Reflection

In reflecting on my Walden University class, Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom, I have learned a great deal. One of the most important things I learned is that I have to be proactive with my students in teaching them how to use the Internet safely and efficiently. As Sara Armstrong stated (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009), for me, inquiry requires deep thinking about a topic; asking important questions that are open-ended and that allow us to explore in ways that haven’t been done before. This is what I am striving for in my classroom. I want my students to be involved with solving their problems stemming from questions they have created. Using the Internet to seek out answers is one method of inquiry. With this method, students need to be taught how to evaluate websites for credible and reliable information. Then they need to be able to synthesize this information and make connections to their background knowledge to transform it into new knowledge. These steps are part of the new literacies that students need for the 21st Century learning. Knowing how, when, and where to locate useful information on the Internet, or on an Intranet, will become an increasingly important component of the literacy curriculum, especially because the availability of information resources and search technologies is expanding rapidly, increasing the importance of effective search strategies (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004).
Communication is also key to the new literacies. It is how students respond to the information on the web and how they make sense of it. It is their way of connecting with others to understand and share the information. I came across this video from Judy O’Connell’s keynote address for ‘Pandora’s Box: Fresh Start in a New World’ for FCP10-1 (O'Connell, 2006) which speaks to all topics in this class. I embedded the video because FCP10-1 stands for Flat Classroom Project 2010-1. We learned about making the walls come down when students can collaborate with other students in different countries. Learning is authentic and students are engaged in getting their questions answered and finding out what is important to them.

more about "Flat Classroom Project 2010 - 1", posted with vodpod


Jukes, I. (2007). 21st century fluency skills: Attributes of a 21st century learner. Retrieved from Committed Sardine: http://www.committedsardine.com/handouts/twca.pdf

Leu, D. J., Kinzer, C. K., Coiro, J. L., & Cammack, D. W. (2004). Toward a theory of new literacies emerging from the internet and other information and communication technologies. In Ruddell, R.B. & Unrau, N.J., (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (5th ed.). (pp. 1570–1613). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

O'Connell, J. (2006). Flat Classroom Project. Retrieved 04 17, 2010, from Hey Jude Learning and Living in an Online World: http://heyjude.wordpress.com