Blog 2: Information Literacy for 21st Century Learners
Most of the ideas and concepts in the reading, resources, and podcast were already familiar to me as I have been teaching digital and information literacy as part of my computer classes for several years now but it was a great reminder and gave me some new ways to present this to my students.
One new resource was the P21 Framework. The first thing I noticed about the P21 Framework was how it shares many similarities with the Profile of A South Carolina Graduate Competencies. Although there are minor differences, both formats present critical thinking, information / media literacy, innovation, and collaboration as being as important as the traditional academics. I agree that it is important to learn traditional knowledge, but today the 21st century skills are vital for success in any post high school path that our students choose. As a CTE teacher I work with business partners in the community and help students explore future careers. I can tell you that the business partners are seeking students that fit the P21 framework. We have business partners from healthcare to welding and it is these soft skills that are requested across all industries.
Profile of a South Carolina Graduate
Media literacy goes hand in hand with critical thinking. We are bombarded with news and information every day to the point of being in a state of information overload. It can be very difficult to sort the quality resources from the not so good stuff. The Liturgists May 17th, 2017 podcast on Fake News and Information Literacy examines the importance of being media and information literate. The discussion dives into how the internet has brought fringe conspiracies into the mainstream. Some are harmless and goofy, some are awful and life altering such as people believing that Sandy Hook was a hoax from the government. They also discuss how fake news used to be outlandish headlines for clickbait but now it has become common for people to call things they disagree with “fake news” in order to dismiss further discussion or to discredit those with opposing viewpoints.. Clickbait, rage sharing, and sharing without fact checking feeds a very profitable industry. By interacting with this content the algorithm beast is fed and grows more powerful.
So what is one to do? We must be conscious consumers of information and teach our students to do the same. The Liturgists liken this to a healthy diet - if you tune out and just mindlessly consume what feels easiest it is not going to lead to good choices and it is much the same with consuming information.
Admittedly, my own information diet is probably somewhat along the lines of take out - I seek out “healthy” options for news sources as best I can but it has to fit in with my life as a busy working mom and student. I follow major news networks, national, and world news / politics on twitter. I also try to catch our local news at least once a day or check their website before I do my morning prep work. I really don’t share much news / information content on my social media but if I were to share content I would make sure that I really spent some time evaluating it before I shared. Although it isn’t as catchy as the Liturgists’ song, this video goes over another memorable way to evaluate your sources - The C.R.A.A.P. Test. If a source can’t pass this test, well, it might be crap.
Our students today are living in a generation with access to more information than ever before. The media literacy and information literacy resources that we have covered are undoubtedly very helpful in teaching this skill to our students. My question is does this go far enough in media literacy education? With today’s technology we can make portraits and photographs speak and move. We can completely alter a person’s appearance using a filter. Right now this is a novelty but the technology is growing.
Check out this video from Bloomberg on Deep Fake technology. This video is four years old and the technology behind this has only gotten better.
I feel that this topic will become more and more relevant in information literacy as time goes on. I would love to hear what you think in the comments.
Thanks again for reading,
Lauren
References
Association of College & Research Libraries. (2016, January 11). Framework for information literacy for higher education. https://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/issues/infolit/framework1.pdf
Baker, H. Capestany, C. [Bloomberg Quicktake: Originals]. (2018, September 27). It’s Getting Harder to Spot a Deep Fake Video. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/gLoI9hAX9dw
Battelle for Kids. (2019). Framework for 21st Century Learning. https://www.battelleforkids.org/networks/p21/frameworks-resources
Gungor, M., McHargue, M., (Hosts). (2017, March 7). Fake News and Media Literacy. [Audio podcast episode]. In The Liturgists. https://theliturgists.com/fake-news-media-literacy-podcast-page/
South Carolina Department of Education. (2023). Profile of a South Carolina Graduate. https://ed.sc.gov/about/profile-of-sc-graduate/
Western Libraries Tutorials (2012, January 13). Evaluating Sources [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/EyMT08mD7Ds
Hey Lauren!
ReplyDeleteThere's so much to digest here. I agree with so much of what you said. I do find myself sharing news on social media, but it is usually related to public education advocacy. I find myself having to type disclaimers or additional information sometimes just to ensure people will actually read it. The amount of headlines that have little to do with the article, or have completely taken something out of context, is quite mind-boggling.
Your information diet sounds similar to mine, but I don't even have the energy to look at "real" news sometimes. It gets overwhelming and depressing at times. The DeepFake phenomenon is truly terrifying to me. I feel like it will get harder and harder to tell what is truly real and increase division. I am glad to know work is being done to develop ways to identify the technology, but are they going to be able to keep up?
Thanks for sharing the CRAAP test video. I agree that media and information literacy is even more important today than ever before!
Your collaboration with employers gives you a good perspective on how valuable the information literacy skills are. In my former position, I helped with interview, and I agree, that soft skillls were more important than extensive experience.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your providing the video on Deep Fake Technology. This is so very disturbing to me! I also found the CRAAP method of evaluating sources useful. I really like the idea of giving students the tools to determine reliable sources for themselves. Not only does it encourage crticial thinking skills, but I as a teacher am not imposing my viewpoint (political and otherwise) on my students.
Hello Lauren,
ReplyDeleteThe videos you shared were helpful and insightful to this week's content. I especially enjoyed the CRAAP test video shared. I have realized I do not have the best methods of consuming information and could definitely do better and should strive to do better. The Deep Fake video is disturbing and scary how real it seems!
Hey Lauren!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your valuable insights from a CTE teacher's perspective. I teach 'soft skills' to my elementary students through Microburst, but they focus more on things like responsibility and character building instead of technology. Unfortunately, there is nothing in my elementary level that works to teach students digital literacy or media literacy to the extent that they probably need to. My students naturally know how to navigate a computer, but many can not type correctly or know how to problem solve if something suddenly goes wrong. Similarly, many of my students get their news and media literacy through their parents or social media - especially TikTok! When I am teaching a research lesson, I go through steps of identifying credibility of a source for an academic assignment that is very similar to the rap in the podcast or the CRAPP test you shared. However, there is no direct instruction for younger students on evaluating what they hear on the "news" from any source and that often leads to students arguing in class because of political or social issues there parents have shared with them. At this age, it is often controversial for a teacher or librarian to share any sort of teaching about credibility on those issue without upsetting parents. While I whole-heartily agree that literacy of all types can and should be taught by the school librarian, I question to what extent for each age level.
Thank you for your insights!
Sam Howard
Hi Lauren,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughtful post. You definitely have a unique perspective as a current technology teacher and future librarian. I hope that the students you interact with can take your knowledge of both the business/professional side and the educational standards side and hear you when you talk about what they need to know to be a responsible consumer of information.
Thank you,
Jen
Hey Lauren!
ReplyDeleteYour post was great! I loved that you brought up the fact that most jobs look for the soft skills that are present in the P21 Framework. A lot of my students do not understand why these are great skills to have in the future. Also, when you talked about technology and social media now being an information overload. I totally agree! I teach middle school science and the amount of times my kids have read fake news stories about Bill Nye and try to tell me about them is too large to count. I also noticed that when I want them to research they will type in their question to google and read the first thing that pops up and expects it to be accurate. I always tell them that they need to explore the other websites, but they still don't understand. The C.R.A.A.P test will definitely be a great resource to add to my toolbox.
Thank you!
Hey, Lauren!
ReplyDeleteI like the way you wrote your blog post from a computer science teacher’s prospective. You have a very important job teaching students technology skills. My hat is off to you!
You brought up some very valid points. I love the way that you compared the P21 Framework to the Profile of a South Carolina Graduate Competencies. I think that making that comparison shows the importance of our jobs as school librarians. We need to make sure that we are teaching students how to first find information, but then we must teach students how to assess the information that they find. This way students will learn to use the absolute best and most reliable information to add to their knowledge which in turn will better prepare them for college.
Again, thank you so much for your post this week.
Sincerely,
Courtland Smith