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Web Sites (all sites will open in a new window)
Educational Technology Skills Rubrics -- from the Utah Technology Awareness Project. Technology skill evaluation rubrics are available for basic skills, professional productivity, communication, classroom instruction, leadership, and technical troubleshooting.
National Technology Standards for Students and Teachers -- from the International Society for Technology in Education. Information available here regarding the ISTE student standards as well as teacher standards for the effective use of educational technology.
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Books
Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut by David Shenk, 1997. The author was infatuated with information technology--until he realized that he was being bombarded with too much information, so much that it was destroying his quality of life. He feels that we're moving toward an information-infested society of people with weakened vision, sore backs, and "culturally induced" Attention Deficit Disorder. In Data Smog, Shenk declares that the information glut is causing such problems as social fragmentation, the breakdown of democracy, the decline of educational standards, and the empowerment of demagogues. Shenk frames the book with his 13 "Laws of Data Smog" and ends by offering five antidotes for the problem.
Digital Literacy by Paul Gilster, 1997. Digital literacy is defined as "a way of reading and understanding information that differs from what we do when we sit down to read a book or a newspaper." The book's goal is to provide a means of understanding the information we receive on our computers. The book analyzes titles written by a couple of famous Luddites: The Gutenberg Elegies, by Sven Birkert, and Silicon Snake Oil, by Clifford Stoll. While acknowledging the validity of some of their arguments, Digital Literacy calmly refutes their challenges that the Internet and digital technology devalue human interaction and literacy. The author mixes personal experience with solid research to offer a clear- minded approach for evaluating content received from the Internet.
Information Anxiety by Richard Saul Wurman, 1990. What is information anxiety? It's that nagging feeling that no matter how hard you try, you just can't keep up with everything going on around you. It's being embarrassed to say simply "I don't know"! Wurman explains why the information explosion has backfired, leaving us stranded between mere facts and real understanding. He presents a more sensible way to handle the barrage of information we face every day. Using three easy-to-apply principles, Wurman shows us how to get the information we need and how to use it effectively. Though this book is several years old, it's still right on the mark as it sets out all of the gory details of infowhelm and information overload.
Literacy in a Digital World : Teaching and Learning in the Age of Information by Kathleen Tyner, 1998. This volume provides a clearly written overview of visual, informational, and media literacy, and focuses on the authors and professional cultures associated with each of these subfields. It describes how each group has dealt with problems of representation and legitimation, emphasizing the need for cross-disciplinary and international collaboration and synthesis. The text also describes in detail how educators are using print, video, photographs, and computers to foster literacy, defined as "the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and produce information." Examples are provided regarding how new technologies and literacy practices can be integrated into the elementary, secondary, and post-secondary curricula.
NetSavvy: Information Literacy for the Communication Age by Ian Jukes, Anita Dosaj, Kate Matheson, Bruce McKay, Wendy McKay, Lisa Holmes and Sara Armstrong, 1998. The Internet is a unique resource. It's a communications tool, a research tool, and a publication tool. NetSavvy is the ability to use specific information fluency skills as they apply to these three aspects of the Internet. The key process that NetSavvy employs for any information-processing task is known as the 5A's of Information Literacy: asking (key questions to be answered), accessing (relevant information), analyzing (the acquired information), applying (the information to a task), and assessing (the end result and the process). This book provides a comprehensive framework and a series of simple planning tools that teachers and students can use to become NetSavvy
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan, 1994. This reissue marks the 30th anniversary (1964-1994) of McLuhan's classic expose on the state of the emerging phenomenon of mass media. In a new introduction, Harper's editor Lewis Lapham reevaluates McLuhan's work in the light of the technological as well as the political and social changes that have occurred in the last part of the century.
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