Course Reflection

Through this course, I have learned the value of teaching students to be able to question, search, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate information from both traditional and digital text. It seems that some educators either avoid digital text, assume students know what they are doing or minimally teach students how to use the internet. Students need to be taught about digital literacy and digital citizenship.

My hope is to develop curriculum for my school that teaches other educators and students about digital literacy and citizenship. This curriculum could be taught by any core content instructor or a librarian. My plan is to divide the curriculum into the following five lessons:
1. Understanding the school/district Internet Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)
2. How to Read the Web
3. How to Search the Web Using Essential Questions
4. How to Validate a Web Site Using ABC’s (Laureate Education Inc., 2010a) or REAL (November, 2008, p.31)
5. How to Cite Web Resources
My first step is to approach my principal with the idea and content. If she supports the concept, the curriculum lessons would need to be developed. Once developed, the curriculum will need to be shared with my schools staff. Since several courses at my high school require internet research and all seniors are required to complete a senior project and research paper, I would like to have the curriculum ready for the Fall 2011.

Technology needs to be integrated to support student learning (Laureate Education Inc., 2010b). David Warlick states that learning is not about the technology (Laureate Education Inc., 2010b). Technology is all about connections and conversations. Once students understand digital literacy and citizenship, they can and will effectively use technology to support their learning of core content standards. As an educator, I plan to continue developing inquiry-based learning projects using the QUEST model. QUEST is a process that teaches students to question, understand, evaluate, synthesize, and transform information needed to complete an inquiry-based project. QUEST provides a framework to support “the intersection of technology, literacy, and inquiry” (Eagleton and Dobler, 2007, p. 277).


References
Eagleton, M.B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet Inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010a). A Teacher’s Perspective: Evaluating Information Online [Motion Picture]. In Walden University: Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010b). It’s Not About the Technology [Motion Picture]. In Walden University: Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom.

November, A. (2008). Web Literacy for Educators. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.