To adequately teach these skills requires little more than a commitment from the teacher or curriculum monitor. It is a matter of framing assignments in the appropriate manner -- instead of simply requiring a: Research Paper on an Aspect of Costa Rica, work in a preliminary annotated bibligoraphy section that requires the appropriate vetting and analysis of the sources; require several types of sources, and explain why. Above all, since the research indivates that the major reasons student's fail to use robust informational resources is time management and self-management (read -- laziness and taking the shortcut), it is important to instruct on how to do research, how not to plagiarize, and what the actual point of primnary and secondary research are to the process of self-actualization and broad knowledge. These same studies show that if students are given relevancy as part of their explanation, they are more likely to acquire the necessary skills required (Turusheva, 2009).
The urgency and importance of this topic cannot be overemphasized. Global competency requires the ability to understand, analyze, and synthesize voluminous amounts of disparate material -- regardless of one's discipline, and form an interdisciplinary understanding for modern business and economic needs. To compete in this new world, whether the student is from San Francisco or Sao Paulo, requires information literacy so that they can do more than allow. So, the solution -- easy on paper, more difficult to implement. We know global competency through information literacy is required, but it is a clear cultural shift in pedagogical thinking. We also seem to believe that students everywhere deserve the very best in opportunities to succeed. Thus, the key is introducing this type of thinking as early as preschool (Maria Montessori did it a century ago, why not today). Then, as a regular part of the curriculum, interact often with the librarian to introduce methods of searching, analysis of data, and robustness of information. It is not as difficult as we might think, it just takes some creative effort.
We cannot say we have not been warned, the writing is on the wall -- or more precicely, all over the monitor in the structures and patterns of prior centuries "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it," (Santayana, 2010).
REFERENCES
Badke, W. (2009, July/August). How We Failed the Net Generation. Retrieved September 7, 2010, from BNet Publications - Technology: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3328/is_200907/ai_n32423867/
Jackson, A. (2009, December 22). GLobal Competence: The Knowledge and Skills Our Students Need. Retrieved September 9, 2010, from Asiasociety, org: http://asiasociety.org/education-learning/partnership-global-learning/making-case/global-competence-knowledge-and-skills-ou
Russell, P. (2009, May). Why Universities Need Information Literacy Now More than Ever. Feliciter, 55(3), 62-79.
Santayana, G. (2010, January). Famous Quotations. Retrieved September 2010, from ThinkExist.com: http://thinkexist.com/quotation/those_who_do_not_learn_from_history_are_doomed_to/170710.html
Towards an Information Literate Society. (2003, September 20). Retrieved September 9, 2010, from UNESCO: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/19636/11228863531PragueDeclaration.pdf/PragueDeclaration.pdf
Turusheva, L. (2009). Students' Information Competence and its Imprtance for Life-Long Education. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 12(12), 126-32.
There are a number of sources on globalism, among which the following see the larger tie-in between the negative environmental effects one nation may have on another, or on the planet as a whole. See: Joseph Nye, "Globalism vs. Globalization," (April 15, 2002), The Globalist. Cited in: http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=2392. Novara, et.al. (2003). "Globalism/Antiglobalism," in Polyarchy: Essays on Statism," Cited in: http://www.polyarchy.org/essays/english/globalism.html. Politically, see: Manfred Steger, Globalisms: The Great Ideological Struggle of the 21st Century. Rowman and Littlefield, 2008; Culturally, see: Jan Pieterse, Globalism and Culture: Global Melange. Rowman and Littlefield, 2003; a cultural critique at: Tyler Cowen, Creative Destruction: How Globalization is Changing the World's Cultures. Princeton University Press, 2004; and, an introduction to environmental globalism in: Clark Miller and Paul Edwards, eds., Changing the Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge and Environmental Governance. MIT Press, 2001.
See a number of creative lesson plans and suggests at: http://www.shambles.net/pages/learning/infolit/infolitlp/;
http://www.sldirectory.com/libsf/resf/libplans.html; both sites include a number of ways to make learning information literacy fun.
Zabel (2004) proposes an alternative solution that does not involve mandatory courses or the separate academic focus on library science as a stand-alone course. Instead, Zabel suggests that academic research requirements in substantive courses be adapted as necessary to ensure an appropriate and beneficial process for teaching research skills and informational literacy but strictly within the framework of substantive courses. The author also points out that it is likely much
Literacy in Education: Its Influence on Scholarship, Practice and Leadership It was said of Thomas Jefferson that he knew almost everything there was to know. Life was simpler 250 years ago, and the world was smaller. There were only a fraction of the books that there are today, which was not a great problem since most people could not read. For today's learner, however, there is an infinite amount of
Leadership At the core of leadership is the interaction between the leader and the follower. Much of leadership theory can be understood in terms of how leaders and followers interact and what the underlying assumptions are with respect to the roles and nature of leadership. Because of the many different types of leaders, and successful examples thereof, leadership scholarship has developed multiple branches that seek to explain leadership, but no one
Most conclusions on this approach were vague or indecisive in terms of social, psychological or mental significance (Rice, 1978, 1981; Graen et al., 1972; Ashour, 1973). Furthermore, over the years, many scholars have come to the realization that leadership is situational and hence there are many realistic settings like the environment, the employees, the resources, etc. that determine the characteristics needed in a leader as well as his/her business approach
Strategic Management [Book Manuscript Draft] The New Business Environment Globalization Expansion and Benchmarking Organizational Mission Nature of Human Behavior Human Networking & Human Capital Rules and Principles of Management Total Quality Management Innovation Cultural Barriers Strategic Management Rooted in Education Change in Today's Organization Transformation Transformational Change Transformational Leadership Technology to Enable Strategic Management Strategic Management Strategic management is an elusive term that has as its basis various theories of leadership and the associated various factors that comprise the leader that is effective in leading the organization to success.
According to Stein, (as cited in Lauer & Yodanis, 2004), American students tend to be globally illiterate. A large amount of empirical research and anecdotal evidence from various perspectives documents, stresses the need to improve informational literacy throughout the American educational system (Schutt & Hightower, 2009; Zabel 2004). Without such improvement, education and knowledge will simply stagnate, and perhaps even regress. These authors do not agree on all of the
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now