TEACHER REVIEWS

Pat Harrison | Dan Blake | Linda Shantz-Keresztes

LINDA SHANTZ-KERESZTES

Integrating Information Technology Across the Curriculum

As a senior high teacher-librarian, and past district library consultant and Web Awareness trainer, I was excited to hear about the Media Awareness Network (MNet) classroom resource for evaluating online information.

I was one of twelve educators trained under the auspices of Alberta Learning in 2000 to deliver MNet’s Web Awareness professional development workshops – Safe Passage, Kids for Sale and Fact or Folly. After three years of working with teachers, our training group identified a clear need for student resources to promote quality research practices and ethical use of online information. I was therefore delighted to hear that MNet had produced a classroom resource for just that purpose.

Reality Check! Evaluating Online Information, applies the journalistic framework “who, what, when, where, why and how” to Internet content. The package – which is available on CD– consists of three components: a PowerPoint presentation (for those teachers who have access to a data projector and want to stimulate full-class discussion); an Independent Study Unit (for individual student use), and a Teachers’ Guide containing discussion guides, handouts and assignment sheets. The first two components are interchangeable; teachers can decide to use one or the other – or take a “mix and match” approach, covering some of the units as a class, and assigning others to be done independently in the lab or from an Internet-connected home computer.

Using the already familiar 5W’s of Cyberspace¹ structure, Reality Check! covers a wide range of topics -- from optimizing online searches, and investigating the originators of Web site content, to examining bias and purpose in online information and applying ethical considerations to copyright and plagiarism. An Introduction sets the stage for these learning modules, providing general background and encouraging self-assessment around teen’s own online research practices.

This resource is timely, as schools are becoming increasingly frustrated with time wasted on poor quality searches, questionable findings and plagiarism. I particularly liked Reality Check!’s handling of the plagiarism issue, with two types of plagiarism addressed – intentional and inadvertent. This issue is treated delicately and responsibly by allowing students to reflect on their own ethical frameworks for use of online information and by providing practical guidelines for referencing and citing online information sources. The When module, regarding timely versus accurate information is an important lesson and currently part of the pre-planning requirement for our student research unit. The Who and What modules teach Web content deconstruction skills – essential if students are to become more critical users of online information. The strategies for effective Internet searching, offered in the How module, are a blue-print for any school.

Teacher-librarians have always appreciated the Media Awareness Network’s advocacy for credible library resources, both print and online reference databases. In the Why module, students are challenged to pick a research topic, and compare their research experiences in the library and on the Internet – the point being that often one research source is not enough and that sometimes one, or the other, may in fact be a better bet, depending on the topic and type of research. The Reality Check! approach to all these issues parallels the strategies that we are currently using in effective school library programs.

Reality Check!’s Independent Student Unit is interactive and designed for learning through critical inquiry and response around key Internet literacy issues. Each module links students directly to Web sites, for reflection and examination. This, and the fact that the examples – such as Matrix Re-Loaded, Harry Potter, and reference to the 2003 additions to the Periodic Table – are on young people’s radar screens, make the resource relevant and engaging. The Canadian content, including a survey of 6000 students across this country in 2001² also lends credibility and authenticity to the unit for students, who can identify with the information. The acknowledgement that the majority of Canadian students turn to the Internet first for research (41%), ahead of the school library (16%) and the public library (19%) would be, I think, an accurate reflection of our student body.

Although there are advantages to presenting Reality Check! to a class for discussion, I think that most students would prefer to work through the modules electronically. Our English Language Arts Curriculum Leader suggests that all students complete the seven modules independently over a year’s semester. This would be credited as part of their ELA program and provide infusion of research and inquiry skills into other subject areas. Another approach would be to have various modules used in different curriculum areas. Two modules could be required for the English program, two others in the Social Studies program and two or three modules in a required information technologies or CALM (Life Skills) option. Teacher-librarians and subject teachers on our staff agree that the Reality Check! content meets the Information and Communication outcomes that are imbedded in all Alberta’s programs of study and that every high school student should be expected to complete all seven modules.

This is an outstanding resource for senior high schools and it provides an excellent vehicle for infusing information literacy and technology skills, as they apply to Internet information, across the curriculum. The valued outcome of students completing Reality Check! will be life-long learners who are better equipped to engage effectively and ethically with online information.

Linda Shantz-Keresztes is Curriculum Liaison/Teacher-Librarian at Central Memorial High School (Performing and Visual Arts Program) in Calgary. She is the President of the Learning Resources Council of Alberta.