EduGeek Journal

Hello World!! Just want to send a quick ‘Howdy!’ to everyone before doing my first official post. Thanks to fellow edugeek Matt for letting me join in! Jumping right in…

Recently, I attended the North Texas Regional Community College Technology Forum, a one-day conference that focused on educational technology used in community colleges. One session I found particularly interesting discussed methods used (online, hybrid, face-to-face) in teaching information literacy – how to effectively search for information on the internet and how to discern whether or not the information found is applicable and valid.

A few years back, I worked as a technology integration specialist for a school district, and one thing that struck me as I sat through this session was how the concepts and skills discussed that the presenters are trying to teach to our students are pretty much exactly the same as those I was training my K-12 teachers to teach to their students.

It amazes me how teaching students how to perform an efficient Google search and how to determine if a site is valid is appropriate in both a K-12 setting as well as in higher ed. I know the reason for this is the dramatic increase in information available online as well as the increase in usage of online resources for research and study. I just find it interesting that learners of all ages are having to educate themselves on these skills. Thoughts?