Free Information Fluency Learning Games!

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?

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-lancehttp .

Plagiarism Detection: 3 Interactive Games

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

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

• Just the Facts 2010: Mailbag
• Just the Facts 2010: Census
• Just the Facts 2010: Guns
• Just the Facts 2010: E-mails
• Just the Facts 2010: Pictures

Search Patterns

Search Patterns: Design for Discovery 

View more presentations from Peter Morville.

Search Patterns

• 
  
  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

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

• 
  
  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

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

• 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

• 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

• 
  
  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.