Information and Media Literacy

Description: This course presents approaches to teaching information and media literacy in the curriculum. It stresses inquiry and critical thinking and includes an overview of issues and an exploration of classroom practice. This course is required for instructional technology licensure candidates.

Rationale:  Information literacy and media literacy relates to all areas of the curriculum, for it involves inquiry and critical thinking. 

Course Objectives: 

encourage the students to become more sensitive to the visual elements in a news story and to consider the 

Students who complete this course are able to:

Locate, evaluate, and present results of textual and multi-media information searches.

Analyze the interplay between visual, aural, and textual components of media messages.

Design lessons and units that help students move through a research process appropriate to their information needs.

Design lessons and units that teach students how to become critical consumers of the media.  

Conduct professional development sessions on integrating information and media literacy into the curriculum.

Analyze current debates about information and media literacy.

Teaching Methods and Course Activities:  

Post responses to course readings on discussion forum.

Analyze information literacy practices across the curriculum.

Design an information literacy project that addresses curricular needs.

Develop a Pathfinder web page that includes an annotated bibliography of one aspect of information or media literacy related to a content field or a district need. 

Compose a multimedia essay on media literacy (with appropriate documentation). 

Basis for Student Evaluation:

Grade will be based on project (50%), analytical essay (30%), annotated bibliography (10%), and evidence of effective contribution to online discussions (10%)

Resource:

Heller, N. Information Literacy and Technology Research Projects: Grades 6-9. Libraries Unlimited, 2005.

Jukes, Ian, et al. NetSavvy: Building Information Literacy in the Classroom, Corwin Press, 2003.

Intellectual Freedom Manual: http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/iftoolkits/ifmanual/intellectual.htm

Mintz, A. Web of Deception: Misinformation on the Internet.Cyberage Books, 2002.  

Cornford, J. Researching as Social Facts: New Media as Shaping the Digital Landscape. Open University Press, 2003.

Doyle, Christina Sl. "Information Literacy in an Information Society: A Concept for the Information Age" (ED 372 763).

Silverblatt, A. (2000, September). “Media Literacy in the Digital Age.” Reading Online, 4(3). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=/newliteracies/silverblatt/index.html