This study aimed to measure the proficiency of college-age health information consumers in finding and evaluating electronic health information; to assess their ability to discriminate between peer-reviewed scholarly resources and opinion pieces or sales pitches; and to examine the extent to which they are aware of their level of health information competency.
health information resources,
55% of Americans with Internet access seek health information online
A sample of 400 college-age students was selected because this cohort is the first Information Age generation that has been exposed, for up to one-half of their lives, to the Internet.
How proficient are university students at searching for and evaluating health-related information? How well do they understand the difference between peer-reviewed scholarly resources and opinion pieces or sales pitches? How aware are they of their own level of health information competencies?
Today, health consumers are actively seeking information and using it to make health decisions
Individuals with less education and exposure to information-related activities are expected to have even lower health information competencies than our study participants
Some of the future work skills for the year 2020. I think I'm trying to deal with two of these skills right now: new-media literacy and virtual collaboration.
Here are the skills:Sense-making. The ability to determine the deeper meaning or significance of what is being expressedSocial intelligence. The ability to connect to others in a deep and direct way, to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactionsNovel and adaptive thinking. Proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote or rule-basedCross-cultural competency. The ability to operate in different cultural settingsComputational thinking. The ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data-based reasoningNew-media literacy. The ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms and to leverage these media for persuasive communicationTransdisciplinarity. Literacy in and ability to understand concepts across multiple disciplinesDesign mind-set. Ability to represent and develop tasks and work processes for desired outcomesCognitive load management. The ability to discriminate and filter information for importance and to understand how to maximize cognitive functioning using a variety of tools and techniquesVirtual collaboration. The ability to work productively, drive engagement and demonstrate presence as a member of a virtual team
Zinch, which is free for students, is designed like a social networking tool.
lines are blurring between social networking tools and digital portfolios.
Digital portfolios provide students a way to track what they’ve learned over time, compile their grades and scores and publish their completed projects. And they provide a sense of a student’s identity, one behind the transcript, when submitting their applications.
Parents can involve their kids, even at a very young age, to help them not only pick their favorite works but also to assess and reflect on their learning. The reflection component, much more than the presentation element of digital portfolios, is where Barrett believes they reach their full power.
Done properly, interactive textbooks offer not only video tutorials, more personalised instruction, just-in-time hints and homework help, but also instant access to assessment tools, teaching resources and the ability to network socially with students elsewhere.
Using tools for highlighting and annotating virtual flash-cards, students can select information within the text and store it for later revision. Searching public databases, direct from within the textbook, is also possible. At school, students can sync with their teachers’ computers, to hand in their quiz results and homework for marking.
if software is to be used as a teaching aid (called “blended learning” in pedagogical circles), then it should seek to balance the need for correct answers with the freedom to take risks and break rules. “If you’re not prepared to be wrong,” Dr Robinson preaches, “you’ll never come up with anything original.”
The problem, I began to realize, was my own understanding of how the iPads should be utilized in the classroom. I had seen them as a supplement to my pre-existing curriculum, trying to fit them into the structure of what I’d always done. This was the wrong approach: To truly change how my classroom worked, I needed a technology-based redefinition of my practic
Redefine with a goal in mind. When rethinking your curriculum and classroom, identify the goals you have for yourself and your students. I focused on two important goals: increased differentiation and robust, efficient assessment. Next, I asked myself, "Can the iPads help me reach those goals?" Realizing that they could, I redesigned my classroom practice around the goals, with iPads as the infrastructure. Here are a few examples:
SHIFTS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING
In an information literate environment, students engage in active, self-directed
learning activities, and teachers facilitate students' engagement through
a more adventurous style of instructional delivery. Students involved in
information literate activities:
--seek a rich range of information sources;
--communicate an understanding of content;
--pose questions about the content being learned;
--use the environment, people, and tools for learning;
--reflect on their own learning;
--assess their own learning; and
--take responsibility for their own learning.
These students feel good about themselves as learners, and they leave
school feeling passionate about some content.
tudents and teachers make decisions about appropriate
sources of information and how to access them
Information literacy thrives in a resource-based learning environment.
In such an environment, s
We need to explicitly develop learning materials and activities that go beyond simple content delivery, or just teaching.
as instructors will need to be creative in developing and assessing these mobile learning activities, instructors and institutions will need to help students be creative in finding access to different mobile multimedia production devices.
One of the primary benefits of using Google Forms is its ability to help instructors assess — in real time — how well students understand learning materials and to uncover student misconceptions, which helps instructors steer students to higher-level understanding.
increased interactivity between students and between the instructor and students.
downside of using Google Forms can be less time to cover course material because class time is used to respond to Google Forms questions and discuss students' answers.
Mobility offers the ability to engage learners of all ages with anywhere, anytime access.
The presence of socially connected, multitasking students in the classroom urges educators to move away from an "information-dissemination" role toward a more interactive, collaborative process in which they guide learners in the skill of evaluating and assessing available information.
creating innovative and interactive learning activities that fully engage learners in experiences they perceive to be both interesting and relevant to their interests and future.