Information Literacy Reflection

This course has made me think about many aspects of technology that I never really considered in my teaching. I think that with the students growing up in a technology rich era I often forget that they still need to be taught how to properly use the technology they grow up around. The students may be able to use all of this technology and even teach me some about how to use the different programs, but it is very rare that they have learned how to properly use the technology for educational purposes.
This will directly affect my teaching of the students throughout the year. I try to accomplish many different technology based projects throughout the year, but I do not always stress to the students how to find the resources they will need to accomplish the project. I also do not focus much on how to find if a site is credible or even how to site that source. I let the students do “free” research to get what they need to complete the project, but after this course I realize that the students really need to be taught how to find what can be used and how to use it. If I do not accomplish this for my students I am not helping them grow as young adults, and I am not showing them what it means to be responsible with the information that they gather and provide to others.
One goal I have for the future has two parts. The first is to create lessons to show the students how to effectively, efficiently, and responsibly. This will allow my students become better researchers and it will hopefully help them in every class throughout their schooling carrier. The second part to that is to then show the students how to cite those resources and make them part of a social bookmarking site for all students to use throughout the years. This will get students use to giving credit for work done, and it will also give students a chance to contribute to the learning of each other. The ultimate goal is to get students to properly use the internet and share that information with everyone else so that they start to become responsible for their own learning. I believe that this course has helped me to realize that I need to take some responsibility in teaching the students these skills, and I will make that my main goal into the future.