The Keyword Blog

Scoop.IT! Information Fluency Magazine

2011-12-11T15:44:00.000-08:00

Scoop.it: 21st Century Information Fluency

“Learning to find, evaluate and use digital information effectively, efficiently and ethically.”

Curated by Dennis T OConnor

Click through and review our latest finds. You'll be surprised at the variety of articles we're gathering!

Information filters lead to knowledge (for some).

2011-12-01T18:28:00.001-08:00

I've been seeking a way to explain why I introduce Diigo along with Information fluency skills in the E-Learning for Educators Course.

This article quickly draws the big picture. Folks seeking to become online teachers are pursuing a specialized teaching skill that requires an information filtering strategy as well as what Rheingold calls "a mental cognitive and social strategy for how you're going to deploy your attention."

Five Forms of Filtering « Innovation Leadership Network | 21st Century Information Fluency

The Next Generation Digital Book

2011-11-19T13:03:00.001-08:00

Many Information Fluency enabled educators have an affinity for the feel of paper and the tactile delight of paging through print books. While I still love the printed form, I'm also engaged by more easy to read interactive work as well. Here's a glimpse into the near future of Digital books, a demonstration of It's Our Choice by Al Gore.

Baloney Detection Kit

2011-11-08T21:40:00.001-08:00

The first video from RDF TV! With a sea of information coming at us from all directions, how do we sift out the misinformation and bogus claims, and get to the truth? Michael Shermer of Skeptic Magazine lays out a "Baloney Detection Kit," ten questions we should ask when encountering a claim

Why Kid's Can’t Search

2011-10-31T21:13:00.000-07:00

Why Kids Can't Search: Clive Thompson / Wired

Why Johnny Can't Search: A response by Peter Pappas
Response to this month's piece in Wired Magazine titled: Why Johnny Can't Search.

Tags: thompson
- - Saved By Donna Evans

Posted from Diigo. The rest of E-Learning for Educators group favorite links are here.

Can We Teach Creative and Critical Thinking?

2011-10-30T17:32:00.001-07:00

Can We Teach Creative and Critical Thinking? - Education - GOOD
Tags: critical thinking, thinking, 21cif
- how is creative or critical thought defined and taught? And by what assessment can we measure it, if at all?

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Zero to Eight: Children's Media Use In America

2011-10-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

Zero to Eight: Children's Media Use in America | Common Sense Media
Tags: media, research, children
- Zero to Eight is a nationally representative survey of parents of U.S. children ages zero to eight, conducted to understand the patterns of media use among young American children. Covering TV, other video, reading, music, computers, video games, and mobile digital devices, we examine time spent and frequency of use; differences in children’s media use by gender, race, or socio-economic status; the home media environment; educational media use; and access to the newest mobile media platforms like smart phones and tablets.

Participatory Librarianship Starter Kit

2011-10-26T06:30:00.001-07:00

Introduction to Participatory Librarianship
Tags: librarians, participatory, library, collaboration, 21cif
- Simply put participatory librarianship recasts library and library practice using the fundamental concept that knowledge is created through conversation. Libraries are in the knowledge business, therefore libraries are in the conversation business. Participatory librarians approach their work as facilitators of conversation. Be it in practice, policies, programs and/or tools, participatory librarians seek to enrich, capture, store and disseminate the conversations of their communities. Explore the information below, and throughout this site to learn more.
- The starter kit is a resource to move participatory librarianship from concept to reality. How does a focus on knowledge creation over artifacts look in practice? How can librarians be prepared for a world of participation? The answers to these questions and more come more from experimentation than theory. The Starter Kit is the ever increasing forum to detail, document, and solicit real steps in implementing participatory librarianship.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Free E-Book: School Libraries: What's Now, What's Next, What's Yet to Come

2011-10-23T17:31:00.001-07:00

Smashwords - School Libraries: What's Now, What's Next, What's Yet to Come - A book by Kristin Fontichiaro

Tags: school libraries, book, 21cif
- School Libraries: What's Now, What's Next, What's Yet to Come
- FREE E-Book! A crowdsourced collection of over 100 essays from around the world about trends in school libraries written by librarians, teachers, publishers, and library vendors.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Online Teacher's Information Fluency Toolkit

2011-10-12T10:28:00.001-07:00

21st Century Information Fluency Homepage

Research, curriculum materials, online games, for teaching information fluency skills.

tags: 21stcenturyskills information_literacy research
Digital Information Fluency Model
Information Fluency Teacher Resource Kits

This is the home page for our Full Circle Resource Kits. Each Kit is designed to provide online and face to face teachers with a comprehensive set of online articles about searching, evaluating, and ethically using digital content. Includes, games, assessment ideas, and curriculum building resources. Topics Include: Getting Started with the Search Process, Instructional Guidelines, Database Selection, Deep Web Searching, Question to Query, Optimal Queries, Effective Operators Homing in on Relevant Information, Browsing, Directories, Links, Tags, Web 2.0 Search Applications, Evaluation, Author, Publisher, Bias, Links, Date, Evidence, Accuracy, Ethical Use, and Citation.

tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games
Who Links to this page?

An interactive game Micromodule companion: Understand how to discover pages that link to the webpage under investigation.

tags: investigative searching website evaluation learning game
Who is the Author?

An interactive MicroModule companion. This tutorial provides an opportunity to apply research and detective techniques that help you find the author of a website.

tags: modla investigative searching website evaluation learning game
Who is the Publisher?

An interactive MicroModule companion. Investigative techniques for determining the Publisher of a website.

tags: modla investigative searching website evaluation learning game
Bias & Objectivity

An interactive MicroModule companion. How to recognize indicators of Bias. Read passages from actual websites then check your understanding of bias using 5 essential criteria.

tags: modla investigative searching website evaluation learning game
What is the Date?

An interactive MicroModule companion. Determine the freshness of information by fining out how recently a web page was published or updated.

tags: modla investigative searching website evaluation learning game
Bad Apple: The Classroom Edition

Five separate evaluation challenges that compare your investigative findings to those of others in your class. Can you detect which websites are hoaxes and which are not?

tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games
Use it? or Lose It?

Live webpage evaluation games that challenge your skills to locate and evaluate information on the Internet.

tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games
Copyright: An Interactive MicroModule Companion

This tutorial provides an opportunity to apply copyright and fair use knowledge in a learning game setting.

tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games ethical use
Plagiarism I: An interactive MicroModule Companion

Our original plagiarism challenge: can you tell which students are guilty of plagiarism? Can your students make a distinction between paraphrasing and plagiarism?

tags: plagiarism paraphrasing information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games ethical use
Plagiarism II: An interactive Micromodule companion.

Part two of this series of tutorial games for improving one's understanding of plagiarism vs paraphrasing.

tags: plagiarism information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games ethical use paraphrasing
Plagiarism III: An interactive MicroModule companion

Part three of series of tutorial games for improving one's understanding of plagiarism and how to avoid it. This game asked you to investigate science topics. Can you demonstrate the differencs between plagiarism and paraphrasing?

tags: plagiarism paraphrasing information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games ethical use

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Information Investigator Preview

2011-09-30T18:30:00.001-07:00

Information Investigator 3 by Carl Heine on Prezi
What if every student (and educator) was a good online researcher? I know, you don't have the time to teach information fluency skills. What if you could get a significant advance is skills with just a 2 -3 hour time commitment?

Here's a great Prezi 'fly by" of the new Information Investigator 3.1 online self paced class. Watch the presentation carefully to find the link to a free code to take the class for evaluation purposes.
Tags: 21cif, Information fluency, selflearning, self-paced, online learning, research
- - By Dennis OConnor

Information Investigator 3 on Prezi

Limited time offer: Preview this course. Cost? Your time and attention. http://21cif.com/selfguided.html

Search Stories: Zack Matere: Growing Knowledge

2011-09-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

Search Story: Using the Internet to find information that changes lives. Zack Matere uses a village bulletin board to tack up vital knowledge he gets from the net. Real change, now.

Search Stories: Letter from Descartes

2011-09-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

Erik-Jan, a philosophy scholar in the Netherlands, has spent 20 years studying René Descartes. In 2010, his search to understand Descartes' correspondences led him to something that had been missing for over 300 years

.

Is your district spending 8 - 16k per year on you?

2011-09-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

Education Week: Bringing Professional Development Into the 21st Century

But the body of research reveals that staff-development costs, including central-office and local staff, hours of teacher time, stipends, salary increases, substitutes, facilities, instructors, and material expenditures hover in the range of $8,000 to $16,000 per teacher, per year, especially in larger districts. Most districts have no idea they spend that much on staff development. Sadly though, most administrators agree their professional-development outlay has no correlation with student-achievement results.
- The only effective way to scale professional development is to leverage online learning. Online professional development can deliver dozens of hours to teachers within eight weeks and includes collaborative learning environments supported effectively by coaching, modeling, mentoring, observation, and feedback. Online professional development works because it reduces travel costs and coordination, minimizes time out of the classroom, and allows educators to learn at their own pace. In fact, research suggests that online learning happens faster than face-to-face learning, with increased retention of the material.
- Online professional development engages educators in high-quality learning by adhering to best practices in adult learning. It promotes differentiated coursework while enabling teachers to engage collaboratively with colleagues who share their learning needs. By delivering effective, differentiated online professional development, districts leverage the powerful advantages of technology and the online-learning environment. Districts delivering online professional development realize cost savings, scale critical instructional practices, differentiate teacher learning, advance strategic human-capital management, maintain intentional fidelity, and transform teaching.
- The $10,000-per-teacher cost could be justified if a significant change in teacher practice or student achievement were the result. But most professional development today lacks alignment to student-achievement needs, fidelity of implementation, and scale or reach. Professional-development days are historically spread throughout the year and delivered by internal resources through one-day trainings with little or no follow-up. In most cases, the inch-deep and train-the-trainer approaches to professional development won’t transform practice.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of E-Learning for Educators group favorite links are here.

Competition for Library Jobs Heats Up

2011-09-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

"You see, I don't believe that libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, and that's been the main reason for our policy of employing wild animals as librarians."
~~ Monty Python ~~

Special thanks to Librarian David Wee of Harvard-Westlake Middle School for the initial quotation that triggered this post.

Now I realize why he's going ape during the first week of school!

~ Dennis

Smart Search for Parents and Kids

2011-09-16T06:30:00.001-07:00

Teach Your Kids the Secrets of Smart Web Searching
From Common Sense Media: Safe Searching for your kids.
Tags: 21cif, Information fluency, research
- - By Dennis OConnor
- Advice & Answers
  Help Your Child Search the Web Like a Pro
  Why It Matters
  Tips for Effective Online Searches
  Great Google Searching Shortcuts
  
  Help Your Child Search the Web Like a Pro
  “Let’s google dinosaurs.” Sound familiar? Searching the Web is so commonplace that even young children know what it means to “google.” But when your children really need to do research for a report – or dive deeper into a subject they’re interested in – it helps to know some strategies for improving their results.
  
  Effective online searching can make a huge difference in the quality and relevance of the content your children find on the Internet. But it takes a bit of know-how to improve the chances of getting back the information they’re looking for. You can help your child search smarter – and waste less time – by explaining how to search like a pro.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Big6 Rocks!

2011-09-15T18:30:00.001-07:00

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

JoyceValenza - See Sally Research

2011-09-08T10:57:00.000-07:00

So much more to learn, so much more to teach. The evolution of the librarian and the library.

Joyce Kasman Valenza loves her work as the librarian at Springfield Township High School (PA)! For ten years, she was the techlife@school columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Joyce is the author of Power Tools, Power Research Tools and Power Tools Recharged for ALA Editions. (PowerTools Remixed is currently in progress.) Joyce is a Milken Educator, an American Memory Fellow, and a member of the Library of Congress Teacher with Primary Sources cohort. Her Virtual Library won the IASL School Library Web Page of the Year Award for 2001. She has won her state's PSLA Outstanding Program (2005) and Outstanding Contributor (2009) Awards. Joyce is active in ALA, AASL, YALSA, and ISTE and contributes to VOYA, Technology and Learning, LMC and School Library Journal. Joyce speaks internationally about issues relating to libraries and thoughtful use of educational technology. She considers herself a mother and founder of the school library Geek Tribe, SchoolLibraryWebsites, New Tools Workshop, TLNing, TL Virtual Café, TL Ning, Pathfinder Swap, School Library Websites, and TLGuide.

TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Information Fluency Common Core Alignment

2011-09-06T18:30:00.001-07:00

Information Fluency Common Core Alignment
One school districts work aligning information fluency with the new Common Core Learning Standards. Lots of work done here. Are you facing a similar project?
Tags: information fluency, 21cif, Common-Core, commoncore
- - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Twitter, Research, Historical Tweeting

2011-09-05T18:30:00.001-07:00

Twitter, Research, Historical Tweeting

TwHistory
Create historical twitter character then tweet based on history research Quote from Mark Rounds Web-Ed Tools Paper.li, "Participants choose a historical event, create Twitter accounts for individual characters, pore over primary source documents and think critically about the times, dates, and durations of events to create hundreds of Tweets as they might have been broadcast had Twitter existed before the 21st century. They then submit all those Tweets to the engineers at TwHistory, specifying a start date for their event, and then watch it unfold – over a day, a week, a month or more – reflecting the event’s actual duration."
Tags: research 2.0, cool tools, Twitter, reading, 21cif
- - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

21Cif Diigo Feed 09/06/2011 (a.m.)

2011-09-05T17:31:00.001-07:00

ChartTool - create nice looking charts with Image Charts!
Tags: 21cif, information fluency, google, infographics
TwHistory
Create historical twitter character then tweet based on history research Quote from Mark Rounds Web-Ed Tools Paper.li, "Participants choose a historical event, create Twitter accounts for individual characters, pore over primary source documents and think critically about the times, dates, and durations of events to create hundreds of Tweets as they might have been broadcast had Twitter existed before the 21st century. They then submit all those Tweets to the engineers at TwHistory, specifying a start date for their event, and then watch it unfold – over a day, a week, a month or more – reflecting the event’s actual duration."
Tags: research 2.0, cool tools, Twitter, reading, 21cif
- - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

E-Learning for Special Populations

2011-09-05T17:08:00.000-07:00

Education Week: E-Learning for Special Populations
Tags: E-Learning, special populations, ell, special education online, at risk online
- This special report, another installment in Education Week's series on virtual education, examines the growing e-learning opportunities for students with disabilities, English-language learners, gifted and talented students, and those at risk of failing in school. It shows the barriers that exist for greater participation among special populations, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of this approach. It also looks at the funding tactics schools are using to build virtual education programs for special populations and the evolving professional-development needs for these efforts.
- Download the interactive PDF version of the report, E-Learning for Special Populations.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of E-Learning for Educators group favorite links are here.

Curious about curation?

2011-09-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

Howard Rheingold interviews Robin Good on curation

More resources:

Joyce Valenza: Web 3.0: We have so much stuff!

Buffy Hamilton: Summer Seed Ideas: Curation, Participation, and Student PLEs

Aggregating the Information Flow to Feed your Needs

2011-09-05T06:30:00.001-07:00

Another term or filter for understanding the information flow is calling all this the Semantic Web.

Search, Research, and Referencing

2011-09-05T05:30:00.001-07:00

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

High Tech / Low Tech Strategies

2011-09-04T18:30:00.001-07:00

Education Week Teacher: High-Tech Teaching in a Low-Tech Classroom
Might help create a blended classroom, even when you have to share the blender. Common sense advise for the real world of underequipped classrooms and stretched thin teachers.
Tags: education, Low-Tech 21st century skills, ed-tech, blended learning, 21cif
- - By Dennis OConnor
- How can we best use limited resources to support learning and familiarize students with technology?
- get creative with lesson structure
- Take advantage of any time that your students have access to a computer lab with multiple computers.
- Relieve yourself from the pressure of knowing all the ins and outs of every tool. Instead, empower your students by challenging them to become experts who teach one another (and you!) how to use new programs.
- Small groups of students engage in dialogue on a particular topic, then a member uses a digital tool to report on the group's consensus.
- Students assist one another in creating digital products that represent or reflect their new learning. It’s a great way to spread technological skills in a one-computer classroom.
- Group Consensus Method
- "Pass it On" Buddy Method
- Rotating Scribe Method
- Each day, one student uses technology to record the lesson for other students.
- Whole Class Method
- Teachers in one-computer classrooms often invite large groups of students to gather around the computer. Here are a few suggestions for making the most of these activities
- When we are faced with limited resources, it is tempting to throw up our hands and say, "I just don't have what I need to do this!" However, do not underestimate your ability to make it work.
Is Google really filtering my news? - Librarian of Fortune
Tags: 21cif, search, google
- He leads off the book with a discussion of the effect of Google’s “personalization” feature on the ranking of search results. This feature uses 54 signals (what browser version you’re using, your prior searches, geographic location, and so on) to customize search results for each user.
- “increasingly biased to share our own views. More and more, your computer monitor is a kind of one-way mirror, reflecting your own interests while algorithmic observers watch what you click.”
- Bottom line: Holy moley, Google does filter the news. You really need to go beyond the first few search results if you want to get a relatively well-rounded view of the news.
- While it is fairly common knowledge, at least among info pros, that Google search results vary widely from one searcher to another, I had assumed that I would see far less variation in Google News searching.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Mobile Learning

2011-09-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

Are We Wired For Mobile Learning? [INFOGRAPHIC] | Voxy Blog
Tags: infographic, mobile, mlearning, infographics, web2.0
- Because of the proliferation of new technologies, the younger generation today is outgrowing traditional forms of education – remember pencils, chalkboards, textbooks and graphing calculators? Whether we are in the car, on the train, at work, or in a classroom, mobile technology in particular is giving us the ability to learn on-the-go. See the infographic below to learn why we are wired for mobile learning, and how we can use mobile technologies to educate ourselves.
Via: Voxy Blog

common core & 21st century skills

2011-09-01T17:31:00.001-07:00

Common Core - Debating “21st Century Skills”
As a promoter of information fluency, I'd argue that it is a 21st century foundation skill for all core academic subjects.

To be information fluent means a student can independently research and evaluate digital information relevant to any topic, the common core academic subjects, as well as media studies and consumer issues.

There's no disconnect! What do you think?

Tags: commoncore, 21cif
- - By Dennis OConnor
- Common Core has been critical of the idea that our children’s education should be organized around a set of so-called “21st century skills” instead of core academic subjects such as history, science, and the arts.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Information Investigator: 3.1 Self-Paced Online Training

2011-08-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

Boost Information Fluency Scores 50% in 3 hours.

This is our newest approach to information fluency assessment and training.

This package starts with a 10-level interactive tutorial that diagnoses and strengthens eight key search and evaluation competencies.

Live search challenges are coupled with "first aid kits" that address the knowledge and skills needed to succeed.

A Certification Exam is provided after the tutorials to assess information fluencies in finding and evaluating information.

The entire experience can be completed in about 3 hours.

If you are interested in previewing the entire package for your students, please contact Carl at carl@21cif.com.

The course is completely free. You are under no obligation to purchase anything.

This course and assessment package was developed with feedback from teachers and library media specialists last spring. Over 900 students in middle school and high school used the materials this summer and improved their information fluency scores by over 50%.

We will give you full access to the course so you can evaluate the effectiveness of the training. If you wish to make the course available to your institution, group discounts based on volume are available.

The Flow of Information

2011-08-28T18:30:00.001-07:00

Join our Information Fluency Group

The Flow of Information

Tags: 21cif, Information fluency, literacy
- Information flows in different ways in different subject areas. Each of the
  links below takes you to a timeline which will show you how information flowed
  from a sample event, research study, or artistic creation. Pick the subject
  area that you are researching or that you find interesting.
A Primer on Databases and Catalogs

Tags: 21cif, search, research
- The nitty gritty on finding things in an electronic format
  You've been told that the computer is a vast treasure trove of information
  at your fingertips. But when you try to get into that stash, you're often
  left with a great deal of information that is mostly useless.
  
  This unit cracks open the information vault to give you a look inside
  the database, which is the structure that contains the information you're
  looking for.
Information Literacy - Home

Tags: 21cif, Information fluency, literacy
- 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.
Starting Your Search

Tags: 21cif, Information fluency, search, google
- Putting the research process to work
  Don’t know where to begin? This unit will help kickstart your research
  with a ten-step strategy that works for just about any discipline.
  
  In the first part of this unit you’ll find instructions on a ten
  step research method. On the last pages of the unit, you’ll see
  the strategy put to work in 3 examples.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

A Creative Commons search engine for Flickr Images

2011-08-25T05:30:00.001-07:00

Behold | Search High Quality Flickr Images
Tags: CreativeCommons, photos, search, 21cif

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Flickr photo by Michael Porter. The libraryman

http://www.flickr.com/photos/libraryman/

What is Web 2.0? Learn it in 5 minutes or less

2011-08-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

Learn It In 5 - Home
Video site dedicated to short instructional tutorials for the technology classroom.
- At Learn it in 5, you'll learn what is Web 2.0, and strategies for using Web 2.0 technology in the digital classroom - all in 5 minutes or less.
  
  Learn it in 5 is a powerful library of how-to videos, produced by technology teachers, for the purpose of helping teachers and students create classroom strategies for today's 21st century's digital classroom. These step-by-step how-to videos walk teachers through Web 2.0 technology, demonstrating how to use Web 2.0 applications like blogs, social networks, podcasts, interactive videos, wikis, slide sharing and much more.

Common Core Standards for Librarians

2011-08-01T18:30:00.001-07:00

School Librarians and the Common Core Standards: Resources
This is a livebiners presentaion from Carolyn Jo Starkey that presents detailed resources on how the Common Core Standards relate to school library media studies.
Tags: CommonCore, standards, curriculum, librarians, Information fluency, 21cif
- - By Dennis OConnor
Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

ISTE 2011: Put On Your ‘Big Girl Panties’

2011-08-01T17:31:00.001-07:00

ISTE 2011: Put On Your ‘Big Girl Panties’ (School Library Journal)

This is a call to arms By Kathy Ishizuka. Many Library Media Specialist attended the ISTE conference in Philadelphia this summer.

The "gorilla-in-the-room issue of threatened obsolescence" is what it's all about. Read this insightful 3 step program for standing up for ourselves!

Tags: research 2.0, Information fluency, information literacy, 21cif

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

The Social Media Arms Race

2011-08-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Stop the Social Media Arms Race in School | What's the PONT

Good summary of how educators viewing the use of social media tools in schools as a battle are not likely to win and an opportunity will be lost.

Tags: social media, media, Technology

- By Peter Hess

Posted from Diigo. The rest of E-Learning for Educators group favorite links are here.

Information Fluency Games / Information Literacy Games!

2011-07-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

Dozens of free flash based online training games

No Password required.
Games created by Dr. Carl Heine, Director of the 21CIF Project.
These resources are published free in the games section of our site.
Sign up for our free newsletter to stay posted on our latest games.

Mobile Tech in Libraries

2011-07-24T18:30:00.001-07:00

Libraries to Go: Mobile Tech in Libraries
Tags: library2.0, mobile, 21cif, web2.0
digitalresearchtools / Annotation and Notetaking Tools
Tags: notetaking, annotation, 21cif, information fluency
- Definition: There are available downloads, applications, and plug-ins that allow you to take notes, share them with other researchers, attach them to digital resources, and more.
The Library in Your Pocket: Mobile Trends for Libraries
Slide Share
Tags: 21cif, information fluency, mobile
- - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Sweet Search For Kids

2011-07-11T18:30:00.001-07:00

Sweet Search
New venture. Looks like this company hopes to license tutorials that will accompany the search engine. Similar to Netrekker model.
Tags: 21cif, information fluency, search, research, education, literacy, information literacy
- - By Dennis OConnor
-     Every Web site in SweetSearch has been evaluated by our research experts.
  
        SweetSearch Web Research Tutorial Teaches Web Research Skills to Educators and Students
  
        SweetSearch4Me is our search engine for emerging learners.
  
        SweetSearch2Day is where students Learn Something New Every Day.
  
  Visit SweetSearch Biographies for profiles of 1,000+ significant people.
  
  Visit SweetSearch Social Studies for our best social studies content.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

First Aid Kit: Quick Tutorials

2011-06-26T17:31:00.001-07:00

Information Fluency: First Aid Kit
http://tinyurl.com/infoaid
Tags: 21cif, ctd
- - By Dennis OConnor
- Quick Help when you need it.
  
  Use the contents of this Kit when you need help understanding an information fluency method. Choose from the Topics below.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Teaching Information Literacy with Primary Sources (UW-Stout Graduate Online Course)

2011-05-25T12:31:00.000-07:00

EDUC 744 951 Teaching Information Literacy with Primary Sources
Completely Online: 3 Graduate Units from the University of Wisconsin Stout!

Learn how to locate authentic digital primary sources in multiple formats to enhance your curriculum. Develop age appropriate learning activities that promote higher level questioning and critical thinking skills while adding excitement to student learning through engaging activities.

The course is especially helpful for teachers of AP classes, teachers addressing state and national standards requiring the use of primary sources, and teachers working with National History Day activities. Materials from TPS Direct, the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources professional development program, will be incorporated in the class.

Last Call! EDUC 744 951 3 graduate credits June 13 - August 12, 2011

Course Info Registration

This course is taught by noted Library Media Specialist:

Mary Alice Anderson

School of Education
University of Wisconsin-Stout
140E Voc Rehab Bldg
Menomonie, WI 54751
Phone: (507) 452 1180 after 4:00 p.m. CST
E-Mail: andersonmary@uwstout.edu

Online Teacher Toolkit: Information Fluency Learning Games and Resources

2011-03-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

Drop these resources into your library website or online course!

Information Fluency Teacher Resource Kits

This is the home page for our Full Circle Resource Kits. Each Kit is designed to provide online and face to face teachers with a comprehensive set of online articles about searching, evaluating, and ethically using digital content. Includes, games, assessment ideas, and curriculum building resources.

Topics Include:

Getting Started with the Search Process
Instructional Guidelines Database Selection
Deep Web Searching
Question to Query
Optimal Queries
Effective Operators
Homing in on Relevant Information
Browsing: Directories, Links, Tags
Web 2.0 Search Applications
Evaluation: Author, Publisher, Bias, Links, Date, Evidence, Accuracy
Ethical Use
Citation

tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games

Who Links to this page?
An interactive game Micromodule companion: Understand how to discover pages that link to the webpage under investigation.
tags: investigative searching website evaluation learning game
Who is the Author?
An interactive MicroModule companion. This tutorial provides an opportunity to apply research and detective techniques that help you find the author of a website.
tags: modla investigative searching website evaluation learning game
Who is the Publisher?
An interactive MicroModule companion. Investigative techniques for determining the Publisher of a website.
tags: modla investigative searching website evaluation learning game
Bias & Objectivity
An interactive MicroModule companion. How to recognize indicators of Bias. Read passages from actual websites then check your understanding of bias using 5 essential criteria.
tags: modla investigative searching website evaluation learning game
What is the Date?
An interactive MicroModule companion. Determine the freshness of information by fining out how recently a web page was published or updated.
tags: modla investigative searching website evaluation learning game
Bad Apple: The Classroom Edition
Five separate evaluation challenges that compare your investigative findings to those of others in your class. Can you detect which websites are hoaxes and which are not?
tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games
Use it? or Lose It?
Live webpage evaluation games that challenge your skills to locate and evaluate information on the Internet.
tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games
Copyright: An Interactive MicroModule Companion
This tutorial provides an opportunity to apply copyright and fair use knowledge in a learning game setting.
tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games ethical use

Plagiarism vs Paraphrase? Teach the concepts in depth!
Plagiarism I: An interactive MicroModule Companion
Our original plagiarism challenge: can you tell which students are guilty of plagiarism? \nTest your skills at detecting plagiarism.
tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games ethical use
Plagiarism II: An interactive Micromodule companion.
Part two of this series of tutorial games for improving one's understanding of plagiarism and how to avoid it.
tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games ethical use
Plagiarism III: An interactive MicroModule companion
Part three of series of tutorial games for improving one's understanding of plagiarism and how to avoid it. This game asked you to investigate science topics. Plagiarized or Paraphrased? Test your skills at detecting plagiarism.
tags: information literacy information fluency' teacher resources learning games ethical use plagiarism

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Kermit the Frog Search Challenge!

2011-03-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

It ain't easy being green....

Finding Kermit was the inspiration for one of the first Internet Search Challenges created by Dr. Carl Heine. The task is to track down a picture of Kermit ready for graduation in the least amount of time.

Many teachers use this as a whole class lab activity. Put up a search challenge and then it's off the races! This game is live, just click Google to start the timer.

This activity has been available online for years along with nearly 100 other Information Literacy Games at 21cif.com.

For news of the latest Search Challenges subscribe to Carl Heine's Internet Search Challenge Blog! http://internetsearchchallenge.blogspot.com/

Personal Search Engines

2011-03-12T12:12:00.000-08:00

These personal search engines were developed by participants in the University of Wisconsin Stout E-Learning for Educators online class.

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Japanese and Chinese intercultural communication in Business

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Grab this swicki from eurekster.com

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Free Information Fluency Learning Games!

2011-02-24T05:19:00.000-08:00

Free Information Fluency Learning Games!

All games are free for your use.
Drop them into your online courses!
Drop them into your lesson and unit plans.

Help your students become investigative searchers able to detect the validity of web resources.

These stand alone, on demand learning objects make it easy to provide information fluency experiences in your already crowded curriculum.

Here's a quick access index of just some of our games:

http://www.diigo.com/list/wiredinstructor/21_cif-learning-games-and-online-resources

Pass these along?

Let us know what you think!

Prove it: Do school libraries and librarians make a difference?

2011-01-12T13:35:00.000-08:00

Do school libraries and librarians make a difference? YES!

The Kieth Curry Lance Studies, sometimes called the Colorado Studies, did solid gold job of documenting how and why libraries are essential for teaching and learning in school. 14 years of research across a dozen states, established the importance of library media and professionally trained librarians.

Lance's exhaustive research established the rock solid conclusion that a professionally staffed library media center is the most effective way to improve student learning. (Well almost, the most effective way to improve student learning is to improved a student's socio-economic conditions.)

Here is a Diigo annotated link to a detailed overview of Lance's research into the effectiveness of school libraries and librarians: http://diigo.com/0elwq

He answers the question I asked in this post: Do school libraries or librarians make a difference? His answer (A HUGE YES!) is backed by 14 years of remarkable research. The point is proved. But this information remains unknown to many principals and superintendents.

Anyone interested in 21st century teaching and learning will find this interview fascinating.

Those of you in the field struggling to keep your programs going need this information to PROVE your point!

More Resources:
Many of the online references to Kieth Curry Lance's work are no longer working. It's ironic to me that such vital resources have suffered linkrot. I went to the Colorado State Library system and did a Google site search. I was relieved to find many of Lance's materials still available online. Here's a link to an index of his materials now available via the state library website: http://tinyurl.com/lrs-lance http .

Plagiarism Detection: 3 Interactive Games

2010-09-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

Plagiarism I: An interactive MicroModule Companion
http://21cif.com/rkitp/challenge/v1n8/plagiarism.swf
Our original plagiarism challenge: can you tell which students are guilty of plagiarism? \nTest your skills at detecting plagiarism.
Plagiarism II: An interactive Micromodule companion.
http://21cif.com/rkitp/challenge/v1n8/plagiarism2.swf
Part two of this series of tutorial games for improving one's understanding of plagiarism and how to avoid it.
Plagiarism III: An interactive MicroModule companion
http://21cif.com/rkitp/challenge/v1n8/plagiarism3.swf
Part three of series of tutorial games for improving one's understanding of plagiarism and how to avoid it. This game asked you to investigate science topics. Plagiarized or Paraphrased? Test your skills at detecting plagiarism.

Just the Facts: Videocast

2010-04-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a small archive of videos produced by Factcheck.org. Each deals with a fact check issue in brief visual report.

Search Patterns

2010-04-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

Search Patterns: Design for Discovery

View more presentations from Peter Morville.

Search Patterns

2010-02-21T16:31:00.001-08:00

Collection: Search Patterns
"A sandbox for collecting search examples, patterns, and anti-patterns. "

This is flickr based and may take a long time to load.
Tags: search, patterns, usability, design, interface, 21ci
- - By Dennis OConnor
Search Patterns: Design for Discovery
Tags: 21ci, search
- Search is among the most disruptive innovations of our time. It influences what we buy and where we go. It shapes how we learn and what we believe. This provocative and inspiring book explores design patterns that apply across the categories of web, e-commerce, enterprise, desktop, mobile, social, and real time search and discovery.
- Using colorful illustrations and examples, the authors bring modern information retrieval to life, covering such diverse topics as relevance ranking, faceted navigation, multi-touch, and mixed reality.
Search is the Web's fun and wicked problem
"It's odd that something so important is so hard to harness."
Tags: search, 21ci
- - By Dennis OConnor
- Instead of taking time to understand the territory and chart an optimal course, we prefer the illusion of speed and simplicity. So we search.
- Instead of taking time to understand the territory and chart an optimal course, we prefer the illusion
- Instead of taking time to understand the territory and chart an optimal course, we prefer the illusion
- Instead of taking time to understand the territory and chart an optimal course, we prefer the illusion
- Search is a complex, adaptive system and an iterative, interactive experience. For designers, it's a wicked problem, and that's why it's so much fun.
- I'm convinced that information literacy is among the most important subjects we can teach our kids.
- At its best, search doesn't simply serve up answers. It helps us formulate the right questions.
- I'd argue that search is an unusually interdisciplinary challenge that requires collaboration across the established silos of design, engineering, and marketing.
- Instead of taking time to understand the territory and chart an optimal course, we prefer the illusion of speed and simplicity. So we search.
- Autocomplete is an old pattern from the desktop that's found new life in Web and mobile search. Once relegated to the musty modules of "help" in desktop software, autocomplete is now part of our everyday experience. It's a great answer to the question: why wait for results? It saves time and typos by serving up suggested searches or destinations while we're still entering our query.
Pogosticking - a set on Flickr
"Repetitive bouncing between the SERP (search engine results page) and individual results is known as pogosticking.

A little pogosticking means users are sampling results. That’s to be expected.

But when it happens a lot, it’s not sampling; it’s a symptom."
Tags: 21ci, search, pogo sticking
- - By Dennis OConnor
Thrashing - a set on Flickr
"In thrashing, a design flaw resides in users’
heads in the form of the anchoring bias.

We set the anchor with our initial query, and
then, despite poor results, we insist on small variations of the flawed search phrase rather than trying new approaches."
Tags: thrashing, 21ci, search
- - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

50 Free Online Games for Teaching Information Literacy and Information Fluency

2009-12-23T13:46:00.001-08:00

Learn to Search & Evaluate Internet Resources
The 21st Century Information Fluency team just published menus leading to 50 flash based games that teach how to locate and evaluate digital information.

Check it out: Links to nearly 50 learning games, including the new three part Snow Sport Challenge. If you've been wanting to put a menu of learning games on your library or classroom computer come see what we have for you.

They also have an index of all of their Kits: Resource Kit Master Index:

You get easy access to all Articles, Podcasts, Videos, Assessment Articles, Tutorial Games, Curriculum Connections, Annotated Web Resources

Login for free resources:

All of these resources are available to you without charge. (FREE).

Don't miss the free newsletter: register with the site so they can track demographics to support their grant based work.

Check it out!

Joyce Valenza's Roadmap for professional development

2009-12-20T16:31:00.001-08:00

How to retool yourself--a roadmap of at least 16 ways by Joyce Valenza
Tags: no_tag
- How to retool yourself--a roadmap of at least 16 ways for school librarians (and
  their classroom teacher colleagues) to develop professionally

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Diigo Webslide Show: The Internet Search Challenge

2009-12-03T07:21:00.001-08:00

Using Diigo Webslides, here are two ways to review the great posts Dr. Carl Heine has been sharing on his Internet Search Blog.

(Launches webslide show in new window.)

Visit the Internet Search Challenge Blog directly for the latest news!

Search Tools Compared

2009-11-22T16:31:00.001-08:00

Search Tools Chart
Strong comparison chart of major search engines. It's good to be reminded of the powerful features of multiple search engines.
Tags: search engines
- - By Dennis OConnor
Think! Create! Share! Nurturing a Generation of Information Fluent Thinkers (This is a Wiki created by Annette Lamb.)
Straight from the Horse's Mouth:
Nonfiction, Technology and Information Fluent Thinkers

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Just the facts? A Diigo List of Resources about Cross Checking Data and 21st Century Information Fluency

2009-11-21T21:23:00.001-08:00

FactCheckED.org

Home base for fine materials, lessson plans, and information about fact checking for educators.

tags: reference, media, education, literacy, research, 21cif
- FactCheckED.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center supported by a grant from the Flora Family Foundation.
FactCheck.org

Brilliant resource from the Annenberg Public Policy Center. My research and experience with the 21st Century Information Fluency Project has revealed that teenagers HATE to fact check. Luckily, FactCheck.org also has a highly developed classroom section that provides in-depth lesson plans and media links.\n\nThis is a treasure trove!

tags: media, research, factcheck, 21cif, evaluation
The Keyword Blog: Check the Facts! Cross Check the Facts! Lessons & Media

Superb resources for anyone interested in teaching website evaluation, critical thinking, media literacy or 21st Century learning skills in general.\n\nFactCheck.org and FactCheckEd.org are essential tools for living in this part of the century. 8-)

tags: medialiteracy, fact checking
- Check the Facts! Cross Check the Facts! Lessons & Media
  
  Fact checking is essential in a (mis) information rich environment.
- Brilliant resource from the Annenberg Public Policy Center
- FactChecked.org
  Luckily, FactCheck.org also has a highly developed classroom section that provides in-depth lesson plans and media links. These are highly polished materials for educators seeking a way to teach critical thinking and evaluation skills to their students. The Lesson Plan Archive ( http://www.factchecked.org/LessonPlans.aspx ) will intrigue any educator looking for a way to engage students. These plans are edgy and up to date. If you've been looking for a way to teach thinking and evaluation of media.
14 Ways K-12 Librarians Can Teach Social Media - NeverEndingSearch - Blog on School Library Journal

tags: collaboration, libraries, socialmedia, education, web2.0, library
- This is the best time in history to be a teacher-librarian. Major shifts in our information and communication landscapes present new opportunities for librarians to teach and lead in areas that were always considered part of their role, helping learners of all ages effectively use, manage, evaluate, organize and communicate information, and to love reading in its glorious new variety.
  
  A school’s teacher-librarian is its chief information officer, but in a networked world, the position is more that of moderator or coach, the person who ensures that students and teachers can effectively interact with information and leverage it to create and share and make a difference in the community and beyond.
The Keyword Blog: Kermit the Frog Search Challenge (Information Literacy Games)

Information Literacy Games: Finding Kermit\n\nThis blog post features a great video of Kermit the frog singing It Ain't Easy Being Green. It follows up with an explanation of a search game that can be used with the whole class in a lab or on an individual workstation. It's part of a free series of online information literacy / information fluency games available from 21cif.com. \n\nFinding Kermit was the inspiration for one of the first Internet Search Challenges created by Dr. Carl Heine. The task is to track down a picture of Kermit ready for graduation in the least amount of time. The search game is embedded on the page so you can try it without going to the main site. \n\nMany teachers use this as a whole class lab activity. Put up a search challenge and then it's off the races! Most of these games were developed for middle and high school students. Adults find them challenging as well.

tags: information literacy games, internet search challenges, NETS-S 3
21st Century Libraries

Here's a collection of on point articles for anyone interested in libraries and the future.

tags: libraries, 21cif
- Virtual library collections, or databases, give students access to trusted content and research tools with links to authoritative information that has been vetted by subject-matter experts. Today's 21st-century school libraries make use of virtual collections while also giving students ample opportunities for enhancing their digital literacy, research, and collaboration skills which are essential in a globally connected world.
  
  With the generous support of Questia School, the editors of eSchool News have compiled this collection of stories from our archives, along with other relevant information from around the web, to help you transform your school libraries for the 21st century.
Think! Create! Share! Nurturing a Generation of Information Fluent Thinkers

Fine resources from Annette Lamb

tags: libraries, 21cif
- Straight from the Horse's Mouth:
  Nonfiction, Technology and Information Fluent Thinkers

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

21st Century Libraries: an index of article you'll want to read

2009-11-14T16:32:00.001-08:00

21st Century Libraries
Here's a collection of on point articles for anyone interested in libraries and the future.
Tags: libraries, 21cif
- - By Dennis OConnor
- Virtual library collections, or databases, give students access to trusted content and research tools with links to authoritative information that has been vetted by subject-matter experts. Today's 21st-century school libraries make use of virtual collections while also giving students ample opportunities for enhancing their digital literacy, research, and collaboration skills which are essential in a globally connected world.
  
  With the generous support of Questia School, the editors of eSchool News have compiled this collection of stories from our archives, along with other relevant information from around the web, to help you transform your school libraries for the 21st century.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Virtual Libaries: A collection of articles

2009-11-12T16:31:00.001-08:00

21st Century Libraries
Here's a collection of on point articles for anyone interested in libraries and the future.
Tags: libraries, 21cif
- - By Dennis OConnor
- Virtual library collections, or databases, give students access to trusted content and research tools with links to authoritative information that has been vetted by subject-matter experts. Today's 21st-century school libraries make use of virtual collections while also giving students ample opportunities for enhancing their digital literacy, research, and collaboration skills which are essential in a globally connected world.
  
  With the generous support of Questia School, the editors of eSchool News have compiled this collection of stories from our archives, along with other relevant information from around the web, to help you transform your school libraries for the 21st century.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

David Bar on knowledge, skills, and dispositions for successful searching

2009-11-03T16:31:00.001-08:00

Super Searchers Go to School ... - Google Books

Interview and chapter from Dr. David Barr, founder of the 21st Century Information Fluency Project. This Google book preview article from Joyce Valenza & Reva Basch's book Super Searchers Go to school reveal some of David's thinking about the knowledge, skills and dispositions for successful searching. Anyone who knows David Barr recognizes his amazing understanding of 21st century information systems. This is a gem. Don't miss it.

Tags: search, 21cif, information fluency, information literacy, david barr

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Information Fluency Group For ISTE 2010 Conference: Join us!

2009-10-24T17:32:00.001-07:00

Join US! Library Media Specialists, Ed-Technologists, any educator interested in 21st Century Skills

Information Fluency - ISTE 2010 Conference Ning

Get an early Start on ISTE 2010 in Denver!

Tags: iste2010, ning, information fluency, information literacy

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite link are here.

It's more than just words: Data Visualization

2009-10-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

Show Me don't Tell Me is classic advice for writers. The same can be said when displaying data. This round up of data visualization examples has many images that will help you conceptualize patterns and activities on the Internet.

50 Great Examples of Data Visualization

Wrapping your brain around data online can be challenging, especially when dealing with huge volumes of information.

And trying to find related content can also be difficult, depending on what data you’re looking for.

But data visualizations can make all of that much easier, allowing you to see the concepts that you’re learning about in a more interesting, and often more useful manner.

Below are 50 of the best data visualizations and tools for creating your own visualizations out there, covering everything from Digg activity to network connectivity to what’s currently happening on Twitter.

Joyce Valenza On Social Media

2009-10-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

14 Ways K-12 Librarians Can Teach Social Media - NeverEndingSearch - Blog on School Library Journal

As always, Joyce Valenza's critical eye helps us all see how social networks fit in the complex patterns of information fluency.
- This is the best time in history to be a teacher-librarian. Major shifts in our information and communication landscapes present new opportunities for librarians to teach and lead in areas that were always considered part of their role, helping learners of all ages effectively use, manage, evaluate, organize and communicate information, and to love reading in its glorious new variety.
  
  A school’s teacher-librarian is its chief information officer, but in a networked world, the position is more that of moderator or coach, the person who ensures that students and teachers can effectively interact with information and leverage it to create and share and make a difference in the community and beyond.
  Tags: collaboration, libraries, socialmedia, education, web2.0, library

Library Essentials: Reader's Workshop Defended

2009-10-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

Nancie Atwell speaks up!

Atwell explains the effectiveness of the Reader's Workshop approach in an articulate response to a New York Times article. If you need a way to explain the value of allowing readers to select their own reading, this is the resource for you.

Tags: reading, medialiteracy, reading workshop

S.O.S for Information Literacy

2009-10-17T17:33:00.003-07:00

S.O.S. for Information Literacy

Tags: Literacy, Library, lessons

S.O.S. for Information Literacy is a dynamic web-based multimedia resource that includes lesson plans, handouts, presentations, videos and other resources to enhance the teaching of information literacy.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Info Fluency group favorite links are here.

Join us on Diigo!

2009-10-15T22:38:00.001-07:00

Defending Reader's Workshop

2009-10-13T17:31:00.001-07:00

Nancie Atwell speaks up for student choice!

Tags: reading, medialiteracy, reading workshop

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Fair Use for Media Literacy Education

2009-10-10T17:32:00.001-07:00

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education

The Center for Social Media is a project of the School of Communication at the American University in Washington, D.C. The Center in conjunction with the Media Education Lab at Temple University in Philadelphia and The Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, a project of the Washington College of Law at the American University in Washington D.C. has developed a Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education. The National Council of Teachers of English is signatory to the document, along with various other legal and educational groups. The code was funded by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and The Ford Foundation through the Future of Public Media Project. (Annotation by Larry Michaud - UW-Stout E-Learning Practicum)

Tags: copyright, fairuse, literacy, education, fair use, medialiteracy, fair_use, ncte

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Free Online Courses for Ilinois Educators

2009-09-28T17:31:00.001-07:00

Illinois Educator Free Online Professional Development (Moodle Based)
Are you a middle or high school math or science teacher? If so, check out these new and innovative online professional development courses from the University of Illinois and the Illinois Math and Science Academy. Courses are available free of charge for Fall 2009.
Tags: moodle, e-learning, online classes, math, science
- - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Check the Facts! Cross Check the Facts! Lessons & Media

2009-09-24T17:31:00.001-07:00

Fact checking is essential in a (mis) information rich environment.

FactCheck.org
Brilliant resource from the Annenberg Public Policy Center. There is also a six year archive of contents. As you would expect, the current materials focus on the health care debate. For a truly balanced view of things, when the facts have been checked, and all varieties of political spin revealed this is my new FIRST STOP for FACTS. This is a treasure trove!

Tags: media, research, factcheck, 21cif, evaluation

FactChecked.org
Luckily, FactCheck.org also has a highly developed classroom section that provides in-depth lesson plans and media links. These are highly polished materials for educators seeking a way to teach critical thinking and evaluation skills to their students. The Lesson Plan Archive ( http://www.factchecked.org/LessonPlans.aspx ) will intrigue any educator looking for a way to engage students. These plans are edgy and up to date. If you've been looking for a way to teach thinking and evaluation of media.

I've been vitally interested in Investigative Searching for sometime. Fact checking, triangulation of data, skeptical and inquisitive attitude has been part of that package all along. However, I hadn't focused on Fact Checking until I reviewed the results of our summer work with 1000 teenagers who took our new Investigative Searching 20/10 online course. The data clearly shows that Fact Checking is an area of great weakness. Teenagers HATE to fact check.

This resource could change all that because once you break through the barriers, this works is stimulating, engaging, and fun. In fact, I may try one of the plans with my current group of undergraduate teacher candidates. Monty Python and the Quest for the Perfect Fallacy really appeals to me!

If you decide to use this resource, let me know what you think! (Emphasis on the think. 8-)

~ Dennis In San Diego, remembering Joe Friday's essence "Just the facts..."

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Use Skype to connect with authors

2009-08-31T17:32:00.001-07:00

Virtual Author Visits in Your Library or Classroom - Skype An Author Network
The mission of the Skype an Author Network is to provide K-12 teachers and librarians a way to connect authors, books, and young readers through virtual visits.
Tags: skype, author, books, librarian
- The mission of the Skype an Author Network is to provide K-12 teachers and librarians a way to connect authors, books, and young readers through virtual visits.
- - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Google Reader Lists: Easy access to top bloggers' networks

2009-08-29T17:32:00.001-07:00

Google Reader - Featured Reading Lists
Several categories provide access to experts blog reading feeds. One very useful search habit is to find a trusted expert and follow their web 2.0 trail. Credibility by association is a step in the right direction.
Tags: google, reader
- Several categories provide access to experts blog reading feeds. One very useful search habit is to find a trusted expert and follow their web 2.0 trail. Credibility by association is a step in the right direction. - By Dennis OConnor
- Want to know what journalists, foodies, and tech bloggers read?
  Explore and subscribe to their favorite sites in Google Reader, where keeping up with news and blogs is as easy as checking your email.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Primary Sources: Great Online Class

2009-08-22T17:32:00.001-07:00

The class was what I needed to help me get focused for school! « Random Thoughts: Change & Other Stuff

Primary Sources, Where have you been? Why have I never used primary sources? I didn’t use them because I didn’t know where to find the resources.I never considered all of the possibilities.

Tags: uw-stout, e-learning, online class, librarian, 21cif

Primary Sources, Where have you been? Why have I never used primary sources? I didn’t use them because I didn’t know where to find the resources.I never considered all of the possibilities. - By Dennis OConnor

Learn how to locate authentic digital primary sources in multiple formats to enhance your curriculum. Develop age appropriate learning activities that promote higher level questioning and critical thinking skills while adding excitement to student learning through engaging activities. The course is especially helpful for teachers of AP classes, teachers addressing state and national standards requiring the use of primary sources, and teachers working with National History Day activities. Materials fromTPS Direct, the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources professional development program, will be incorporated in the class.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Fair Use in Media Literacy Best Practices

2009-08-18T17:31:00.001-07:00

Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in Media Literacy Education | Media Education Lab
Tags: media_literacy, copyright, fairuse, medialiteracy, creativecommons, fair use, 21cif
- The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education helps educators gain confidence about their rights to use copyrighted materials in developing students' critical thinking and communication skills.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Google Educator Resourses for Web Search!

2009-08-17T17:31:00.001-07:00

Google For Educators - Web Search
Tags: 21cif, google, search, lessons, educators

Lots of classroom resources, lesson plans, three modules..... Ready to go!

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Digital Information to double every 11 hours?

2009-08-15T17:32:00.001-07:00

- IBM software boosts info on demand - CNET News
- So many of the e-learning teachers in training that I work with complain about information glut. Clearly the only way to cope is to learn how to sift and filter the flow of information that we pay attention to. Diigo is one great tool, rss, Google news filters, subscribed tags; there are many ways to cope with the flow. Still IBM's statement that digital info will be doubling every 11 hours by next year seems like science fiction.
  Tags: 21cif, information fluency
  - So many of the e-learning teachers in training that I work with complain about information glut. Clearly the only way to cope is to learn how to sift and filter the flow of information that we pay attention to. Diigo is one great tool, rss, Google news filters, subscribed tags; there are many ways to cope with the flow. Still IBM's statement that digital info will be doubling every 11 hours by next year seems like science fiction. - By Dennis OConnor
  - Steve Mills, senior vice president of IBM Software, said the company is investing in information management technology in response to an "explosion" of content in the form of digital documents, forms and multimedia.
    According to an IBM study, by 2010, the amount of digital information in the world will double every 11 hours
  - To access that information, IBM on Tuesday released what it called a "Web 2.0 interface" designed to be the preferred front end of IBM's content management servers, Mills said. The software is based on Eclipse open-source technology--already used in IBM's Lotus software--and can run on different desktop operating systems.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Can you cope? Digital Information to double every 11 hours?

2009-08-13T17:31:00.001-07:00

IBM software boosts info on demand - CNET News
So many of the e-learning teachers in training that I work with complain about information glut. Clearly the only way to cope is to learn how to sift and filter the flow of information that we pay attention to. Diigo is one great tool, rss, Google news filters, subscribed tags; there are many ways to cope with the flow. Still IBM's statement that digital info will be doubling every 11 hours by next year seems like science fiction.
Tags: 21cif, information fluency
- So many of the e-learning teachers in training that I work with complain about information glut. Clearly the only way to cope is to learn how to sift and filter the flow of information that we pay attention to. Diigo is one great tool, rss, Google news filters, subscribed tags; there are many ways to cope with the flow. Still IBM's statement that digital info will be doubling every 11 hours by next year seems like science fiction. - By Dennis OConnor
- Steve Mills, senior vice president of IBM Software, said the company is investing in information management technology in response to an "explosion" of content in the form of digital documents, forms and multimedia.
  
  According to an IBM study, by 2010, the amount of digital information in the world will double every 11 hours.
- To access that information, IBM on Tuesday released what it called a "Web 2.0 interface" designed to be the preferred front end of IBM's content management servers, Mills said. The software is based on Eclipse open-source technology--already used in IBM's Lotus software--and can run on different desktop operating systems.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

A Lesson in Information Literacy

2009-08-12T17:31:00.001-07:00

College Lesson Study: A Lesson in Information Literacy
Tags: literacy, 21cif
- A Lesson in Information Literacy
  Each year librarians at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse teach a "one-shot" lesson in information literacy to 2000 students enrolled in an introductory communication studies course. Students attend the lesson in groups of about 25 in the library. Concerned about the quality of the experience, the librarians decided to make the lesson the subject of a lesson study. They wanted to better understand what students get out of the lesson and how to improve the experience so that students achieve proficiency in research skills and learn how to use libarary resources and services.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Bing & Google Side by Side: Compare Search Results

2009-08-11T17:31:00.001-07:00

Bing vs. Google

Tags: Google, Bing, searchengine, search, 21cif
- Can't choose default search engine? Want to compare Bing & Google results?
  
  This is the right place to be. Just put your query in the search box and press Enter. You'll see results from both engines side by side.
  
  Search provider for Internet Explorer 7/8 and Firefox is also available - search both engines from your browser!
Google Jolts Search Engine With Caffeine - New search tech under the hood?
Tags: google, search
- Google engineers unveiled the news in a blog and said that they have been working on this "secret project" over the past few months.
- The changes may be more apparent to Web developers and power searchers, so Google is opening up a Web developer preview to get their feedback.
- Another tester liked the fact that Caffeine also provides more results from social networking sites.
  
  "I've noticed more Twitter pages in the results with this version of Google. Quite like having that - makes it easier to find people and companies."
information fluency @ Bing vs. Google
Here's a side by side comparison of Bing Vs Google results on the term: Information Fluency

21cif.com ( formerly 21cif.imsa.edu ) has been online for 10+ years and dominates the Google Search results. Nothing in the top ten for Bing? Google ranks our old url #1 and our new url #4. Give this a try for your self with the same terms? I'll bet you get radically different results from Google than I do. Since I've worked on the 21cif project for nearly 8 years, I know the materials well. Also Google has adapted to my search habits and provides me with more links relevant to my interest. On the Google page I'm given a link to my search-wiki results: http://tinyurl.com/21cif-search-wiki
Tags: google, bing, search, 21cif
- Here's a side by side comparison of Bing Vs Google results on the term: Information Fluency
  
  21cif.com ( formerly 21cif.imsa.edu ) has been online for 10+ years and dominates the Google Search results. Nothing in the top ten for Bing? Google ranks our old url #1 and our new url #4. Give this a try for your self with the same terms? I'll bet you get radically different results from Google than I do. Since I've worked on the 21cif project for nearly 8 years, I know the materials well. Also Google has adapted to my search habits and provides me with more links relevant to my interest. On the Google page I'm given a link to my search-wiki results: http://tinyurl.com/21cif-search-wiki - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Google Squared: Try it?

2009-08-08T17:32:00.001-07:00

Google Squared
Just try it to see what it does. 8-)
Explore Google Search
Tags: Google, search, 21cif
- Search is at the heart of everything we do at Google. Our engineers work every day to solve the hardest search problems, and thus improve your online experience. Here's a glimpse at what they do, the features they've built and the remarkable user stories that inspire our work.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Twitter & John Quincy Adams

2009-08-06T17:31:00.001-07:00

John Quincy Adams, Twitterer? - NYTimes.com
Clever use of social networking tech. The initial take on twitter was that it just broadcast mindless sort personal observations. This use turns that idea around. Interesting way to teach a bit of history. What if we started tweeting Basho & Issa, the great Japanese haiku poets? Hmmm sounds like a fun lit project doesn't it?
Tags: twitter, history
- Clever use of social networking tech. The initial take on twitter was that it just broadcast mindless sort personal observations. This use turns that idea around. Interesting way to teach a bit of history. What if we started tweeting Basho & Issa, the great Japanese haiku poets? Hmmm sounds like a fun lit project doesn't it? - By Dennis OConnor
- They may be two centuries old, but, written with staccato-like brevity, entries from one of Adams’s diaries resemble tweets sufficiently that they began appearing Wednesday on Twitter.
- The diary, which Adams maintained until April 1836, is a rarity among the many he kept, in that the description for each day is no more than one line long. Historians believe he used the descriptions as references to longer entries in other journals.
- Word spread, and the society decided to tweet the entries. They average 110 to 120 characters, below the 140-character limit imposed by Twitter, and there is nary an LOL or BFF among them.
- The posts will link to maps that, using the latitude and longitude coordinates from his entries, pinpoint his progress across the ocean. There will also be links to the longer entries of other Adams diaries, which can be found on the society’s Web site, http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/.
- The idea appears to be working. As of Wednesday evening, only nine hours after the first entry was Twittered, the post had more than 4,800 followers, and Mr. Dibbell said the number was climbing.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Librarian Blogs

2009-08-04T17:31:00.001-07:00

100 Best Blogs for Librarians of the Future - Learn-gasm

Interesting list. Who doesn't love lists? Scan for library blogs that may be new to you!

100 Best Blogs for Librarians of the Future

As a modern day library student, you’re probably excited about discovering and experimenting with the new tools and systems that have changed the way we find, receive and catalog information. But with all of the new technology out there, it can be hard to keep track of everything beyond your own niche field of study. This collection of library and information technology blogs have changed that, and now you’ll be able to learn about all of the trends, developments, tools and resources available to librarians in every niche.

Battle of the e-readers! Who wins?

2009-08-01T17:32:00.003-07:00

An Apple tablet could pit iTunes against Amazon - CNN.com

This is a speculative blog piece based on rumors of an Apple tablet computer that may (or may not) be released this fall. I've been dreaming of the ultimate e-book reader and the freedom to use low cost specific chapters from text books in my onilne classes. Will Apple satisfy those dreams? ~ Den

What can Apple do better with e-books? For textbooks or anthologies, Apple can give iTunes users the ability to download individual chapters, priced between a few cents to a few bucks each.
Tags: e-book, apple, 21cif
- Reading in the 21st Century is changing. I crave a hybrid technology that combines the joys of a traditional book with the power and reach of modern tech. This might be the next step in the evolution of e-books and online reading. We'll see! - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Open The iPhone?

2009-08-01T17:32:00.001-07:00

Why The FCC Wants To Smash Open The iPhone - washingtonpost.com
Opening the iPhone would make educational apps much easier to publish. Apple's monopoly means e-text-book readers and classroom use of hand held computers (which is what the iPhone and iPod reall are) have to pay a toll to Apple.

Right now, Apple's approval system is cloaked in mystery. Developers have no way to market their products without 'official' approval. Opening up the iPhone and by extension opening up wireless networks around the country will drive down high prices and bring connectivity to more inexpensive computing devices.

I hope this FCC investigation is the domino that kicks open the door to the clouds of connectivity that are already out there!
Tags: cloud, google voice, apps, iphone, e-learning, 21cif
- Opening the iPhone would make educational apps much easier to publish. Apple's monopoly means e-text-book readers and classroom use of hand held computers (which is what the iPhone and iPod reall are) have to pay a toll to Apple.
  
  Right now, Apple's approval system is cloaked in mystery. Developers have no way to market their products without 'official' approval. Opening up the iPhone and by extension opening up wireless networks around the country will drive down high prices and bring connectivity to more inexpensive computing devices.
  
  I hope this FCC investigation is the domino that kicks open the door to the clouds of connectivity that are already out there! - By Dennis OConnor
- Opening the iPhone would make educational apps much easier to publish. Apple's monopoly means e-text-book readers and classroom use of hand held computers (which is what the iPhone and iPod reall are) have to pay a toll to Apple.
  
  Right now, Apple's approval system is cloaked in mystery. Developers have no way to market their products without 'official' approval. Opening up the iPhone and by extension opening up wireless networks around the country will drive down high prices and bring connectivity to more inexpensive computing devices.
  
  I hope this FCC investigation is the domino that kicks open the door to the clouds of connectivity that are already out there! - By Dennis OConnor
- Right about now, Apple probably wishes it had never rejected Google Voice and related apps from the iPhone. Or maybe it was AT&T who rejected the apps. Nobody really knows. But the FCC launched an investigation last night to find out, sending letters to all three companies (Apple, AT&T, and Google) asking them to explain exactly what happened.
- The FCC investigation is not just about the arbitrary rejection of a single app. It is the FCC's way of putting a stake in the ground for making the wireless networks controlled by cell phone carriers as open as the Internet.
- Google must secretly be pleased as punch. It was only two years ago, prior to the 700MHz wireless spectrum auctions, that it was pleading with the FCC to adopt principles guaranteeing open access for applications, devices, services, and other networks. Now two years later, in a different context and under a different administration, the FCC is pushing for the same principles.
- On the wired Internet, we can connect any type of PC or other computing device and use any applications we want on those devices. On the wireless Internet controlled by cellular carriers like AT&T, we can only use the phones they allow on their networks and can only use the applications they approve.
- FCC cites "pending FCC proceedings regarding wireless open access (RM-11361) and handset exclusivity (RM-11497). That first proceeding on open access dates back to 2007 when Skype requested that cell phone carriers open up their networks to all applications (see Skype's petition here). Like Google Voice, Skype helps consumers bypass the carriers. The carriers don't like that because that's their erodes their core business and turns them into dumb pipes.
- But dumb pipes are what we need. They are good for consumers and good for competition because they allow any application and any device, within reason, to flower on the wireless Internet.
- The FCC also wants Apple to explain the arbitrariness of its app approval process:
  4. Please explain any differences between the Google Voice iPhone application and any Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications that Apple has approved for the iPhone. Are any of the approved VoIP applications allowed to operate on AT&T?s 3G network?5. What other applications have been rejected for use on the iPhone and for what reasons? Is there a list of prohibited applications or of categories of applications that is provided to potential vendors/developers? If so, is this posted on the iTunes website or otherwise disclosed to consumers?6. What are the standards for considering and approving iPhone applications? What is the approval process for such applications (timing, reasons for rejection, appeal process, etc.)? What is the percentage of applications that are rejected? What are the major reasons for rejecting an application?
- Why does it take a formal request from a government agency to get Apple (and AT&T) to explain what the rules are to get on the wireless Internet?

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

I want the ultimate e-book reader bundled with everything else...NOW!

2009-07-29T17:31:00.001-07:00

An Apple tablet could pit iTunes against Amazon - CNN.com
This is a speculative blog piece based on rumors of an Apple tablet computer that may (or may not) be released this fall. I've been dreaming of the ultimate e-book reader and the freedom to use low cost specific chapters from text books in my onilne classes. Will Apple satisfy those dreams? ~ Den

What can Apple do better with e-books? For textbooks or anthologies, Apple can give iTunes users the ability to download individual chapters, priced between a few cents to a few bucks each.
Tags: e-book, apple, 21cif
- Reading in the 21st Century is changing. I crave a hybrid technology that combines the joys of a traditional book with the power and reach of modern tech. This might be the next step in the evolution of e-books and online reading. We'll see! - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Investigative Searching Tutorials: Website Evaluation

2009-07-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

Website Evaluation: Part of the WSI (Web Site Investigator) Series

Interactive Website Evaluation Tutorials
10 online Flash games to teach 'investigative searching'. Learn how to dig deep into a website to determine credibility of the resource.
Tags: 21cif, website evaluation, information literacy, information fluency
- Investigative Searching Tutorials
  
  Use these interactive tutorials to strengthen your skills locating and evaluating information.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

21st Century Librarian Steps Up at The University of Maryland

2009-07-28T17:31:00.001-07:00

Media-Newswire.com - Press Release Distribution - PR Agency
Tags: 21cif, library2.0
- "Librarians offer an important voice in this emerging technology environment and Maryland is an especially exciting place to work right now," says Steele. "The University has a dynamic vision for the future and appreciates the role libraries can play in achieving it. We'll be able to collaborate with top researchers on campus, and our enviable proximity to the nation's capital will give great access to the many leadership organizations."
- Steele emphasizes that university libraries must collaborate with units across campus, serving as a catalyst for change in the production, distribution and preservation of scholarly output. She also sees a teaching role for libraries, "assuring the information fluency" of students.
- (Media-Newswire.com) - COLLEGE PARK,Md. - The University of Maryland has named as its new dean of university libraries, Patricia A. Steele - a national leader in the Google Project and other efforts to digitize collections creating wider access to universities' information resources. Steele, described as a visionary and dynamic leader, currently directs the libraries at Indiana University Bloomington. She begins at Maryland on Sept. 1.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Innovations and Opportunities for Media Specialists

2009-07-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

Taught by noted library media specialist Mary Alice Anderson

In The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” With the beginning of each new school year, media specialists have a chance to start fresh.

Innovations and Opportunities for Media Specialists is your opportunity to get recharged and energized to deliver a media program that has an integral role in today’s changing education environment. The course focuses on examination of current critical issues facing the media profession. Topics include understanding, surviving, and impacting change, program advocacy, data collection and becoming a leader in technology integration.

Activities include harnessing the power of Google, applying innovative web 2.0 technology tools to support engaged student learning, and examining online professional development options for your staff. Participants will complete practical course projects that meet the unique needs of their own professional growth and their media program.

Media specialists just beginning their careers and those currently in the field will gain new ideas to apply in daily work and program development.

It’s been a tough year for many media specialists, but there is still work to do and much to learn. I’d love to have you join the discussion. Mary Alice

Learn more about this course Online Graduate Course from the University of Wisconsin-Stout | Read comments from past students

Electroninc Liturature 101: Hyper-Link Reading & Understanting

2009-07-25T17:33:00.001-07:00

Electronic Literature
Electronic literature uses links, images, sound, navigation, as well as text to convey meaning. Electronic literature is ergodic, and thus it is up to the reader to piece together the materials as the reader goes through the work. Elit 101explains how these elements work to convey meaning and provides examples and exercises for each element.
Tags: writing, writing across the curriculum, 6-traits
- Electronic literature uses links, images, sound, navigation, as well as text to convey meaning. Electronic literature is ergodic, and thus it is up to the reader to piece together the materials as the reader goes through the work. Elit 101explains how these elements work to convey meaning and provides examples and exercises for each element.
- This is a beta-launch. I would like to work directly with some high school/college classes to refine the exercises. Please contact me at deenalarsen AT yahoo.com.
  
  Thanks.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Twitter your next library job!

2009-07-20T17:32:00.001-07:00

TMJ-USA Library Jobs (tmj_usa_library) on Twitter
Here's a Twitter Feed for library media specialists
Tags: library media specialist, jobs, jobsearch

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Project Tuva: great video lectures wrapped in Web 2.0 tools

2009-07-19T17:32:00.001-07:00

Project Tuva: Enhanced Video Player Home - Microsoft Research
A new project from Bill Gates that provides a series of video lectures to "explore core scientific concepts and theories". Includes "..searchable videos, transcripts, notes and interactive extras." Free, requires installing a Microsoft plug-in called Silverlight. Currently there are 7 lectures from the 60's by Richard Feynman. Includes links to extras that are rich and varied. This resource is a treasure for all.
Tags: tuva, physics, lectures, feynman, research, microsoft, science, lecture, 21cif
- A new project from Bill Gates that provides a series of video lectures to "explore core scientific concepts and theories". Includes "..searchable videos, transcripts, notes and interactive extras." Free, requires installing a Microsoft plug-in called Silverlight. - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Google for Educators

2009-07-18T17:32:00.003-07:00

Google For Educators
Tags: google, e-learning, education, tools, teaching, resources, 21cif
- At Google, we support teachers in their efforts to empower students and expand the frontiers of human knowledge. That’s why we’ve assembled the information and tools you’ll find on this site. Learn more about Google for Educators.
Home ‎(Google Teacher Academy Resources)‎
Tags: google, education, technology, resources
- This site was created to support the Google Teacher Academy (GTA). Anyone may view the site and take advantage of the resources shared here. Only Google Certified Teachers (GCT) are free to edit and add to the site. Google Certified Teachers, please follow the Guidelines when you edit the site.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Greenroom - a Great LearningTimes Podcast Series

2009-07-18T17:32:00.001-07:00

Viewing Feed (Subscribe to the Greenroom)

Here's a way to subscribe to the Learning Times Greenroom. This is one of the very best produced ed-tech podcasts I've listened to. Professional production values, fascinating topics, and professional production standards. Stay on the cutting edge of web 2.0 by listening to Susan Manning and Dan Balzer!
Tags: podcast, podcasting, ed-tech, web 2.0
- Here's a way to subscribe to the Learning Times Greenroom. This is one of the very best produced ed-tech podcasts I've listened to. Professional production values, fascinating topics, and professional production standards. Stay on the cutting edge of web 2.0 by listening to Susan Manning and Dan Balzer! - By Dennis OConnor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Google Image Search - Creative Commons Filtered Search

2009-07-15T17:32:00.001-07:00

Official Google Blog: Find Creative Commons images with Image Search
Tags: Google, Images, fairuse
- Find Creative Commons images with Image Search
  
  7/09/2009 09:47:00 AM
  
  Let's say you're a blogger. You've just returned from a trip to New York City, and you're writing a post on New York landmarks. You want to illustrate your travel guide with an image — as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. It's easy to find images of New York online. But you want to make sure that you don't use images without the permission of their owners, and you can't afford licensing fees for professional photographers.
- To enable this feature, go to our advanced image search page. Under the "Usage rights" section, you can select the type of license you'd like to search for, such as those marked for reuse or even for commercial reuse with modification. Your results will be restricted to images marked with CC or other licenses. Once you confirm the license of the image and make sure that your use will comply with the terms of the license (such as proper attribution to the image's owner), you can reuse the image. Some of you may already see these options, and we'll be rolling this feature out to everyone throughout the day.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Information Forensics Goes to School: NECC 2009

2009-07-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a video broadcast of our recent presentation from the ISTE Vision Network:

Links to Materials:

Information Forensics Goes to School

Prezi (the un-slide show)

Investigative Searching 20/10
(8 hours of self-paced online training in website evaluation.)

Open the Door to Free Google Goodies: Google For Educators

2009-07-12T17:31:00.001-07:00

Google For Educators
Tags: google, e-learning, education, tools, teaching, resources, 21cif
- At Google, we support teachers in their efforts to empower students and expand the frontiers of human knowledge. That’s why we’ve assembled the information and tools you’ll find on this site. Learn more about Google for Educators.
Home ‎(Google Teacher Academy Resources)‎
Tags: google, education, technology, resources
- This site was created to support the Google Teacher Academy (GTA). Anyone may view the site and take advantage of the resources shared here. Only Google Certified Teachers (GCT) are free to edit and add to the site. Google Certified Teachers, please follow the Guidelines when you edit the site.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Safe Surfing in a Wikipedia World

2009-07-11T17:33:00.001-07:00

01.18.2006 - Surfing is safer - and smarter - with flotation devices
One of the evaluation methods 21CIF has been promoting is verification of facts using external links. We also promote triangulation of data; finding three substantive resources that agree on the same fact.

This article calls into question the essential building blocks of Wikipedia, with good reason!
Tags: wikipedia, fact checking
- The process of rectifying those mistakes was more disturbing to Duguid than the original errors he had discovered: "My corrections were undone by people who clearly had little idea what they were talking about almost as quickly as they were made by me (who knew a little of what he was talking about)." Well-intentioned but "ill-informed editors" added their corrections to the article without offering meaningful sources for verification or entering the discussion on the discussion page. "People point to the instantaneous revision process as an indication of Wikipedia's quality-assurance mechanism," says Duguid. "These problems - of earnest but inept changes - are to me much more significant than simply finding errors."
- Duguid and Nunberg agree that the key to using any source of online information is to know its strengths and limitations. "We don't think Encyclopedia Britannica would have a definitive article on Madonna," says Duguid. "Instinctively we just know that. We need to develop those same instincts around tools like Wikipedia."
- Nunberg, who delivers commentaries on language for National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" program, evinced no surprise at the errors on Wikipedia. "You throw it open so that anyone can contribute, and people are shocked it's a flawed research tool?" he asked rhetorically. While admitting that Wikipedia is "surprisingly good" on some topics - in particular when dealing with concepts familiar to many people, such as "the undead and zombies" or the chi square - he says it falls short in treating "broader cultural topics" such as "Hitler, World War II, or the rise of the novel.
- Wikipedia's collaborative process treats information as though it is "modular and granular," says Duguid. The problem is that "once you say that information is the basic building block, the assumption is that a lot of people can contribute these blocks and what we'll end up with is the Taj Mahal." Wikipedia's methodology is more likely to result in a patchwork quilt, he says, one that, in Wikipedia's case, is "simply an amalgam of facts." Such an approach, he says, isn't how good encyclopedia articles get written.

Creative commons image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oahu_North_Shore_surfing_hand_drag.jpg

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Big LIst of Small Search Engines (some not so small)

2009-06-22T17:30:00.001-07:00

100+ Alternative Search Engines You Should Know | Tools
As advertised, this site has one of those endless list of links to many search engines you've probably never heard of. It's fun to cruise the list and try some of these specialized se's!
Tags: search, searchengines, web2.0, list, 21cif

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Son of Citation Machine 5.0 / Warlick Video

2009-06-13T17:47:00.003-07:00

Son of Citation Machine 5.0
Here's the latest edition of the very popular Son of Citation Machine from David Warlick. It handles MLA, APA, Turabian and Chicago. I've included a video from David so you can learn about from the source!
Video tutorial by David Warlick on Citation Machine 5.0

KnightCite

This is a promising and well designed online citation system from the Hekman Library at Calvin University in Michigan. It does an excellent job with MLA, APA, and Chicago citation styles. Includes customized forms for Multimedia, Anthology, Periodical, Communications, and Online Only. First Rate!

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Information Forensics Goes to School: See you at NECC 2009!

2009-06-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

Website Investigator: Information Forensics Goes to School

Add to Planner
[Formal Session : Lecture]

Carl Heine, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy with Dennis O'Connor
Tuesday, 6/30/2009, 3:30pm–4:30pm WWCC 146 B

Motivate students to evaluate websites with information forensics. Track down elusive authors, dates, check the accuracy of claims, and more using investigative search techniques. Recommended by ISTE's SIGMS


Theme/Strand:	21st-century Teaching & Learning—Literacies for the Information/Creativity Age
Audience:	Technology Integration Specialists, Technology Facilitators, Technology Coordinators, Teacher Educators, Teachers, School Board Members, Staff Developers, Principals, Library Media Specialists, Curriculum Specialists
Level:	All
Video on Demand:	Yes

NETS•S:	3
NETS•T:	3- 5
NETS•A:	II, VI
Keywords:	Information Fluency Evaluation Credibility Searching

URL:	http://21cif.com/
Purpose & Objectives For most students, online research just doesn’t come naturally. Locating relevant information is not easy. Determining if the information is credible is even harder and requires investigative skills to evaluate sources. The purpose of this session is to provide participants with an understanding of efficient methods for evaluating online information and to demonstrate effective ways to teach these information fluency skills in classrooms. The new generation of NETS standards for students (ISTE, 2007), is based on the premise that efficacy and productivity depends on students’ abilities to conduct research and manage digital information fluently. An essential skill is the ability to evaluate information from a variety of sources and media. This session directly addresses this information fluency standard by helping participants… 1. Understand the role of investigation (information forensics) in evaluating information: • Two types of searching: how investigation differs from speculation; • Determining when investigative searching is necessary and when it is not; • Effective means of finding critical information with limited clues; • Using specialized search engines and browsing techniques to track down information; • Analyzing results to determine credibility of the source and content. 2. Observe effective methods for helping students exercise speculative search skills: • Off-line 'readiness' activities; • Group and individual Search Challenges; • Interactive tutorial games; • Think-aloud searches; • Evaluation reporting; • Group discussion about credibility. Outline Introduction to Information Fluency and NETS for Students (5 minutes) The big picture: Obstacles to Information Fluency--research discoveries: (5 minutes) • Problems with speculation: using the right words with the right databases • Homing in on increasingly relevant information • Problems with investigation: evaluating credibility Determining when to use investigative searching: (5 minutes) Effective investigative strategies and techniques—teaching demonstrations involving audience participation (35 minutes) • 'Readiness' off-line teaching and learning activities • Selected Information Forensics tutorials (finding the author, publisher, date) • Selected Search Challenges (think-aloud) • Determining a basis for credibility (group discussion) Questions (5 minutes) Supporting Research Burton, V. T., & Chadwick, S. A. (2000). Investigating the practices of student researchers: Patterns of use and criteria for use of Internet and library sources. Computers and Composition, 17 (3), 309-328. Heine, C. (2006). Evaluating digital information. Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. Retrieved Sept. 23, 2008, from http://21cif.imsa.edu/rkitp/ features/v1n4/leadarticle_v1_n4.html ISTE. (2007). National Educational Technology Standards for Students: The Next Generation. ISTE. Retrieved Sept. 23, 2008, from http://www.iste.org/Content/ NavigationMenu/NETS/NETS_Refresh_Forum/NETS_for_Students_2007.pdf Press release. (2006, March 24) School library media programs critical to high school reform. American Library Association. Retrieved April 11, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=News&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=121131 Presenter Background Main presenter: Carl Heine, Ph.D. is Director of the 21st Century Information Fluency Project at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, Aurora Illinois. He oversees research and the development of interactive learning games and interactive media used in the Project. He conducts numerous Information Fluency workshops each year in Illinois and other states, including the Illinois Principals Association, the Illinois Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Illinois State Library Media Association, the Illinois Educational Technology Conference, the Missouri Association of School Librarians, the Wisconsin Educational Media Association and the Alabama Educational Technology Association. Carl earned his doctorate in curriculum and instruction at the University of Chicago for research in flow and mathematical achievement. Previous leadership assignments include managing the Center for Youth Education at the College of DuPage (Glen Ellyn, IL) and directing educational programs at churches in Washington and California. Co-Presenter: Dennis O'Connor was an elementary and middle school teacher for 25 years. At the turn of the century he left the face to face classroom to become an online teacher, course designer and educational technology consultant. He earned an MS. in Online Teaching and Learning from California State University, East Bay (formerly CSU Hayward) where he also taught graduate students how to teach online. Mr. O'Connor recently earned an M.Ed in Instructional Design and Technology Integration at Western Governors University. He earned his undergraduate degree in English at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1995, groundbreaking work in technology infused interdisciplinary teaching led to a Milken National Educator Award. After working online with the ISTE, National Educational Technology Standards Project in 1998, Mr. O'Connor became a project writer developing units of practice for ISTE-NETS, Connecting Curriculum and Technology. Dennis remains active as a subject matter expert, standards review consultant and project writer for ISTE. Dennis previously worked as a Senior eLearning Architect for the 21st Century Information Fluency Program, which is sponsored by the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. He also teaches online professional development classes for the 21st Century Information Project and for the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where he is the program advisor for the E-learning and Online Teaching Graduate Certificate Program. Last year, Carl and Dennis presented a similar lecture at NECC in San Antonio and the year before were recognized as a Best of the Best for their Power Searching workshop at NECC in Atlanta.

Joyce Valenza / Fair Use is your friend

2009-05-31T22:18:00.000-07:00

Fair Use is Your Friend: A new video on making video - NeverEndingSearch - Blog on School Library Journal

Joyce Valenza's work on fair use is always worth thinking about.
Tags: copyright, fairuse, neverendingsearch
- Fair Use is Your Friend: A new video on making video
  May 19, 2009
  
  Transformativeness is a challenging concept to teach. I've been working on it ever since the The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education was published back in November.

21Cif: Photo Search/ Getting Boys to Read

2009-05-30T17:47:00.001-07:00

PicFindr - Search the free-stock-photosphere (microstock too!)
Solid search engine for pictures. Includes copyright/left options & licensing filter.
Tags: photography, picfindr, photosphere, search, microstock, photos
Getting Boys To Read
Mike McQueen's dynamic community dedicated to boys into reading. A noble cause and a space filled with upbeat ideas and energy. Information Fluency and Information Literacy are all based on the ability to read. Building a passion for reading is what this site is all about.
Tags: reading, literacy, library2.0, information literacy, information fluency, 21cif

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Information Fluency group favorite links are here.

Google Forms: Use your Google Docs account to create online forms

2009-05-22T23:33:00.000-07:00

Introduction to Google Forms | Matt Silverman
This is a very smart solution for online forms. The article details how to create online forms with google. Best of all the results are dropped into a spreadsheet. A great solution for my moodle class signup process.
Tags: 21cif, web2.0, survey, forms, google, moodle
- Google recently released a revolutionary gem into its increasingly robust Google Docs platform. Meet Google Forms: a flexible form and survey development interface with built-in reporting. Why is this significant? Well to start, it means the days of SurveyMonkey are numbered. While still in its infancy, Google Forms is the start of an incredibly versatile data collection framework. How long did SurveyMonkey really think people were going to pay monthly fees to store infinitesimal tidbits of survey response data? Survey data is far from being difficult, nor costly, to store. How to create your first Google Form:

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Primary Sources: Great Online Class