This afternoon at the Learning Design Summer Camp, Ellsya Cahoy of the University Libraries lead a lunchtime talk about the level of digital literacy of a typical student. When she opened up the conversation, she referenced my last blog post (see Wiki-demia) and asked me to discuss what I had written (see? People actually DO read these posts!).
The conversation soon turned to other examples of literacy, including digital, media, cultural, and regular, plain old literacy. We discussed the widespread use of Wikipedia by students as an example of how we as teachers and mentors need to assist students in developing media literacy and a critical consciousness when it comes to sources for their academic work. It is important for us to be aware of and conversant in the technologies that appeal to them, so that we can understand their flaws and benefits. We also need to remember that these young people are at the very beginning of their academic lives...they are part of a process, a journey, and we need to be an active part of that process.
A few anecdotes from the conversation:
One person remarked that her grandmother used to believe everything that was printed in the National Enquirer simply because the format resembled a newspaper—a trusted format for information in her experience. How do we help students differentiate opinion vs. fact, news vs. legend, and legitimate vs. faulty sources, even when they all come from the Web?
Someone else discussed how the images of the U.S. invasion of Iraq were very different for him than they were for his family, since he was in New Zealand at the time. While he was exposed to graphically violent material of the invasion via television, his American family members saw no such images. How do we help students understand that all media sources ultimately take certain positions, and as a result, the information that the public sees is interpreted through particular lenses?
Ellysa mentioned that a paradigm shift has occurred in libraries wherein they are actively seeking to make information finding as easy as possible for students and have therefore worked very hard to help students conduct successful searches in legitimate academic sources. How are our professional understandings affecting the way we convey infomation?
Lots of good food for thought. Thanks, Ellysa!
The conversation soon turned to other examples of literacy, including digital, media, cultural, and regular, plain old literacy. We discussed the widespread use of Wikipedia by students as an example of how we as teachers and mentors need to assist students in developing media literacy and a critical consciousness when it comes to sources for their academic work. It is important for us to be aware of and conversant in the technologies that appeal to them, so that we can understand their flaws and benefits. We also need to remember that these young people are at the very beginning of their academic lives...they are part of a process, a journey, and we need to be an active part of that process.
A few anecdotes from the conversation:
One person remarked that her grandmother used to believe everything that was printed in the National Enquirer simply because the format resembled a newspaper—a trusted format for information in her experience. How do we help students differentiate opinion vs. fact, news vs. legend, and legitimate vs. faulty sources, even when they all come from the Web?
Someone else discussed how the images of the U.S. invasion of Iraq were very different for him than they were for his family, since he was in New Zealand at the time. While he was exposed to graphically violent material of the invasion via television, his American family members saw no such images. How do we help students understand that all media sources ultimately take certain positions, and as a result, the information that the public sees is interpreted through particular lenses?
Ellysa mentioned that a paradigm shift has occurred in libraries wherein they are actively seeking to make information finding as easy as possible for students and have therefore worked very hard to help students conduct successful searches in legitimate academic sources. How are our professional understandings affecting the way we convey infomation?
Lots of good food for thought. Thanks, Ellysa!
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