Chapter 5 – Teaching Information Literacy and Digital
Citizenship
Focus Question: What are search engines and how do they work?
“A search engine is a software program that uses networks of computers to access information from its databases.” (Maloy, Verock, Edwards, Woolf, 2010).
“A search engine is a software program that uses networks of computers to access information from its databases.” (Maloy, Verock, Edwards, Woolf, 2010).
Google comes readily to mind when we think of search engines. We use them daily to access information
without giving a second thought as to how they work. As far as our experiences
can tell, they are fast, and they give us the information we need. As the video explained, they allow us
to access online information by locating webpages that have been linked to their
database. The buck does not stop there though. Specialized resources become helpful to us as they narrow the focus of the search so that we access relevant information, both as teachers and as students. Information searching and
retrieval requires us to know how to get the information as well as how to
analyze it.
I never considered Electronic note-taking until now. I've always been one to use notecards which is be time consuming. I've recently found, however, that electronic note taking offers new ways to
record and save the information I locate online. How convenient it is to be able to retrieve information on multiple devices, and be able to return to it at my convenience? Evernote, NoteStar, and OneNote are a few of these helpful electronic note taking tools. Evernote allows you to access material from various devices, NoteStar is recommended for elementary and secondary students. I like the fact that all I have to do when doing my online searches, is to make NoteStar apart of my browser's toolbar, so that when I locate a web resource that I'd like to save, I simply click on the NoteStar icon enabling data-recording prompts to appear. It is as simple as that. Not only does OneNote serve as a digital notebook, it allows for Audio recording as well. After one or two written keys, an audio marker is generated so that you can go back and listen to the audio again. Here's a great tutorial on using google doc for notetaking
Tech Tool link: Customizing your Web Browser with iGoogle
iGoogle replaces the standard Google search page with one you can personally design. The teacher may now open to find teaching resources and other information useful to him/her in the classroom environment. The site is www.google.com/ig. Pipes is the yahoo equivalent; that site is http://pipes.yahoo.com. These sites are useful to the teacher so that she can customize her page with the links that are pertinent to the teaching experience. You can add search engines as well as other data-managing software that will keep track of your to-do list, send RSS feeds of local and international newspapers, mail professional journals and send personalized reminders of upcoming events. I've found my new best friend!
iGoogle replaces the standard Google search page with one you can personally design. The teacher may now open to find teaching resources and other information useful to him/her in the classroom environment. The site is www.google.com/ig. Pipes is the yahoo equivalent; that site is http://pipes.yahoo.com. These sites are useful to the teacher so that she can customize her page with the links that are pertinent to the teaching experience. You can add search engines as well as other data-managing software that will keep track of your to-do list, send RSS feeds of local and international newspapers, mail professional journals and send personalized reminders of upcoming events. I've found my new best friend!
Summary & Connection
There is more to the internet than search engines. This chapter focused on the meaning of information literacy; how well are you able to access the information that is readily available to you online? It focuses on analyzing ways to evaluate online resources, naming the four types of information problems found online as Misinformation, mal-information, messed-up information and most useless information. While it is useful for the teacher to teach her students to work efficiently with the web, it is important that they are taught that plagiarism is illegal, and that copyright laws are pertinent. There is such a thing as digital ethics and is important for both teachers and students to use technology appropriately.
There is more to the internet than search engines. This chapter focused on the meaning of information literacy; how well are you able to access the information that is readily available to you online? It focuses on analyzing ways to evaluate online resources, naming the four types of information problems found online as Misinformation, mal-information, messed-up information and most useless information. While it is useful for the teacher to teach her students to work efficiently with the web, it is important that they are taught that plagiarism is illegal, and that copyright laws are pertinent. There is such a thing as digital ethics and is important for both teachers and students to use technology appropriately.
Did you know that iGoogle was retired at the end of last year? There are some other alternatives, of course. But this shows how quickly things change in the internet world...and even more reason to move to digital textbooks that have the option for updating.
ReplyDeleteI like the electronic notetaking options, especially the audio options! It will be interesting to see how this will be transformed in the classroom. The opportunity to address different learning styles is important.