Mr. Mellott’s Weblog

I just finished reading an article written by my professor and some of her students. You can find it here. I find that the article really reiterates much of what we are learning in our information literacy course. The article speaks of digital immigrants (teachers) teaching literacy skills to digital natives (students). I love how the article continually reinforces the difference between fluency and literacy. Children become fluent speaking a language, but that fluency does not mean that students have the skills to read, write, and, otherwise, use the language effectively. The same is true of the digital fluency that most of our students possess. As part of their effort to help teachers find ways to encourage digital literacy, the authors developed a method by which students can work with information. To this end, they offer the acronym D.I.S.C.O.V.E.R. Each letter signifies a different step to help students work effectively with information. I like this acronym because it is easy to remember and because much of the focus is on the process. My only concern with it is the lack of emphasis on the product. I know that students are, ultimately concerned with the final grade. This, I hesitate to call it a shortcoming, might be overcome with the use of a scoring rubric placing more emphasis on the product. Perhaps a 50/50 grade between the process and the product would make a method this focused on the process more practical in a culture where the end result matters most. Regardless, this article is worth a read. It is sure to get some wheels turning.