Tag Archives: information

Forum 5.1 Information Literacy – What I have learnt so far…

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Open book with random letters floating off open pages
Open book with random letters floating off open pages

Mediamodifier / Pixabay

The new formats and delivery modes or multi-modal resources do not require users to have different literacy skills, but do require extensions of the traditional literacy definitions.

The National Secretariat for the International Year of Literacy (1990) stated the “the goal is an active literacy, which allows people to use language to enhance their capacity to think, create and question, in order to participate effectively in society” (School of Information Studies, 2017, p. 1).  I believe this statement could have been written at any stage in history.  Literacy has not changed, but society, through technology has.  The fundamental skills of reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing and understanding evolve with society.  Technology has changed how information is shared, the fundamental skills to interpret, process and use information effectively in this changing complex world essentially have not.

The world we and our students live in is more culturally and ethnically diverse than ever.  This does not mean we need different skills, but a deeper understanding of how context affects the way we process information and use it effectively in the various multi-modal methods available to us.  Throughout time there has always been variance in how language is used in context to different situations and method of delivery.   The expanding nature that technology is playing on methods of information transfer just means that we as a society need to have an understanding of the context we are in.  An example of this is having students understand the ‘netiquette’ rules may be different when emailing a teacher compared to a friend and writing your assignment in ‘netlish’ is not an appropriate use of language in that situation.

Our definitions of literacy and the literacy skills that we teach need to be seen as evolving concepts, not static, if they are going to prepare our students for the world of tomorrow.

School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University (2017). Introduction to teacher librarianship, semester 1 Module 5 (ETL401). Wagga Wagga: Charles Sturt University.

Forum 4.1 Are the acquisition of 21st century skills and the focus on accountability mutually exclusive?

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NO the acquisition of 21st Century skills and the focus on accountability are not mutually exclusive.  Of course we can develop the skills required for the 21st century and sill have accountability.  We need to have accountability in any system, the problem is what is done with the information gained from the tests we are currently using and what abilities are not reflected in these tests.  I feel as a both parent and a teacher that often the information is misused.  We have parents who started selecting schools based on lead tables and results from standardised tests.  Schools that started using standardised tests, such as NAPLAN, as a means of screening potential students.  This, I believe, has led to many schools teaching to the test or screening students out of tests to improve their results which in fact are skewing the data, and it’s not what the test results should be used for.

 

As the cartoon in Bruce Stewart’s reply shows one test cannot give an accurate depiction of a student’s ability.  It brought to my mind Howard Gardiner Multiple Intelligence Theory and a quote that is often attributed to him “it is not how smart you are; but how you are smart”.  Learners in the 21st century have the opportunity to respond creatively, collaboratively and exercise problem solving skills through inquiry based learning that will allow them to construct meaning and develop 21st century skills.  How we assess our accountability in this process is hard to measure quantitatively, but I feel is still necessary.

(Stewart, 2017)

Education System (Stewart, 2017)

 

 

Stewart, B. (2017, April 10). Forum 4.1 [Online discussion group]. Retrieved from https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&forum_id=_84756_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_42098_1&course_id=_23912_1&message_id=_1116816_1#msg__1116816_1Id

Forum 2.2 – Information Society

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globe with gold lights
globe with gold lights

geralt / Pixabay

Information Society is as hard to define as information itself.  Webster (2014) describes it as a concept with multiple definitions changing according to the perspective we approach it from:  Technological; Economic; Occupational; Spatial; or Cultural.  Like information, it is constantly evolving according to our needs and wants.  The relationship between the information society and information is symbiotic as the society changes to meet our information needs (demands) and these solutions (supply) continue to fuel new demands.

Information Society to me is just like society itself, multi layered, multi-dimensional and stratified according to your ‘informational IQ’.  Informational IQ is my own term (as far as I know) that I would use to define a person’s ability to interact with information whether it is online or offline.  It is important for teacher-librarians to have an understanding of the information landscape, so that we can build our students information IQ.  Misinformation is the trap that is ever lurking to seduce the unsuspecting researcher.  Arming our students, and fellow teachers, with skills to navigate for themselves through this vast, ever growing landscape is a crucial part of the role the teacher-librarian of the 21st century will play.

Webster, F. (2014). Theories of the Information Society. Florence: Taylor and Francis. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/lib/csuau/detail.action?docID=1656811

Could the real information please stand up!

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(DC Library, 2011)

Module 2 “The Information Environment” highlighted for me the many ways that information can be defined and exactly how complex it is in its nature.  The Data Knowledge Continuum (Fitzgerald, 2017) reminded me of the education process in itself, where students could be sitting anywhere on that continuum at any point in time.  We as teachers are endeavouring to help them navigate through by organising the data, building knowledge by understanding the information we are exposing them to and then using that knowledge to gain and show wisdom.

The importance that LIS (Library and Information Science) plays in the access of information and the three types of knowledge struck me in this module.  We as Teacher Librarians need to see knowledge and Continue reading →