Joint Elementary and Secondary IML Facilitators meeting

Wednesday May 23, 2007 was an exciting day.  All of our documentation and tools had bee prepared but not put together yet.  With the help our our LRS team and CISC clerical staff, we put together 300 resource binders.
 
The binders are just a symbol of the work that has gone into preparing for this meeting.  For most of this year, we have been meeting, determining and fine tuning what Information and Media Literacy can be in Surrey.
 
During the meeting we saw some awesome examples of what our students are already doing across the grades and across the curriculum.  I was impressed to see some of the products that our Elementary Students and our Secondary Students were able to produce.  The products weren’t the key; I saw the wealth of learning that went into them.
 
I dream is that every student have opportunities to learn in the ways that the teachers showcasing their students learning have provided.  I believe working with the IML capacities across the grades and curriculum can make this a reality.
 
Thank you to everyone that participated in the meeting. 

Student IML Learning Capacities - Communicate

The six capacities of Information and Media Literacy include being a communicator of information.  While creating information is important, if it sits idle, the full benefit is not realized.  
 
Students of the 21st century have the opportunity to be more than just consumers of information.  In a keynote address by Alan November in 2006, I recall him emphasizing that students need to be contributors now.  By working with tools such as blogs, wikis and podcasts, students contribute to the knowledge of the world.  There are many aspects to communicating effectively including being safe online.

Email is still a valuable tool for personal communication; however, it isn't effective for reaching larger numbers.  Currently I have found Wikis to be the best tool for communicating.  It is so easy to build knowledge and communicate it easily to either a public or private audience.



Check out http://iamliterate.wikispaces.com

Student IML Learning Capacity - Create

The six capacities of Information and Media Literacy include being a creator of information.
 
Students of the 21st century have the opportunity to be more than just consumers of information.  In a keynote address by Alan November in 2006, I recall him emphasizing that students need to be contributors now.
 
It used to be that most people didn’t have easy access to publishing.  With the internet and desktop publishing, students can share the information they create.  
 
Web2.0 is focused around the web being read and write.  Everyone can contribute to the resources that anyone worldwide can access.  There are many examples where students can create knowledge that they didn’t read in a book.  One youth combined a Chicago crime database with google maps to identify crime in Chicago.  This information was never displayed this way before.  
 
I believe it is critical that students be given permission and the tools to be creators of knowledge.  Learning is much more relevant when it is personally engaging and students can feel the joy of discovery themselves.
 
We identify the following three aspects of being a Creator of Information.
    Documents
    Creative works
    Creating new knowledge
 
I am excited to consider what my own daughters will do as creators of information.  At four and six years old, they have both created movies telling their stories about their my little ponies.  They were able to tell their story and then we published it on my website and in youtube.com.  They are both proud producers.

(Image from http://www.hetemeel.com/einsteinform.php)

Student IML Learning Capacity - Inquire

The six capacities include inquiry for self, learning and society.  
 
Inquiry in this context includes:
   Access to Information
   Gathering Information
   Organize Information
   Process Information(Evaluate, Assess, Validate)
 
We live in an information based society.  There are many claims about how much information we have and how fast knowledge is doubling. (see reference note below).  At this point, it is even said that knowledge is doubling in less than a year.
 
With this wealth of knowledge and most of it being available online, we need (better) ways of inquiring of knowledge.  To mimic another phrase, “we are information rich and knowledge poor.”
 
In the 21st, it has become less about knowing everything and more about knowing how and where to find the information when you need it.  
 
Having access to the internet is a first step, but access to the resources of Google does not mean you will learn anything.  Students need to be able to search to find relevant information, then they need to gather and organize what they find.  In parallel is processing the information.  There is no point in writing down 100 pages of incorrect, misleading or biased information.
 
To be literate in the 21st century everyone needs to be able to inquire.  I accept that not everyone will have this capacity and they will be able to continue in their current capacity even though they may be digitally illiterate.  People have lead productive lives for hundreds of years and been illiterate.  
 
I don’t accept that anyone, especially students in our systems, need to continue to be illiterate.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Reference
 
I could not find an original source for the statistics, but this site refers to knowledge doubling.

Appendix D: Report of the Subcommittee on Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age
http://www.emory.edu/TEACHING/Report/AppendixD.html

Student IML Learning Capacities - Understand

The six capacities include understanding the role of technology for self and in society.  
 
There are many reasons students need to understand the role of technology.  The increase in access to information is just one aspect but a salient one.  A few months back, I was teaching a lesson in a grade 4 classroom.  I shared with them the above site and they believed every word.  After exploring the site and engaging them in the plight of the tree octopus, I explained how to look at information we find on the web.
 
The conversation included things like:
    checking for other sources that say the same information
        a google search has this as the first entry but others talk about hoaxes....
    checking the web host - in this case a personal .net
    checking other information on the host - in this case also AFBD
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
    
While the grade 4’s complained that I lied to them, I was able to redirect their energy to ways of assessing a website for authenticity and validity.
 
One last comment for today is looking at use of hardware.  Some schools are looking at banning cell phones in their school.  They are also looking at banning all digital devices between 8:00am and 3:30pm.  (Interesting how this would impact the media arts classes.)  
 
We need to teach students to be social responsible in society.  If students mis-use a cell phone in school, I ask the questions of why?
    They are bored?
    They don’t know any better?
    It is more important than learning?
    They aren’t engaged?
    They can cheat by text messaging test answers?  
        Are we asking the right questions if they can be answered by a text message?
    Why aren’t we using the cell phone features to enhance learning?
 
Thoughts??

My Students need the "Basics"

“My students need the basics before the bells and whistles.”
 
This is a fair statement.  I have three responses.  
 
First, I agree students need some basics before using computers or other technology.   They do need to be able to communicate.
 
Second, technology may provide the opportunity for students to learn the other ‘basics’ of communication.  A student using an iPod to share their learning with the teacher allows them to communicate beyond their ability to write.
 
Thirdly, you teach in your classroom.  This is an opportunity to conduct Action Research.  Action Research helps you focus what you are doing and making sure that it is impacting student learning.  You need to develop a question to investigate.  Our IML performance standards might help you identify an area of focus, then you can pick a learning activity that is aimed at improving that focus.  Using the PLO correlations, you may identify specific areas that you can make the connection so that you are not doing extra work, rather multi-tasking.
 
Surrey has more information on action research at
 
http://www.leadershipacademy.sd36.bc.ca/actionresearch/index.htm

Student Learning Capacity - Use

The ability to use technology is somewhat self explanatory.  If you can’t use something, you won’t be able to do more complex tasks.
 
Digging deeper, one can look back at the types of technology use.  Our BC Ministry of Education consulted with Bernajean Porter about 7 years ago.  She helped bring an understanding to BC about technology integration.  We can now identify 3 levels of integration
    1.  Literacy - learning the tools
    2.  Adapting - doing what we could already do
    3.  Transformative - doing what we couldn’t do before.
 
Our goal needs to be transformative; however, we can’t transform without learning how to use the tools.  Looking at the K - 7 IRP for Math (2006), with a little creativity, you can be transformative with a Grade 1 PLO.
 
The PLO is compare and order numbers up
to 100 [C, CN, R, V]
 
The suggested student achievement indicators for the PLO include:
order a given set of numbers in ascending or descending order and verify the result using a hundred chart, number line, ten frames or by making references to place value
identify errors in a given ordered sequence
identify missing numbers in a given hundred chart
identify errors in a given hundred chart
 
If Grade 1 students were using a spreadsheet....
    students could fill in the numbers in a 100 chart - adaptive
    students could fill right for one row and compare to the original - adaptive
     create a 100 chart(s) and remove numbers or make errors for their classmates to solve - adaptive to transformative - (how many charts would a grade 1 have - with a spreadsheet it removes the physical act of writing 100 numbers several times.)  Students could have many tries at the activity with them as the creator.  They can share their strategy for picking missing numbers.
 
Yes it will take a while for students to learn how to navigate a computer and spreadsheet software; however, you benefit from the learning activities - if they are crafted with purpose.
 
It is important to be able to use however, this is just one of the 6 capacities.