The Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) provides a framework for educators in helping students establish 21st century skills, including information literacy, media literacy and technology literacy skills. Information literacy skills include the ability to "evaluate information critically and competently" and "manage a flow of information from a wide variety of sources" (P21, 2015). The second part of that definition is essential as there are more and more sources, including social media sites, spitting out information left and right that one must be able to weed through the flow of information effectively.
Several resources can help educators in establishing information and media literacy skills with students, including the Big 6 Information & Technology Skills for Student Success. The Big 6 is a "process model of how people of all ages solve an information problem" (Big 6, 2017). The six steps are as follows: Task Definition, Information Seeking Strategies, Location and Access, Use of Information, Synthesis, and Evaluation. You can read more about the Big 6 here.
Another excellent resource for educators comes from media education consultant Frank W. Baker. One tool educators can use when helping students evaluate information credibility is Baker's 5 C's of Critical Consuming: Context, Credibility, Construction, Corroboration, and Compare. Read more about the 5 C's here.
The hosts of The Liturgists Podcast have a podcast episode title Fake News & Media
Literacy in which they discuss information and media literacy and Clay Johnson's concept of Information Diet. An information diet, much like a regular diet, is the conscious consumption of information and news. When we have social media attempting to lock us in to their whirlpool of information, we must be able to make conscious decisions about what is credible and factual. This episode includes a pretty catchy rap on evaluating the credibility of a source. You can listen to the full episode here.
My takeaway is this: As educators and librarians, we must make informed and conscious decisions with our own information diet so we are able to guide students in evaluating sources and making decisions on the reliability and trustworthiness of information provided by the media.
Resources:
Gungor, M., McHargue, M., McBride, H., & Matthews, W. (2017, March 7). Fake News & Media Literacy [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.theliturgists.com/podcast/2017/3/7/fake-news-media-literacy
P21(2015). P21 Framework Definitions [PDF document]. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/docs/P21_Framework_Definitions_New_Logo_2015.pdf
Big 6 (2017). Big 2 Overview. Retrieved from http://big6.com/pages/about/big6-skills-overview.php
Baker, F. (n.d.) Fake News: Recommendations. Retrieved from http://frankwbaker.com/mlc/fake-news-recommendations/
Alex your takeaway is right on. I see to many adults repost "FAKE news" without checking the resources first. It is our job as educators and now librarians, to not only inform our students but other educators and adults who just don't have the knowledge about information as we do. Baker's 5 C's of Critical Consuming: Context, Credibility, Construction, Corroboration, and Compare are a great place to start informing others.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the breakdown of the resources this week. Its interesting that despite the enormous amounts of evidence of fake news and media bias that people still tend to use a very small number of news sources from which to get their information. I've found that one way I can ensure a broad spectrum of information on a particular subject is to narrow the subjects on which I take "deep dives" into the information. Rather than nibble around every news topic under the sun, I've chosen to be picky and spend time on subjects that impact my community and subjects that are important to me, thereby allowing the time to get a spectrum of ideas and opinions related to the specific subjects. I've found that this is the best way that I can apply the 5 C's and ensure that I'm getting good information on topics important to me.
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