Key Points in Chapter 1 of Technology in its Place

Technology in its Place - Chapter 1

The three central points Debbie Abilock, librarian at the Nueva School for gifted and talented students in San Francisco, makes in her article “Using Technology to Enhance Student Inquiry” are:

1. Librarians should be utilized in the curriculum development equation.
Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Librarians are often sadly underutilized in our schools. Yet, Who is better poised to advance the cause of developing information literate students than our librarians? Are they not, after all, educators too?

“New technologies such as the Internet give students access to literally millions of documents (Jukes, Dosaj, Macdonald, 2000). Sifting through all that the Internet has to offer is a daunting task. Why not call on those who are trained information sifters? Leaving librarians out of the loop is detrimental to the entire process of education.

2. Information literacy equals metacognition. “The essence of information literacy encompasses processes such as clarifying the task, locating appropriate materials, making decisions related to their authenticity, organizing the ideas, using the information to address real life issues, and then evaluating what has been produced” (Jukes, Dosaj, Macdonald, 2000). Oftentimes one does not consider that in researching, one is evaluating not only the information at hand, but periodically detaching oneself from the process in order to evaluate this process.

3. Role-playing and collaboration are essential to deep understanding. “From their investigations students learned to describe the past through the eyes of those who were there” (LeBaron, Collier, 2001). This quote from Debbie Abilock is the key to a constructivist view where learning is subjective but where, with the aid of others, one gradually places oneself in another’s shoes. This process develops and grows a person.

Sources

Jukes, I., Dosaj, A., & Macdonald, B. (2000). net.savvy: Building information literacy in the lassroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

LeBaron, J., & Collier, C. (2001). Technology in its place: Successful technology infusion in schools.San Francisco: Jossey-