ISCI 761 Blog Post 2: How's your diet?

      How's your diet?  I'm sure if asked that question by a doctor, most people could answer relatively easy.  We can even easily identify our unhealthy consumption habits.  But what if we are asking about our information diet?  Are you making "healthy" choices? Are you an informed consumer?  Do you pay as much attention to the information you put in your brain as your do the food you put into your body?  This week in SLIS , we are examining information literacy, technology, and digital/media materials and sources).  

     According to the American Library Association, information literacy is "a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." In other words, people need information and must be able to locate that needed information while making sure the source is reliable.  Of course, no one wants to find and use the wrong information. So how do you determine what is correct?  This is where the local information professional, or librarian, becomes everyone's new best friend. 

     As librarians, we must not only be "healthy" information consumers, we must also be experts and instructors for our students and patrons.  It is our job to explain how to search for and use information appropriately, which includes determining  if the source is reliable and the information is accurate and true.  Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz developed the Big 6 approach to help information professionals teach information and technology skills to our students, patrons, and the community as whole.  The Big 6 summarizes the stages of successful information research from identifying the problem you are solving and what information you need to determining if the information is accurate and effectively solves the problem. 



    The Big 6 skills align with the Partnership for 21st Century Learning's "Framework for 21st Century Learning."  For students to succeed as adults in today's global economy, students need to be effective and efficient consumers of information and effective and efficient users of technology.  Information literacy skills support students problem and critical thinking skills. As librarians, we can't lose sight of the big picture for our students.  Yes, we want them to be information literate, but we also want them to be employable adults who are able to problem solve, collaborate, and communicate.  


     Before I can properly instruct my students in information literacy, I need to evaluate my own "information diet." Do I check that the source is reliable?  Is the story unrealistic?  Is the author cited? Are there references?  Personally, my "information diet" is generally limited.  Due to time constraints, I watch very little TV, rarely read the paper or other print news sources, and hardly ever listen to the news.  In terms of political, world events, and general news, I rely on my husband to relay any relevant information I need.  As a graduate student, full time teacher, and full time caregiver, I frequently seek information specific to those topics.  My sources are peer-reviewed articles, profession teacher groups, texts, and medical sources such as the American Cancer Society and Johns Hopkins University.  When using social media, I scroll past all news, current events, political posts, and the likes.  I do not have the time to properly vet a source so I opt to skip it.  Once employed as school librarian,  I must guard my "information diet" and model for my students how to be a responsible consumer. 

References:

American Library Association. (2022). Welcome to ALA's Literacy Clearinghouse. Welcome to ALAs Literacy Clearinghouse. Retrieved September 7, 2022, from https://literacy.ala.org/information-literacy/

Eisenberg, M., & Berkowitz, B. (n.d.). Big 6 Skills Overview. thebig6.org.

Partnership for 21st Century Learning . (n.d.). Framework for 21st Century Learning. Washington, DC.




Comments

  1. Callie GrahamSeptember 9, 2022 at 8:59 AM

    Hi Heather,

    I enjoyed reading your post! The responsibly of teaching students how to have a healthy “information diet” can feel overwhelming, especially when we know that so much of fake news and misinformation relies on people having an emotional reaction rather than a logical one. The news can so easily feel too exhausting to look at, which can cause students to ignore it completely, or too absorbing, which could cause them to become too wrapped up in one point of view. I think being able to distinguish good information for something like a research paper or school project is a slightly different skill than spotting fake news. Information literacy for academic work can be a little more straightforward, while media literacy or digital literacy includes questions around bias and pandering. And I think when we question the news, it can often feel like there are much higher stakes than in a school assignment. It is an interesting challenge for librarians to tackle teaching both to their students. This goes along with your point that we need to focus on the big picture for our students to prepare them for their lives and work outside of the classroom, which is an essential part of teaching information literacy.

    Thanks for sharing!

    —Callie Graham

    ReplyDelete
  2. the hoppe padSeptember 9, 2022 at 9:55 AM

    Heather,
    I love your lead in and that is actually the most perfect way to entice kids to reevaluate their information diet...talking about food! I listened to a short NPR podcast episode (https://www.npr.org/2012/01/14/145101748/is-it-time-for-you-to-go-on-an-information-diet) that talks about the comparison to the food we eat and the information we consume. Definitely relatable. Also modeling for your students is a great way to let them see how you filter out what is vital in the news arena. I juggle a million balls in the air daily, just as you mention having a full plate of responsibilities, therefore, time is a valuable commodity. Having go to sources that you have previously validated is a great way to always know that the information you get from it, is the correct version of the story. Sharing these sources with students is a good way to start them on their journey to discovering which sources are trustworthy and which ones are not. I enjoyed reading your post!
    Caroline

    ReplyDelete
  3. Carson McCallumSeptember 10, 2022 at 5:40 PM

    I love the tone of your post and the visuals you used. I agree that as professionals we will need to be better models for information searching and vetting - not just for students but also for staff. Knowledge of the resources at our disposal and how to use them - also how to verify them is very important. However, it is like you said, we want students to become employable adults and critical thinking and was as locating and verifying information from sources is very important for that. Therefore, we must not only know these skills for ourselves but how to teach them to others. The Big6 is a good tool for that - I wrote about it in my blog as well. However, there are other methods for teaching research so it is important to consider the audience and what may be most appropriate for them. Thanks for the creatively written response and for sharing your thoughts!

    ReplyDelete

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