Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

The most striking revelation I had as a result of my last course “Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom” through Walden University is that I have not been doing the most effective job of teaching my students how to use and search for information on the web. A great learning experience for me was creating a screencast explaining how I would teach students to evaluate web resources. Check out my screencast at http://www.screencast.com/users/TiffanyHall/folders/Jing/media/f520f58c-1d86-432c-813f-81e2db8210fd. I plan to use screencast in my classroom right away.

The new knowledge that I have gained will definitely change the way I use online inquiry in my classroom. I need to explicitly teach my students how to use the Internet effectively. I plan to use many of the resources provided in this course to help my students learn how to effectively search the web and determine if the information they locate is valid and reliable. I plan on incorporating and using inquiry based projects in my classroom in a much different way than I have in the past. A huge change will be that students will ask the essential questions that will guide their inquiry research, not me.

Synthesis in reading, writing, and communication is a difficult strategy for students to learn and for educators to teach. Many different ideas and tools provided by Eagleton and Dobler will help me to effectively and concretely show my students what it means to synthesize. I envision using many of the handouts in this book to guide my students in all subject areas.

A professional goal that I have for myself is to learn about more technology-based projects that I can incorporate into my classroom. I have been experimenting with blogs, wikis, photostory, and podcasts for a couple of years. I now have tried out screencasting and am going to use this in my classroom soon. I would like to extend my knowledge of podcasting to create advanced podcasts with video. I would like to learn more about digital storytelling as well. E-pals is something that I will be using with my second graders this winter and spring. I look forward to the results and the learning that will take place. I know there are many different technology resources available that I am not utilizing currently. I would like to learn how to use a smartboard and apply for a grant to receive one in my classroom.

There are so many possibilities I will have to remind myself to take one step at a time. I am fortunate to be part of peer technology coaching this year at my school. I will be working with a technological savvy colleague that will help me to implement and incorporate technology in my classroom. Our first step will be to use e-pals with both our second grade classrooms. We then would like to create podcasts that we will use for students to collaborate between our two different classrooms. It seems to be a perfect year for me to have this experience, as there are many new things that I would like to try out!

References:
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Thanks for reading!
Tiffany