Reflection of Course 6712

The most striking revelation that I have had about teaching the new literacy skills to my students as a result of the course, Supporting Information Literacy and On-line Inquiry in the Classroom, is that my students must be guided through inquiry-driven projects through a series of steps. Instead of providing students with questions to answer, it is important that I have my students develop their own essential questions. When students develop essential questions, learning becomes more meaningful to them because they become immersed personally and make connections with prior experiences. By having students create their own questions, I am teaching them to think critically. After students develop essential questions, they must also be taught to conduct research effectively through the use of search engines. Most of my students use Google or Yahoo! and never have experienced other search engines that will help them narrow down the scope, focus, and topic of a question. By supplying students with other search engine options to explore, I can help provide them with additional tools they need to effectively answer questions. Students also need to be taught how to effectively credit a web resource and to avoid copyright and plagiarism issues. Although I touch upon these skills to students, I think I need to spend more time teaching students to understand and apply these skills when completing projects. Finally, it is very important that my students learn how to synthesize information before creating a final product. If students cannot synthesize information, then they do not really understand it and fail to make connections to it. Using various modes of communication, such as a Voicethread, screencasts, and other artifacts like a brochure artifact, can help me understand my students’ process of synthesizing of information. In addition, Dr. Douglas Hartman asserted, “There are numerous ways to communicate online and that students need to know what is available and know how to learn from the new things that may come along” (Laureate Inc., 2009).

The knowledge and experience that I have gained in this course will influence my teaching practices by helping my students reach new heights of using 21st century technology tools. Not only will my students learn to use software related to my course standards, but I can pull in other technologies such as VoiceThreads and screencasts to supplement activities. Teaching students how to use these tools appropriately and effectively will help them in future careers.

One professional development goal that I would like to pursue that builds upon my learning in this course and that develops my own information literacy skills is to become more effective at teaching students how to observe and apply ethics in citing resources. I would like to review the following websites more in-depth: Copyright & Fair Use by Stanford University Libraries and Copyright and Fair Use in the Classroom, on the Internet, and the World Wide Web by University of Maryland University College . Once I increase my knowledge about the copyright laws, then I can more effectively teach my students how to recognize and apply them in their coursework and lives.

Reference:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program 2. New Literacies. [Motion Picture]. Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Baltimore: Dr. Douglas Hartman