‘Information Literacy is the ability to identify what information is needed, understand how the information is organized, identify the best sources of information for a given need, locate those sources, evaluate the sources critically, and share that information. It is the knowledge of commonly used research techniques’ (The Information Literacy Portal, 2011, p. 1)
In this globalized society it is extremely important that students develop the skills necessary in becoming information literate citizens. For this to occur it is essential that teachers explicitly teach students how to interpret, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information across a variety of contexts. From this students should be able to transfer their knowledge and understandings from one context and apply it to another i.e. language spoken at home, at school and in society/cultural situations.
In association with my Embedded Professional Learning practices, I have designed and implemented many learning experiences that have incorporated the use of both the National Curriculum and Essential Learnings. I believe I have demonstrated high information literacy skills when creating these experiences as I have interpreted, analysed, synthesised and evaluated each curriculum and applied them to my cohort of learners.
An example of when my information literacy skills took place was when I was required to explicitly teach students the structure and language elements of a comic strip. This unit of work was based around an ethical dilemma and incorporated the use of ICTs.
For students to successfully accomplish this task, I had to gather all applicable resources, explicitly teach students how to use PowerPoint, set up a blog where students could provide feedback to one another, and share relevant information in the most appropriate format. It was emphasised to students that this was to be achieved using appropriate language
The PowerPoint presentation below was created for explicit teaching purposes and was used as a demonstration of how the students’ comic strip should look. It gave a clear outline on what students needed to include and what was ‘acceptable’ as part of the learning experience.
The feedback I was given aligned with this unit of work included;
‘You have designed and implemented an outstanding unit of work, demonstrating you have done your research and have taken the time to familiarise yourself with concepts needed to explicitly teach students. Great use of ICTs and exemplars’ (Lamb, Personal Communication, 2011).
At various stages throughout my degree, I have also received comments about using a wide-range of reputable sources to create high quality assignments. These comments include
‘Your ability to incorporate an extensive range of applicable references is evident and indicates that you have researched above and beyond the suggested readings’ (Isdale, Personal connections, 2009).
‘The resources you have gathered to complete this task is at a very high standard, Well Done'! (Blaney, Personal Communications, 2009).
Personally, I believe the above indicates that I have acquired adequate information literacy skills.
