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Blog 2: The Importance of Information Literacy

 

Hi, Readers!

Have you ever thought about the information that you read every day? Do you believe that information to be true? And what skills might you need to make sure that this information is true?

 

(bartleby, n.d.)

When thinking about the skills or necessities you might need to access information in the world today, information seekers need to be equipped in information literacy, technology literacy, and digital/media literacy (Partnership for 21st Century Learning, 2015, p. 2). First of all, information literacy is the skill of being able to “access, evaluate, use, and manage information” (Partnership for 21st Century Learning, 2015, p. 5). Then technology literacy is needed to as a “tool to research, organize, evaluate and communicate information” (Partnership for 21st Century Learning, 2015, p. 5).  Then information literacy is the skill of being able to “access, evaluate, use, and manage information” (Partnership for 21st Century Learning, 2015, p. 5).  While media literacy focuses on being able to “analyze media and create media products” (Partnership for 21st Century Learning, 2015, p. 5).  As one can see, ALL of these skills are needed to be successful as people that seek information in the world we live in today. Unfortunately, a user of information cannot have one of these literacies without the other to successfully gather information today.  

Keeping information literacy, technology literacy, and digital/media literacy skills in mind as we search, we are then better equipped to evaluate the information we find and determine if it is reliable.  I know myself, I am not the best at evaluating and then information that I find on the web. I have learned more from the resources this week, then I ever have before. In the past, I have used my own opinion to decide if the information I find is true or not.  Unfortunately, just using my opinion is not enough, nor accurate. I have also realized working through this MLIS program that I must develop skills f to evaluate information for myself, but also to pass on to students and other information seekers.  In the Podcast “Fake News & Media Literacy” by The Liturgists, they state that you must assess information we find using the following questions:

1. Who wrote it?

2. Who published it? And do they have an editorial review?

3. Is there a date of when it was published?

4. Can you site the source?

5. Is the information written grammatically correct? (The Liturgists, 2017)

I feel that these are some great questions to ask yourself to as you evaluate information you find.

 

 

(University of Derby, n.d.)

 Looking at this information, the above video by Derby University is a great reminder of why we should be equip as school librarians to show our students how to use information literacy, technology literacy, and media/digital literacy to evaluate information (University of Derby, n.d.).  If we are equipped with these skills as school librarian, it is amazing to think how much of a difference we could make in the lives of students as they seek and use information.

Thank you for stopping by!

Sincerely,

Courtland Smith

References

bartleby. (n.d.). Identify the similarities and differences of Media Literacy,
     Information Literacy, and Digital/Technology Literacy by the use of VENN
     DIAGRAM [Photograph]. bartleby. https://www.bartleby.com/
     questions-and-answers/
     identify-the-similarities-and-differences-of-media-literacy-information-literacy-
     and-digitaltechnolo/555c6736-b98a-4d63-b4f4-5dbae25a2c0f

The Liturgists (Producer). (2017, March 7). Fake news & media literacy [Audio
     podcast episode]. In The Liturgists. The Liturgists.
     https://theliturgists.com/fake-news-media-literacy-podcast-page/

Partnership for 21st Century Learning. (2015). Framework for 21st century
     learning. P21 Partnership for 21st Century Learning.
     https://www.marietta.edu/sites/default/files/documents/
     21st_century_skills_standards_book_2.pdf

University of Derby (Producer). (n.d.). Digital literacy and why it matters
     [Film]. YouTube.

 


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