The New Way to Learn by shell87 on Storybird

Information Literacy

Information literacy is a skill that everyone needs to possess to be able communicate and survive in today’s technological culture. It has become more important over time as the internet has shifted to a web 2.0 format. People are not just passive users of the internet but contribute to the internet and continuously interact with each other. People not only need to know how to critically analyse the information they look at but need to be able to create and upload information that is has been sourced using their information literacy skills.

I have to admit my information literacy is not that good. Until recently I have only really used Google and Super-Search (UWA journal search engine) to find my information and my search stings for looking for information (key words) are often limited. For my future research I will endeavour to use meta-search engines like Metacrawler and Dogpile to help broaden my search and take a range of mediums to get a better view of my topic.

I think it is extremely important to start to teach students this concept as early as possible. It doesn’t have to be a specific, explicit lesson on information literacy but continually mentioning the concepts throughout their learning. When students are a bit older and have to start to produce research project, I think students would have to be given an explicit lesson on information literacy. I think one of the reasons my information literacy is not that good is because as a young student most of my research was done by using books in a library and I was never taught the principles of information literacy or the premise of search engines. The sites shown in class such as the “Save the tree octopus” website http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus would be such an interesting idea for a lesson on informational literacy. Actually showing students that websites are not always correct would be a good starting point.

Using information literacy to do assignments

Digital Storytelling

Below is my attempt at creating a digital story. I have to admit I got addicted to making these little movies and spend a whole afternoon on it. It is so much fun! I even had my brother hooked. This would be a fun new challenge for students to combine their literacy skills with technology. There are so many ways to combine digital storytelling with the standard curriculum. Students could use this when learning about camera angles, character portrayal, audience etc.

Here is a website all things txt speak. http://www.lingo2word.com/ There is even a translator and a dictionary.

Txt Speak

Txt Spk. What a controversial topic! I find I am split when it comes to the use of txt spk within a classroom. I understand the world and technology is changing and we need to keep up but is txt speak the answer?

I use to be a fan of txt speak when typing sms's but with the introduction of iphones and other advanced technologies that can predict the word you are writing and finish it for you, my use of txt speak has decreased substantially. Will the use of txt speak decrease if mechanisms like this are continually introduced?

I agree that students must be aware that txt speak exists and that they can shorten words when taking notes or sending informal sms's but as teachers should we be teaching it or accepting in within a classroom setting? I think txt speak is something that evolves naturally once people have a good understanding of the English language. It is not something that needs to be taught or even really explained. Once a person has a solid appreciation and knowledge of English, then they can break the rules. As Primary school teachers do our students have a really good understanding of the English language or are they still learning? If we do introduce txt speak within our lessons do we risk leaving students that have not yet learnt the rules behind?

And another thing. Can you imagine the out roar from parents if we start to introduce txt speak? It is too controversial, I can't even decide if it is a useful tool, let alone pleasing all the parents. I think we will just have to wait and see where this one ends.