This paper has two parts where the first part deals with information literacy as a process of identifying the kind of information that is needed, the best way to organize it, the best sources to get it in terms of authenticity, critically evaluating those sources, and then getting the best way to share it out. It seeks to get the skills that a teacher will use in order to evaluate and ensure students present standard research work. The second part deals with the development as well as improvement of the teaching profession through the integration of technologies and skills.
Information Literacy
Information literacy is the process of identifying the kind of information that is needed, the best way to organize it, the best sources to get it in terms of authenticity, critically evaluating those sources, and then getting the best way to share it out. This usually applies in research whereby a lot of information is needed in order to fill a gap or answer a particular question. Therefore, in a learning environment, a literate student has to use technology skills, media literacy skills, reading, and media. However, it has to be noted that the information being used by these students is actually someone else’s work. This means that they must have an understanding of some important ethical issues such as copyrights, plagiarism, as well as intellectual freedom (Lau, 2008). In teaching my student’s information literacy, I have to employ such a teaching scenario. The students are expected to use the internet or so many different websites as their tools for the research on some topics of their personal interest. As their professor, I must assess their expected product. Some of the ways in which I will do this is by checking the references they have used. These must be authentic in that the author’s name, the title of the book, the edition, the year of publishing, the publisher, and the town of publishing must be included. They must also be written in the correct format. This means that the referencing style assigned must be followed. The work must be properly paraphrased or cited well in the paragraphs. This is to ensure that the students do not plagiarize their work (Lau, 2008). I must ensure that the students have also not just picked the information blindly but it has been critically applied. There are a number of parameters I would use so as to be able to evaluate and know that the students have met all of the necessary standards as far as information literacy is concerned. These include the use of software that checks out for any traces of plagiarism in their research work. Also accessing the websites indicated to ensure that the information is authentic. It is very possible to let a student be a lesson designer while meeting all the necessary standards (Jonathan, 2008). This is because once he or she is taught to be a critical thinker and critic on reading any form of information then; he or she can meet all the required standards. By doing this, a student is given a chance to improve on the researches that have been done earlier
Professional Development In Teaching
Professional development in the teaching career entails the use of both formal and informal means to help the teachers to develop skills and also learn new ones as far as the professional practice is concerned. Moreover, it involves supporting the teachers in their challenging encounters as they try to put their very newly acquired knowledge in theory into practice especially in areas like integrating technology so as to support the learning that is based on inquiry and learning based on the projects among others (Jonathan, 2005). There are a number of technologies and strategy implementations that can be used which are very meaningful for the growth in the profession involving the aspect of knowledge integration.
There is the use of media technology whereby the teachers are presented with a curriculum in the form of a taped program on the radio where the teacher, comes to class during the lesson with the radio. The radio has a taped lesson and then plays it to the students. This actually, enables the students to adopt better ways of listening to the teacher (Jonathan, 2005). Also, this avoids a lot of time-wasting whereby, if it were a live teaching lesson, then the teacher maybe would have diverted to other things during his or her teaching. Therefore, the use of instructional media enables the teacher to be very efficient and effective. After the broadcast, then the students can have a question-answer session. Also, the issue of using some literature books which have been put into a movie is very effective. This is whereby, a literature book for instance is acted in a movie and then given the literature teachers to use for their teaching. Such technology will be very effective since even the students will not only read to gain imagination but also watch to enhance their understanding. Also, the use of electronic research materials or rather an online library instead of a physical library is very helpful. This is whereby the teacher instead of going to the library to search for the information in the books gets to the internet and by the use of search tools, gets the information (Jonathan, 2005). By doing this, the teacher gets a chance to gain access to the latest or current information in the field. Above that, he or she gets a chance to easily get books that are also very current and with edited information important for teaching. In addition, he or she does not waste much time trying to get and peruse through the books in the library. Therefore, I think the integration of new technology is paramount in the development of the teaching profession.
References
- Jonathan D, H. (2005). Modeling with technology: Mind tools for conceptual change. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
- Lau J, L. (2008). Information literacy: International perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.