8 Living in the Information Age
This chapter deals with the topic of information literacy and provides a methodology for information processing. It is absolutely critical that today’s students be information literate. Then information literacy is defined followed by a profile of an information literate person. The information processing methodology is presented along with a simple example and a more detailed discussion of each step in the methodology. The skills associated with information processing are identified with additional information about three specific information processing skills: brainstorming, active listening, and memorizing. Note that the chapter ends with a section titled, Performance Levels for Listening. The descriptive sentences allow students to assess their performance at listening and provide clues as to how improvements can be made.
čRelated/Helpful Faculty Guidebook modules
čKnowledge Table for Chapter 8
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Ch 8
Living in the Information |
Concepts |
Processes |
Tools |
Context |
Way of Being |
| WWW | Information processing | Software help system features | Fred’s story (graphic artist) | Goal-oriented | |
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Brainstorming skills-- idea generation, evaluation, planning |
Active listening | Information processing form | Amazon.com | Inquisitive | |
| Listening skills—concentration, comprehension, perception, motivation, background knowledge, classifying, targeting, empathy, attention to details, compare/contrast | Levels of listening | Resourceful | |||
| Memorizing skills—encoding, storing, retrieving |
čOnline Resources for Chapter 8: http://www.pcrest2.com/fol/ch8.htm
čNotes on Chapter Content
What Do YOU Think? Your Active Listening Skills
In order to complete this exercise, students will need to view a video clip available through the course resources site. A direct link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIadtFJYWhw. After doing so, students will compare their response to the responses of the five model students and decide which of those responses most closely matches their own. This enables students to be somewhat more objective about their active listening skills, allowing for a more meaningful assessment, which they perform during this exercise, using the criteria in Table 8.1.
Critical Reflection A Scavenger Hunt through Amazon.com
This is a fun a relatively quick exercise that should not prove difficult for traditional students. The goal is to get them thinking not only about how they find information but alternative ways to go about doing so. A brief in-class discussion of different numbers of clicks that different students counted for the same answer could allow for students with lower numbers of clicks to share insights about efficiency in finding information.
Life Vision Portfolio Passion Exploration: Favorites
This exercise gives students an opportunity to talk about their passions (i.e., the ideas or information that speaks to who they are, as well as their hopes, dreams, and goals) as informed by, organized by, or archived by their use of the Internet. This topic is really not appropriate for in-class discussion, as students need to feel relatively free to engage in some self-exploration.
čActivities
| Activity 8.1: The Information Processing Methodology | In-class: Full Activity | 1 class period |
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This activity gives students the opportunity to explore the application of the Information Processing Methodology in the context of their own lives. They are encouraged to follow the model that Fred used within the chapter and to draft a plan which is really an outline of the application of the methodology. Students are asked to share their plan with a fellow student, who will complete an SII Assessment of the plan. For this reason, you should discourage students from selecting a scenario that is very personal and instead focus upon a project for a course or something similar which requires information to be found, processed, organized, and retrieved. You might consider having students brainstorm a list of possible scenarios and then ask them to choose one from the list. This activity will also work well as a team activity. The assessment portion of the activity should be facilitated carefully, as students are prompted to assess the plan and not the specifics of the information. Some students may have difficulty in not making alternative suggestions for resources, for example. Be sure to remind students that this is not an evaluation, but an opportunity for them to help each other through assessment. Critical Thinking Questions
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| Activity 8.2 Using a Software Help System | In-class: Orientation or Full Activity | May spans multiple class periods |
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The purpose of the Activity is to give students an opportunity to explore the help system of a software package. While many students are comfortable using software, many are far less comfortable or capable with using the help features available. Additionally, because students are paired and asked to demonstrate features of the help system and then explain back what they learned, they are practicing active listening (which includes providing a response). If this activity cannot be completed in-class (due to technology constraints), consider asking students to complete the Critical Thinking Questions individually and document at least five features of the help system. In class, each student should explain the features verbally and allow their partner to respond to two of them verbally, by explaining what they learned. Optionally, instructors may wish to choose a software system that students will focus upon as they complete this activity. Doing so would allow for a class-level discussion about their answers to the Critical Thinking Questions. Critical Thinking Questions
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