Blog Post 2: Information and Media Literacy

As a middle school English/Language Arts teacher, I'm very familiar with teaching students about credible/non-credible sources. However, despite this, I've always struggled to not only find a clear and concise way to teach it to my students, but also in evaluating media and information for my own consumption. I think it's tempting for us to believe that if we're of a certain educational level, we can't possibly be duped by media sensationalism or half-truths, but the sources I read and listened to this week very much proved me wrong.

The Liturgists podcast provided an incredibly clear breakdown of the most basic forms of credibility a source should have. Since listening to the episode earlier this week, I've begun keeping their tips in mind as I watch YouTube videos, TikToks, listen to the radio, or read the news. I liked how the advice was nonpartisan and how "both sides" are guilty of information distortion; I think their tips provide a great starting point for people on all sides of the political spectrum when it comes to evaluating credibility. I think the tools discussed in the podcast align with what we see in the P21 Framework with information and media literacy. The Partnership for 21st Century Learning emphasizes that "citizens and workers of the 21st century must be able to exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills related to information, media, and technology" (2015). The tools in the podcast are an excellent application of these values, and I think the two sources align very well.

Not to wax too poetic about The Liturgists episode and how much I enjoyed it, but it also aligns very well with what we see in the "Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education." This source specifically discusses the role that librarians can play in cultivating information literacy, and I think that the application of the six tenets relies on a librarian or media specialist having cultivated a solid information diet for themselves. For librarians, I think it's important to have an information diet that spans the political spectrum. I try to regularly consume sources that are slightly left and slightly right of center in order to get the best balance (while still critically evaluating them). I also think it's a good idea to occasionally "check in" on sources that are further left or further right; every now and then, I like to go to a more biased publication, find a story, and then do external research on that story to see what they got right and wrong and how it's been twisted. This doesn't need to be done all the time, but it's good to stay in practice, especially since we are the people who teach others what information and media literacy should look like. 

If I had to derive an overall theme from this week's sources, I would say it's that information and media literacy should be seen as accessible to everyone. Yes, librarians are often the experts, but we should show our students and patrons that anyone can evaluate if a story is credible or not using just a few simple tools. While the P21 Framework and the "Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education" are primarily written for librarians and media specialists, The Liturgists episode was meant for a much broader audience. That broader audience--of all ages, political affiliations, and creeds--is to whom we need to demonstrate the accessibility of media and information literacy.

References

American Library Association. (2015, February 9). Framework for information literacy for higher education. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework

Gungor, M. & Science Mike. (Hosts). (2017, March 7). Fake news and media literacy [Audio podcast episode]. In The Liturgists. https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy81NmVhMWU3OC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/aHR0cDovL3BvZGNhc3QudGhlbGl0dXJnaXN0cy5jb20vZS9tZWRpYS1saXRlcmFjeS0xNDg4ODkyNDg1Lw?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjg-dDOnN7yAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQEg&hl=en 

Partnership for 21st Century Learning. (2015). P21 framework definitions. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED519462.pdf

Blog Post 1: AASL vs. ISTE Standards for School Librarians

AASL and ISTE standards both seem to be grounded in a similar philosophy, which is helping students become well-rounded, fully literate citizens. However, there are definitely several differences between the two. ISTE standards are broken down by who their target audience is; they have standards for students, educators, educational leaders, coaches, and ISTE computational thinking competencies. The AASL standards, on the other hand, are solely directed at students and what they should be able to accomplish, but this certainly doesn't mean the standards are too narrow. "The AASL Standards recognize learning as an ongoing endeavor that should not be confined to the four walls of the school building or library" (Freedman & Robinson, 2018, p. 12). 

Literacy as seen in the ISTE standards is centered around technology, and literacy in the AASL standards is a bit more holistic in regards to the broader school library experience. ISTE's website states: "[T]he ISTE Standards ensure that using technology for learning can create high-impact, sustainable, scalable and equitable learning experiences for all learners" (ISTE, 2016). This certainly isn't to imply that the AASL standards lack discussion of technology implementation; the "Engage" domain of the AASL standards includes several references to technology, with one example stating that learners will "follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information by [r]esponsibly applying information, technology, and media to learning" (AASL, 2017). 

The greatest, and arguably most important, similarity between the two is a focus on acquiring skills and applying knowledge rather than just acquiring knowledge and doing nothing with it. Both sets of standards place importance on higher-order thinking and application of knowledge. Freedman and Robinson discuss a variety of example activities that align with the AASL standards, including empowering learners to advocate for change in their community by campaigning for the Day of the Dead to be a local holiday (Freedman & Robinson, 2018, p. 12). If we wanted this to intersect with the ISTE standards, part of this campaign could have been done online via social media, which would align with Student Standard 1.4: "Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions" (ISTE, 2016). I believe that combining these sets of standards and consulting both of them can lead to increased media and technological literacy for students, which will in turn help students become ethical and helpful digital citizens.

References:

American Association of School Librarians Standards Framework  (2017). AASL Standards Framework. AASL-Standards-Framework-for-Learners-pamphlet.pdf

Freedman, J. & Robinson, A. (2018). School librarians level up. Knowledge Quest, 47(5), 11-15.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2016). The ISTE standards. https://www.iste.org/iste-standards