Information Literacy
Online, instructor-facilitated, 30 hours over a designated six-week period. Optional 90 minute face to face orientation on first day of class
Course Summary
Are you interested in learning more about the fascinating and complex nature of digital information? Would you like to develop strategies for helping your students to examine issues such as e-citizenship, information retrieval, social software and critical inquiry related to media and new communication technologies? Information Literacy recognizes the implications of technology and provides a framework and support for implementing information literacy and inquiry-based learning activities in the classroom. The major project requires each educator to build a learning strategy and an activity for implementation within their unique educational context.
Audience
This course is intended for:
- Elementary, junior high and senior high teachers, teacher-librarians, and administrators.
- Those who wish to integrate information literacy activities in their work with learners.
- Educators who wish to use the activities embedded with this e-PD course with their own groups of students.
Learner Outcomes
- Develop an understanding of information literacy and inquiry-based learning
- Explore emerging technologies such as podcasting, RSS feeds, blogs and other social software .
- Examine e-citizenship and the ethical considerations of digital technology, including democratic use of the web, global communities and citizen journalism.
- Develop an understanding of issues surrounding security and privacy, with a focus on privacy-invasive technologies such as spyware, adware, viruses, spamming and spoofing.
- Design a student-directed information literacy and inquiry project within a unit of their course to engage students in “the process of retrieving, questioning, interpreting, evaluating, utilizing and assuming responsibility for the use of information in a world of multiple literacies”
- Implement the project following completion of this e-PD course
- Experience online learning and connect with colleagues in an information literate learning community
Requirements
Skills
- General knowledge of Windows, word processing and basic computer operations (e.g. saving files, creating folders etc.)
- Basic Internet navigation
- Previous work in implementing web-based resources with learners (e.g. WebCT, D2L, Teacher web pages, etc.)
Optional Prerequisite
Hardware & Software
- While no special hardware or software is required, you may wish to check the Technical Requirements Document to ensure that you have everything you need.
Time
- Optional 90 minute face to face orientation on first day of class
- Plan on spending 4 to 5 hours per week over the 6-week duration of the course
This course may also be taken for Graduate Credit at the University of Calgary.