I’ve been researching and writing about Information Fluency since the turn of the century. My work is published on the 21st Century Information Fluency Portal: http://21cif.imsa.edu You’ll find modular online learning content including games, micromodules and assessments on the portal. (Free for all educators.)
I include information fluency training in all of my online classes. I introduce power searching and website investigation to the graduate students studying in the E-Learning and Online Teaching Certificate Program at UW-Stout ( http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/elearningcertificate.html ) because I believe that Information Fluency is a foundation skill for all online teachers and learners.
What continually surprises me is that most educators (including those with advanced degrees) lack formal training in this field. Unless I’m working with a Library Media Specialist, most have little experience in searching, evaluating, and ethical use of digital materials.
Curiously, most educators think they are competent searchers and evaluators, when they are really just beginners. Their disposition is to ask for help rather than search for answers. With simple instruction many radically improve their ability to search, and evaluate. This is empowering and greatly increases learner satisfaction. Instruction in copyright and fair use is also part of the program.
At the same time I push the idea that it is everyone’s duty to teach website evaluation and ethical use as part of any online curriculum. Too often educators assume someone else should have done the job by the time their students walk through the door. The application of information fluency to all curriculum areas is profound. Students given even rudimentary instruction in Information Fluency immediately benefit.
As online teachers and learners we work in a computer where information is just a few keystrokes away. I hope we can promote the disposition in all online teachers and learners that skilled use of Internet resources is the essential learning skill of our times.
Dennis O’Connor
Program Advisor
E-Learning & Online Teaching
School of Education
Online Professional Development
University of Wisconsin-Stout
Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University
oconnord@uwstout.edu
530-318-1145 (Cell)
Skype: wiredinstructor2
3 responses so far ↓
Yes, Dennis!! We work IN a computer now, those of us who are teaching online. As well as those of us who are working online… in virtual teams. We work IN the machine… and I find that process more and more amazing every day. I often describe my work now as an experience like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole… or through the looking glass. When I “enter” the computer, as opposed to working ON it, I enter a network where I’m working with others on our shared mind.
And your point about the need to teach people to search for their own answers strikes a BIG CHORD for me! If there’s one thing I can’t understand about educators who are missing this, it’s that they’re missing it (grin). Then again, I’ve been one of those “self-directed learners” for my whole life (sometimes to the chagrin of my more controlling teachers). The web has opened up an avenue for me where I can seek whatever answers I’m needing… and find some I didn’t even know I was looking for. Daily. It’s the BEST!
Thanks for your clear articulation of this key competency for 21st century literacy. I couldn’t agree with you more.
[Reply]
Meri, I love your phrase “our shared mind’! I use the term “Collaborative Brain” to describe the problem solving forums I set up in every class. It’s the place where we come together to share ideas and solutions.
The great news about information fluency is that it can be directly taught. Educators will start to make the shift when the importance of self-direction is pointed out, demonstrated, and then required. This is why I teach info fluency in my e-learning class. (It’s a foundation stone.)
The Info fluency courses at http://21cif.mrooms.net are designed to teach the skills in a self-directed manner, while maintaining a community of practice. Because they are Moodle based we can keep the prices ‘teacher friendly’.
Den
[Reply]
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