Course Goals:

This class is designed to develop your existing knowledge, skills, and dispositions regarding 21st Century Information Fluency Skills. You will learn to be more efficient searchers, evaluators, and integrators of digital information. You will also learn how to teach these skills to the students and staff you work with every day. Your task will be to sharpen your existing skills, while acquiring new insights and ideas that will make you a more efficient and effective researcher and instructor.

The first two weeks of instruction will be devoted to search skills. The middle two weeks to evaluation skills. The final two weeks will stress ethical use when integrating technology as we produce and share our course projects.

Extended Week's Objectives:

Overview:

Online Teaching and Learning

Many of you will be taking your first online class. But even for the experienced online student, getting used to a new course can be stressful. Expect a brief period of disorientation. You may even feel temporarily overwhelmed. This first week we’ll spend time exploring the eCollege environment, and building a community through discussion and sharing. Hopefully you’ll quickly learn to be more comfortable here.

We also hope you will experience a double loop of learning while you are working with us. Loop 1 deals with your Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions (KSDs) about 21stCIF (21st Century Information Fluency). Loop 2 concerns your KSDs about teaching and learning online. Learning online can be isolating if you don’t actively participate in the weekly discussions. Since we can’t judge the nuances of voice inflection or read your facial expression, we have to rely heavily on the written word. Your words in the discussion forums will become your voice. Please feel free to explore, ask questions, and express your opinion. We’re here to help you learn, so don’t hesitate to write. You will also find some helpful tools in the Webliography area of our course. Just click the button at the top of the page!

Spending Time to Save Time.

Sometimes you have to spend time to save time.  Novice or expert, there's always a new angle, trick or insight that can help us more efficiently find the answers to the endless questions.  How do we find digital information that is appropriate, timely, and accurate?  We've all developed our own routines.  These routines are often the result of hard won experience.  After a while our habits become ingrained.  It takes new energy to change and improve those patterns.   That's why you're here: to change your existing patterns - to amplify, refine, and enhance your skills.

We'll ask you to 'unpack' your own process of searching during this unit.  We want you to become more aware of what you do, and how to refine and add to your current methods.  This means slowing down so you can later speed up.  Once you've acquired and incorporated some new tricks you'll quickly be back up to speed, and find that you have a richer selection of methods for finding information on the Internet. 

Let's get started!  Begin by reviewing this week's Activities.

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