e tech2013 info literacy

Information LiteracyCrucial Skills for Students Right

in Your Classroom

Stacy NockowitzMiddle School Librarian

Columbus AcademyGahanna, Ohio

stacy_nockowitz@columbusacademy.org

Impetuses for this class(Yes, impetuses.)

Harvard

“That’s what Wikipedia is for!”

53,400,000 results

53,400,000 results

www.questiontheworldplease.blogspot.com

53,400,000 results

www.questiontheworldplease.blogspot.com

io9.com

53,400,000 results

www.questiontheworldplease.blogspot.com

io9.com

boards.straightdope.com

53,400,000 results

www.questiontheworldplease.blogspot.com

io9.com

boards.straightdope.com

answers.yahoo.com

53,400,000 results

www.questiontheworldplease.blogspot.com

io9.com

boards.straightdope.com

answers.yahoo.com

www.geeksaresexy.net

53,400,000 results

www.questiontheworldplease.blogspot.com

io9.com

boards.straightdope.com

answers.yahoo.com

www.geeksaresexy.net

www.drday.com

53,400,000 results

www.questiontheworldplease.blogspot.com

io9.com

boards.straightdope.com

answers.yahoo.com

www.geeksaresexy.net

www.drday.com

Zipf’s Principle of Least Effort:

People will put forth the minimum effort required to obtain information, even if it means

accepting lower quality or quantity of information.

Source: Human behavior and the principle of least effort, Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley Press, 1949.

In other words, students are willing to accept information that is

merely sufficient as long as they obtain it simply and easily.

An information retrieval system will tend not to be used whenever it is more painful and troublesome for a

customer to have information than for him not to have it.

Mooer’s Law:

Remarks by Calvin N. Mooers during a panel discussion at the Annual Meeting of the American Documentation Institute, October 24, 1959.

“Having information is painful and troublesome. We have all experienced this. If you have information,

you must first read it, which is not always easy. You must then try to understand it....Understanding the information may show that your work was wrong, or may show that your work was needless....Thus not having and not using information can often lead to

less trouble and pain than having and using it.”

Remarks by Calvin N. Mooers on October 24, 1959. Reprinted in the Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science, October/November 1996.

Gross and Latham: “Students whoare unable to demonstrate information

literacy competency nevertheless exhibita high level of confidence in their abilityto find and use information effectively.”

Source: “Undergraduate Perceptions ofInformation Literacy: Defining, Attaining, and Self-Assessing Skills,” College and Research Libraries, July 2009, p.336-350

But are the kids to blame?

Are we good models?

How do we guide them?

Have they ever been taught this stuff?

"Information literacy is the ability to recognize when information is needed, to locate, evaluate, and

effectively and ethically use the needed information." 

-American Library Association

Your objective: Independent students who have high level info lit skills that lead to

high quality results!

Info Lit as a Metacognitive Process

Awareness of one’s own learning or thinking process.

Make the process as important as the product.

In your classroom:- Make the process part of the conversation.

In your classroom:- Make the process part of the conversation.- Stop them along the way.

In your classroom:- Make the process part of the conversation.- Stop them along the way.- Model the process.

- Model the process.

Kids can spot a hypocrite a mile away.

Your info lit steps:1. Define your information need.

2. Locate information. 3. Evaluate what you find.

4.Effectively & ethically use what you find.

1. Define your information need.

What are you actually researching?Focus your topic.

Generate thoughtful questions.

2. Locate information.

Identify keywords.Use Boolean operators.Use quotation marks.

Connect terms in new combinations.

Alternatives to Google search:

*SweetSearch: www.sweetsearch.comand 4me.sweetsearch.com

*Awesome Library: www.awesomelibrary.org

*Internet Public Library: www.ipl.org

*DuckDuckGo: duckduckgo.com

Smart search tips:

Cite as you go.Bookmark best sites.

Scour useful pages for useful links.Clip good stuff and save it for later.

3. Evaluate what you find.

Don’t teach this in isolation.Evaluate in context.

Remember the State Farm commercial!Identify a site’s purpose, bias,

authority, accuracy.

4. Use the information effectively.

Compare information from different sources.Look for trends and patterns.Begin to draw conclusions.

Don’t forget to talk to students about the ETHICS of Info Lit:

-Plagiarism-Fair Use

-Citing sources-Using images and video

Information is acquired by being told.KNOWLEDGE is acquired by thinking.

Don’t confuse information with knowledge.