Week 4 IL/ICT

Week four, thus far, has been one of the most intensive weeks of the semester. When I opened up this weeks "weekly materials" for Computer Applications, I was admittedly a bit overwhelmed by the amount of materials available for us to go through. The webquest itself was an amazing resource on IL/ICT. I feel as though everyone who is going to be a SLMS or is currently, should have this entire webquest in their professional toolbox because even though it is large, it breaks down and somewhat condenses this issue of information literacy and ICT and its place in the curriculum. This is our whole job as SLMS! Information literacy is our curriculum... It is extremely important that we know this issue inside and out so that we can defend our role as an integral instructor.
I do believe that there is a common misconception today that all young children are computer whizzes and can make use of computers to find any information. Now, there is no doubt that kids are constantly on the computer (or some other technological device), but that does not necessarily mean that they have the ICT skills necessary to promote their education. ICT skills need to be explicitly taught. It is too easy to simply type in a word, sentence etc. into a search engine and simply choose from the first few hits on the web and call that "doing research." I have seen this done not only in elementary or secondary schools, but sadly I have seen it many times over in colleges and universities as well. Children need to be informed as to why this does not work and how best to find information (even if there are a few more steps involved and it requires more brain power).
This week so far has been a great learning experience for me. I am looking forward to continuing to learn about technology and its relation to this profession in the weeks to come!