Blog Post #2- Information and Digital Literacy
This week's readings informed me about how heavily we rely on technology that it can become hard for us to separate the truth from the fake news. It also showed how much students are constantly exposed to technology but there is so much 21st century skills that they need to know to be productive citizens once they graduate from the high school.
In Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a “post-truth” world, a school library journal article, Joyce Valenza spoke out about the press. Valenza stated "We were guaranteed a free press. But it has always been up to the reader or viewer to make the reliability and credibility decisions". We often have to keep in mind that there will often be multiple input on stories so we have to do our own research and double check behind what is being mentioned. As I think of all the various people that gives their input then it leads me to The Big6. The same way how things are constantly changing in the digital world is the same way how information is constantly piling up. The Big6 aims to help students become great problem solvers by defining the problem, seeking out the best sources, locating the sources, engaging with the material, organizing the multiple information, and evaluating it to ensure its efficiency. This week's podcast Fake News & Media Literacy by the Liturgists also spoke out about steps to ensure you're not falling for fake news. The sources are out there to help students and we have to help them look out for these various sources to help them be aware of the situation. If I'm being honest then I must say for my own information diet that depending on the situation that I know I might fall short at falling for fake news at times. As a person, I just feel sometimes we often fall for the fake news because its easier to handle then tackling the true facts of the matter. It is something that I will continue to work on. As a school librarian, their information diet should be one that they can openly portray for others. We have to model daily for our students good practices when it comes to information and media literacy because we're the ones their entrusting to equip them with these necessary skills to be able to do on their own.
As I think of all I've heard this week then I must say that the Common Sense News & Media Literacy from the resources has been very helpful to get started with helping our elementary to high school students with news and media skills. I've already found a lesson plan to help students take a breather from their devices.
Getting started. TheBig6.org. (n.d.). Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://thebig6.org/resources-1
Gungor, M. (Host). (2017, March 7). Fake news & media literacy (No. 18) [Audio podcast episode]. In The Liturgists Podcast. https://theliturgists.com/fake-news-media-literacy-podcast-page/
Partnership for 21st Century Learning. (2015). P21 Framework Definitions. https://www.battelleforkids.org/networks/p21/frameworks-resources
Pause for people. Common Sense Education. (2022). Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/pause-for-people
Valenza, J. (2016, November 26). Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a "post-truth" world. School Library Journal. https://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2016/11/26/truth-truthiness-triangulation-and-the-librarian-way-a-news-literacy-toolkit-for-a-post-truth-world/
The lesson plan is an amazing resource. Thank you for sharing! Teaching students how to unplug and engage when someone is there, live and in person, is not just a tech skill, but a life skill. We need to teach our students how to be media literate by determining reliable sources, etc., but we also need to teach them to be people literate. With the push for technology and content mastery, it seems like SEL skills get pushed to the back burner. Thank you for pointing out the need for balance here.
ReplyDeleteTiffany,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog and can also relate to many of your statements. Creating students with critical thinking skills as suggested by both the P21 Framework and The Big6 are essential for students' future success. The skills that both organizations indicate as important are the same skills that students can use to spot “fake news.” Spotting “fake news” is just the beginning. Two things I found very interesting while listening to the podcast “Fake News & Media Literacy” was the idea that people who read “angry” posts are more likely to create more angry posts and that when you reshare posts that angry you, revenue is created from advertisers thus encouraging more enraging posts. Understanding the financial reasons why questionable posts are created may help some understand that reposting something is just perpetuating the problem.
Modeling good behavior as you suggest is very important, but no one is perfect. Everyone is bound to make mistakes or fail to do all the necessary research with everything read online. Libraries working together to help make our communities more digitally aware is also important. We can teach the younger generations but some of the older generations would also benefit from some remedial digital citizenship instruction. Schools and library must work in concert to bring awareness to how quickly “fake news” spreads and how to spot it in the first place.
Christine Donaldson
Hi Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteI thought you made an excellent point when you addressed how important it is for us as librarians to model great media literacy practices as we are the ones responsible for imparting this information to the young minds using our libraries. This isn't always easy. As you said, it can sometimes seem so much easier to accept fake news than to dig a bit deeper to confirm the facts, especially when they are difficult to hear.
I also have the goal of revamping my information diet. As you pointed out in your post, just as our students never stop learning, neither do we. Hopefully, throughout this program, we will continue to learn more media literacy skills and how to balance our information diets so that we will be better equipped to help our students.
Thanks for sharing!
-Christina Lunetta