Information technology is an element of standard 3 (information and knowledge) of the American Association of School Librarians. Information technology enables the candidates to develop a learning programme that enhances the student’s learning experience through the use of current and emerging digital platforms and the adoption of information literacy skills. Using this element, I conducted professional development for learners covering selected social networking platforms. My goal in conducting the session was to demystify the tenets that most students hold about social networks as a source of information – all information on social networks is credible and does not require further analysis or interpretation.
The immense amount of information provided on social networking sites might be a challenge for most students in the synthesis and analysis of this information. This session was necessitated by the need to help the students mitigate the challenges. The students that were involved in the session were fourth and fifth graders. Important areas of coverage that were included in the curriculum were the use of blogs, Wikipedia pages, search engines such as Google, and messaging platforms as a source of information and how this information could best be interpreted. According to Farkas, (2012) information literacy skills formed an important aspect of information synthesis and interpretation. A test on the identification, finding, evaluation, evaluation, and acknowledgment of information was given before and after the session. The session was conducted at a local junior school in the neighborhood on Monday 26 th at 2:00 P.M.
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With the advent in technology and the increasing use of the internet as the preferred source of information, many students are faced with the challenge of researching the appropriate information on social networking sites (Farkas, 2012). The session was thus designed on the premise of the need of students to develop effective use of social networking platforms as their source of information. The essence of education in the students’ professional development is to impart them with the prerequisite skills necessary for looking for and synthesizing the relevant information in support of their learning and communication needs. The activities in the session were aimed at creating these skills among the students. By creating exercises that engaged the learners in goal-oriented information searching on the social networking platforms, the learners learned to focus on only the relevant information.
From the professional development session, I can deduce that many students are faced with the challenge of incorporating information literacy skills in their academic and social environments. With the internet and the numerous social networking platforms that contain virtually all information regarding any topic comes the challenge of focusing on too much unnecessary information. Students skim through information, switching between websites and networking platforms as they please – this happens especially when they find some relevant information “boring.” According to Magnuson, (2013) this behavior is partly driven by ignorance and the students’ attitudes. The professional development session was successful because as the session got underway, students began to understand and appreciate the pros and cons of the social networking pages as a source of information. Both the students and the faculty members were impressed by my delivery methods. At the end of the session, there was a general remarkable improvement in the student scores, a 40% rise from the previous test score.
There is a high likelihood that the professional development session will not have a lasting impact. This is based on previous experiences with students and the fact that the learners have gotten used to the notions negative practices on the use of social networking as a source of information. Without another follow-up session, the learners will easily revert to their old practices. It would take a series of campaigns and follow up sessions to completely debunk the myths and negative practices. However, the session was a huge leap towards the development of information literacy skills among learners.
References
Farkas, M. (2012). Participatory technologies, pedagogy 2.0 and information literacy. Library hi tech , 30 (1), 82-94.
Magnuson, M. L. (2013). Web 2.0 and information literacy instruction: Aligning technology with ACRL standards. The Journal of Academic Librarianship , 39 (3), 244-251.
