A Reflection on Web Literacy

I am presently obtaining my Masters of Education with a concentration in Integrating Technology into the Classroom through Walden University. I have just finished the course EDUC 6712I Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Throughout this course I have discovered that you can not assume that modern students are literate at internet based inquiry just because they are digital natives. Students need to be guided through the process of creating good research questions, that have a focus created from topics which are generated from themes. The text for this course Reading the Web by Maya B. Eagleton and Elizabeth Dobler (2007) have excellent charts and handouts to help with this process. Students also need to be taught how to determine if internet sites they have chosen for their research is valid, and how to glean the most important information from those sites. Students also need to learn to synthesize the information they have collected and teachers need to learn how to assess student synthesis. Eagleton and Dobler (2007) also have great handouts for this process. Students can learn to synthesize information through journaling and reflecting on their research subjects.

My own web literacy has improved through out this course. I think the most striking things I have learned is how to conduct a better search and how to determine if the sites I have found are valid. I have demonstrated this by creating a webcast at http://www.screencast.com/users/bchronister/folders/Default/media/08d0f264-8308-4fa9-9f52-2ba144594844 which is also listed in my blog from October 4, 2009. with this new knowledge I better help students and fellow educators learn to conduct more powerful searches that produce quicker and more useful information for the purpose of inquiry.

Although I teach choir which is a highly participatory subject, I still think there is room for inquiry based lesson plans. In the future I would like to have my students take more responsibility for the production of their spring musicals. I would like to encourage students to research the chosen themes by setting aside technology lab time and conducting group inquiries. I believe that it is important to keep students moving forward in a collaborative and competitive world. Students should not only be learning how to sing songs in my class but they should be preparing to be life long collaborators and learners for that is what world will be expecting of them when they set forth into adult life.

References:

Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for internet inquiry.
NewYork: The Guilford Press. November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators.
Thousands Oaks: Corwin Press.