Chapter
5 discusses how teachers and students can access and assess information from
the internet. This is referred to as information
literacy. We have so much information at
our fingertips, and the question is do we know how to use it? I have never heard of this term, information
literacy, but I think it is something that definitely has to be incorporated
into the classroom now. Teachers like to
use the internet to bring their curriculum to life. I know from experience that the great videos,
pictures and articles from the internet can be shown to the children to engage
them in a lesson. Teachers have to know
how to use the internet wisely in their classroom.
When it
comes to the students, we have to make sure that they know how to locate
information and determine if it is useful.
According to the text, the ETS pilot study proved that most college and
high school students do not use media literacy skills correctly. Something else you have to be more aware of
is plagiarism. Do your students know how
to read information off the internet and put it in their own words? No matter what it comes down to, technology
does play a huge role in our classrooms and we have to monitor it. I loved the idea of the bookmarking portal. This makes the teacher more comfortable
because she knows what the students are accessing and it gives the students new
options to explore. As stated, most
people use Google and Wikipedia. This
opens the students to new information and sources. I myself was shocked to see the number of
search engines listed in the chapter. I
use Google for almost everything.
Wikipedia didn’t surprise me too much because I have heard that this
site is unreliable due to the fact that anyone can edit it.
Overall,
I believe that technology is a must in today’s society. Technology skills are needed to get most jobs
as well. I know that having technology
skills on my resume was a must. Most
businesses strive and communicate through the use of technology. It is great that we are giving our students a
head start.
Questions:
1.
By allowing our students to use technology in
and out of the classroom for projects and research, are we overwhelming them
since there is so much information on the internet?
2.
How can teachers ensure that their students
understand how to choose relevant information when searching a topic? I know that some students struggle with
knowing how to highlight what is important just from a book or a printed
article. How can they distinguish importance
when there is so much on the internet?
3.
How can we encourage our students to read more
for fun at home vs. going on the computer?
Hi Kelly,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. I feel that we are at times overwhelming our students because there is so much information on the internet. I think it is hard for students to decide which information is the most useful because there is so much they are looking through. I think it is best if we give students certain websites to use for different projects. I think by giving them websites that are right for the project helps them to know where the right information is. I think this will help them feel less overwhelmed because we are showing them the right direction to find the information.
To answer your second question. Before teachers ask students to search information on internet, teachers can discuss with them, explain clearly what important messages should focus on, or give them specific topic. Teachers also can show them an example on internet. students can base on textbook or resource to search information they need.
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly. I agree that there are too much information on the Internet. Sometimes it is even difficult to identify whether it is correct. Teachers should train students how to evaluate and how to distinguish. First of all, I think they should know what information they are looking for, then to compare. Most times, we get the information but do not use it as whole, and instead, we generate it and pick up what we need. If students practice more, I think they will do it better.
ReplyDeleteI just want to add to question 2 which been answered , I would find out the students interests and try to insert that with technology so they feel a sense of closeness between what they are asked to do, and what they like.
ReplyDelete