Musings from the Front Porch

No one will deny we are inundated with information from multiple sources every day. As a school librarian one of our major roles is developing information literacy skills in both students and staff. How do we, “Find, use, apply, and evaluate information” (Big6, n.d., p.1)? We consume most of our information through technology and the digital platforms provided (smartphones, computers, tablets, etc.) rather than physical books or newspapers. The ease with which we can access this information provides the opportunity to compare several sources of information more quickly, but are we following a standard process to evaluate this information? The readings, resources and podcast this week provided several different methods of evaluating information. First, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework ( https://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework ) (2015) presents six frames with which to view information literacy. Within the ACRL framework documen...

Reading the Knowledge Quest (2019) issue dedicated to the AASL standards illustrated the myriad of ways the standards can be implemented. More specifically, Lewis (36-43) shared the experience of a group of librarians discussing the AASL standards as self-evaluation tools and professional assessment tools (42). In addition, she shared the AASL standards crosswalk with the ISTE standards (42-43) and discussed the benefits of using this document to guide discussions with administrators. For example, in the AASL shared foundation of explore, learners create by problem-solving and persisting (Standard 4.B.1). The ISTE student standard 4b complements the AASL standard by promoting the use of digital tools in the design process.   While the AASL standards were created within the United States, the ISTE standards are an international document that has been adopted by all 50 states. The AASL standards can be applied to all topics of learning. In contrast, the ISTE standards were desig...