There is a new digital divide on the horizon. It is not based around who has devices and who does not, but instead the new digital divide will be based around students who know how to effectively find and curate information and those who do not. Helene Blowers has come up with seven ideas about the new digital divide – four of them, the ones I felt related to searching, are listed below.
The New Digital Divide:
In an age of information abundance learning to effectively search is one of the most important skills most teachers are NOT teaching. They assume students know how to conduct a search, and set them free on the internet to find information. They assume that students have the skills to critically think their way through the searching and the web. Sadly, this is not the case and everyday we are losing the information literacy battle because we often forget to teach these crucial searching skills in our schools.
Teachers – especially in the elementary grades -need to develop a shared vocabulary around the skill of searching. They need to make sure their students learn some basic search strategies and keep applying them until they become almost automatic.
Here are some of the searching skills and vocabulary we should be teaching students :
Quotation Marks:
Students should always use quotes to search for an exact word or set of words. This is useful when you want something like quotes, song lyrics or text from a an exact historical time period.
Example: “The Great Chicago Fire”
Dashes (or minus sign):
Use this symbol directly before a word to help exclude unwanted information from your search
Example: Great Chicago Fire -soccer
Two Periods:
Use this to help you find information between those two numbers. For example you might want to try:
Example: Great Chicago Fire October 8..10
Site Search:
For a look through the Chicago HIstory Museum site only
Examples: Great Chicago Fire site:chicagohs.org
site:Chicagotribune.com
taylormccool on 26 Mar 15Welcome to our professional learning series on building a PLN. This series guides you step by step through the process of setting up your own PLN. The aim of this first step is to: Explain what is a PLN. Help you understand why educators create their own PLN.
dsaile on 31 Mar 15Welcome to our professional learning series on building a PLN. This series guides you step by step through the process of setting up your own PLN. It's great for people who still need to delve deeper into what a PLN actually is.
brianne_g on 30 Oct 16This is a very information-rich site that further introduces the PLN and delves into several different avenues a teacher can take in developing their PLN, with one avenue explored being Twitter. I particularly found the Step 6: Curation page to be intriguing. This page introduces curation, the strategic collection and compilation of knowledge and media found online, and demonstrates how it can be a valuable tool for educators engaged in expanding and sharing their constant learning and teaching journeys (See the video towards the middle of the page where a teacher shows his netvibes and scoopit accounts, and the very complex ways in which teachers can organize and share knowledge from these information collection/filtering tools. VERY valuable for our fast-paced and information-heavy time.)
