information literacy Category
Professional consumption vs. creation
Posted on May 6, 2018 Leave a Comment
It’s effortless to hop onto social media, whatever social media you interact with (for me it’s primarily Twitter, Medium, WordPress, and news sources), and read through stories and ideas created by other people. In fact, I ‘found’ myself the other day after work having spent about 90 minutes straight on social media. But many other […]
A critical thinking paradox
Posted on October 16, 2017 2 Comments
Okay… indulge me! Try this experiment (and try it with your students, too!): Activity #1 – Think of a topic in which you have a strong interest, and broad, expert knowledge/skill. Then, search the web and find three really good sources of information for that topic. Activity #2 – Think of a topic in which […]
Modern Literacies
Posted on September 18, 2017 2 Comments
I received an email from a teacher colleague last week and it contained a single sentence–a question: “I wonder if you might give me your definition of modern literacies?” I was intrigued, not only by the question but also by the reason behind asking it (which she explained in a later email). In any case, […]
Writing Teams vs. Curation Teams
Posted on April 11, 2017 Leave a Comment
I did a little research because I didn’t want to assume… But, as far as I can tell, many school districts in Canada and in the United States call a group of educators writing together a “writing team.” They assemble writing teams to write curriculum resources for teachers, documents that promote best practices in assessment, […]
Remember passwords using an algorithm
Posted on January 23, 2017 Leave a Comment
At this point in the information age, our personal digitals tools, data and valuable resources are often protected by a username and password combination. Maybe this will change in the future but currently, the task of remembering dozens or hundreds of passwords is a challenge. Many people I know use one, or just a few, […]
Introduction to ScratchJr
Posted on September 16, 2014 32 Comments
[Note: Updated, April 22, 2015] App Name – ScratchJr Cost – Free Website – http://www.scratchjr.org/ Tablets – iOS and Android Developed by – Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University iOS Download – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scratchjr/id895485086 Android Download – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.scratchjr.android What is ScratchJr? ScratchJr is a tablet app that young children can use to create simple programs such as stories, games and […]
Coding in the service of learning
Posted on June 22, 2014 3 Comments
In a recent blog post by @MatthewOldridge, he questions the ‘whys’ of learning to code. And rightly so, I think. If you are at all following educational trends, you are probably aware that people are seriously discussing the merits of coding/programming in terms of a new literacy. For example, you have probably seen all or part of this […]
Digital native/immigrant notion can be misleading
Posted on December 11, 2013 4 Comments
Prensky’s ‘digital natives’ and ‘digital immigrants’ dichotomy is just one current incarnation of the old “generation gap” cliché. Yes, I do concede that there might be a gap in the general knowledge and skills of what is happening in youth culture and what is happening in the culture of the parents of today’s youth. I […]
Critical thinking and information literacy – Part I
Posted on October 8, 2012 Leave a Comment
Could critical thinking skills be learned as a self-extending system? Can children be taught how to think critically within an information literacy context? That is, it seems to be a consistent educational goal that students of all ages are able to critically evaluate the information that is conveyed to them. So, how does the ability […]
