Chapter 5- Teaching Information Literacy and Digital Citizenship

Focus Question: What are search engines, and how do they work?

According to our textbook, a search engine is a software program that uses networks of computers to access information from its databases. We often turn to search engines for answers to our most random questions. Students and teachers perform an information search to gather more information about a particular topic. When we search for certain things online, it is called information research and retrieval. This is when people search for information within smaller and more directed documents. If we wanted a wider range of information, we would conduct we information retrieval. There are a lot of search engines and databases that are useful for teachers and students.

Digital Dialog 5.2:

Cyber-bullying is a serious issue that has increased throughout the years of our technological advances. Children are being introduced to technology at a young age, and bullying is something that comes along with it.

1. In my opinion, bullying is caused by low self-esteem and a need for control. The bully who typically seems like the stronger figure probably has bad self-esteem to the point where they feel the need to pick on others. Kids also want to seem cool in front of their friends and they think that making fun of others will do that. I think if teachers address bullying when the students are at a younger age, they will be less likely to do it later on. If the teacher makes it known that there will be zero tolerance for bullying, it could try to eliminate it.

2. I think children should be educated on bullying as soon as they are old enough to understand. I think students in second or third grade are old enough to know better. I have seen prevention strategies in classrooms before. There are some teachers that do not tolerate it whatsoever. Immediate disciplinary action is taken if bullying is observed. Before it even happens, teachers need to teach acceptance of diversity and differences. If children learn to accept differences, they are less likely to target someone for his/her differences.

3. I will address bullying from the first day of school. Once students are educated about it, prevention can occur. As I mentioned in #2, I will talk about diversity and teach my students that every person is different and that it is okay to be different. I will also maintain a good relationship with my students so that they can come to me if ever in a bullying situation. I want them to feel safe when they are in my classroom, so it will be known from the very beginning that any form of bullying will not be tolerated.

In this chapter, I have realized how lucky our generation of teachers is. We have the use of technology and with that come the internet! The internet makes researching information so much easier for teachers and students. Teachers use different search engines to try to find ways to better their instruction. Students use search engines to gather information about topics and lessons. When gathering all of this information, we must develop digital and information literacy. It is important to be able to not only locate the information, but to gather it and evaluate it. Along with focusing on the standard reading and writing skills, students are also learning about retrieving and analyzing online information. When evaluating online information, the students must decide how reliable it is. If we teach children how to steer clear from false information on the internet at a younger age, they will use this information throughout their high school and college years. For our website evaluation assignment, we learned about the criteria: Accuracy, Authority, Objectivity, Currency, and Coverage. Prior to that assignment, I never took the time to evaluate a website based upon those five categories. I will always keep them in mind when gathering information from different websites. When we teach our students about researching information, it is important that we focus on copyright and plagiarism. These two offenses can result in serious consequences. I wish I had learned about citations at a younger age because I have used it so often throughout my school tears. As we incorporate technology into our classrooms, we must teach our students to use it in the correct way. Cyber-bullying may be a result with technology use, however early prevention is key. 

Resources:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin, Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.