (Paor & Haravi 2020) Fake news provides an incredible opportunity for libraries to remind the community of one their primary functions – To create and provide reliable and quality information ( Conner 2019). A key driver for change in a school environment could simply be encouraging the use of whole school information literacy – by providing simple, easy to sue resources that can be easily implemented into curriculum.
One thing I discovered recently that I plan to implement at my school is the S.I.F.T Method of evaluating sources. SIFT is a new technique developed specifically for quickly evaluating digital information (Caulfield 2019) There is even a mini course you can do to quickly learn the four moves.
SIFT is a great starting point to help students very quickly sort through vast amount so of information. It can be used in conjunction with CRAAP (Caulfield 2021). Waitiki District Libraries has a great brochure that illustrates the process really well. The SIFT method encourages students to STOP and read laterally to ensure that surges are, in fact, legitimate. Unlike the CRAAP method, it is less in depth and helps to quickly decide if a source is worth further investigation ( Arizona state 2022).
references ( will fix later)
Fillipi https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/media/documents/Future-focused-learning-step-forward-and-lead-by-example.pdf
Sullivan, M. Connor. “Why Librarians Can’t Fight Fake News.” Journal of Librarianship and
Information Science 51, no. 4 (2019): 1146-156.
https://libguides.asu.edu/evaluate#:~:text=How%20to%20evaluate%20your%20sources,-SIFT%20Method&text=SIFT%20stands%20for%20stop%2C%20investigate,evaluation%20using%20the%20CRAAP%20test.
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook46p/FakeNews
Saoirse De Paor, Bahareh Heravi,
Information literacy and fake news: How the field of librarianship can help combat the epidemic of fake news, The Journal of Academic Librarianship, Volume 46, Issue 5, 2020
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0099133320301099)
https://hapgood.us/2019/06/19/sift-the-four-moves/
lupton – https://www.iasl-online.org/resources/Documents/05luptonfinalformatted49-61.pdf
