Module 4 lecture comments

Information literacy

In my previous post, I ended with a mention of helping students of all ages move beyond reproducing data in their research assignments. I'm not exposed to enough of the students' final products to say how common this is but I have observed it in my limited exposure. This lecture began with a reminder of an information literacy model that our school advocates called Big6. We also use the simplified version for younger children called Super3. Since others may find Big6 useful, this is the link to the Big6 website.

I have received some very basic training about Big6 (actually my training was with Super3) in a professional learning session but I need to learn more and will do so through continued PL sessions and/or my own initiative. I am not aware of competing models but the decision to change models is outside of my job so I will commit to making the best use of what we have already adopted and giving feedback where appropriate. I have not observed the Big6 vocabulary in use very often as the students engage in research projects and seeking information. The Big6 model seems to contain some good tools to help students process information and I would like to see its principles become part of our teachers' and students' regular vocabulary while seeking information. The Big6 website says,

The Big6 Skills are best learned when integrated with classroom curriculum and activities. Teachers and library media specialists can begin to use the Big6 immediately by:

• Using the Big6 terminology when giving various tasks and assignments
• Talking students through the process for a particular assignment
• Asking key questions and focusing attention on specific Big6 actions to accomplish.

At this point in my career, I do not often teach but I will follow these tips as much as possible.

Big6 may not apply to all situations but it is a great example of a tool to use in developing information literacy. However, Big6 is not enough. At the end of the lecture, Dr. Roland mentions that Big6 "might be just one component" of what we mean by information literacy. 

Library 1.0 and 2.0

I liked Dr. Roland's summary of Library 1.0 when he said "The role and function of the library was very simple: collect the books that had the most answers, catalog those books correctly, create a card catalog - an information retrieval system - and then just sit back and wait for the library patrons to match their information need with the library collection, check out the book and then return it in the proper time."

The computer age has forced/allowed libraries to create greater value to patrons through shared catalogs and expanded access to materials and, therefore, information.

In slide 7, Dr. Roland says that we will learn about 4 major information behavior models. At the risk of sounding overly eager, I'm energized by this opportunity to learn about these models. I think learning about these models will prove helpful to me personally but also as I try to help others access information. 

21st Century Librarian

Found here, this article and video is fantastic. As with the librarian featured in the story, I believe that books are still highly relevant. I also agree that the modern school library should be central to carrying out the school's mission and that librarians have a responsibility to help students of all ages navigate the "information ocean". While books are still important, we must think deeply about how the library supports information literacy and provides value to teachers and students. I was interested when Dr. Roland shared a slide where he talked about the possibility of universities offering Information Literacy degrees in the future. I believe my own personal information literacy to be quite high (or is it fluent?) and we already teach K-8 about information literacy but I'm not sure I could come up with nearly enough content to teach even one semester of college level (or high school level) information literacy. Clearly, I have more to learn.

I loved the explorers website that was filled with inaccurate information and I'm sure we can use that in some grades this next school year.

In a great example of how the library blends its ancient mission with modern information needs, the article states, "Combining new literacy with the old, Ms. Rosalia invites students to write book reviews that she posts in the library’s online catalog. She helped a math teacher design a class blog. She urges students to use electronic databases linked from the library’s home page."

Conclusion

The final slide is a nice diagram of the scope of information literacy topics. Roland says that the Big6 (which is quite comprehensive and requires a fair amount of training for teachers and students) is probably just the top right part of the diagram. The diagram clearly shows the vast scope of information literacy across so many fields and topics... ethics and wisdom to creating new knowledge to evaluating and organizing. Simply taking the various topics shown on the diagram would go a long way towards planning out those high school and college courses and even full degree programs.