Information Literacy and Real Life

I've been spending a fair bit of time developing a new set of lessons around the topic of "research", now that is has become "problematic" to use the existing set of online, interactive, self-paced lessons. For the next two weeks, in which our 'graduating juniors' prepare to move into Senior mode, they'll be revisiting a number of topics such as sources of information, assessing quality of information, you-know-the-rest.

It's lunchtime now, but I'm just having a quick cruise through news sites to see what current items I could work into the presentation and accompanying worksheets.

There still seems some debate as to whether or not restricting research to a single source was responsible for our Australian (southern hemisphere, big island-y thing on maps between the Asian sub-continent and Antarctica) prime minister being represented wearing an Austrian (central Europe, landlocked country near Switzerland) milk-maid outfit.


When I originally heard the breaking story this morning - yeah, OK, things are a little slow down here at this time of the year - my first thought was that the confusion of Austrian and Australia was due to geographical illiteracy. Maybe we'll never know.

Still, it's a nice example of what can happen when aren't sufficiently information literate. With the Internet (and yes, I still capitalise it as the proper noun that it is), now the whole world can squirm along with you when you achieve a Fail at this level.


Photograph above by Ray Strange. http://www.news.com.au/

So everyone now wants my copyright?

Still being in "discussion" with the NSW Department of Education and Training regarding "ownership" of educational material hosted on Warrior Librarian (and written by me), it seems now that the Victorian Department of Education is also claiming copyright ... not just of the Information Literacy Online resource, but apparently the whole Warrior Librarian website!!!

Fresh approach to increasing library access?

Here's something new ... instruct your school librarian take on the role of a teacher's aide and provide 'support' outside the library, so the library has to close numerous times. Yep, that's sure going to bump up library use, promote reading for pleasure, assist in developing Information Literacy, develop meaningful and measurable improvements in outcomes. Not.

Mind you, today's contribution to this particular aspect of the education revolution was pretty much restricted to being asked by "a real teacher" to get her a chair so she could rest her sore foot on it. Gee, but its great to have gotten two master's degrees to provide such a critical input into the program.

Sigh.