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Pacific Bell/UCLA 21st Century Literacies Annotated Links

Disclaimer: The following list of sites was selected from a list of web sites compiled for the Pacific Bell/UCLA Initiative for 21st Century Literacies project. The list is designed to provide a sample of the web sites that promote the acquisition of Literacies required in the 21^st century. Many of the sites contain links to additional resources that may also be helpful. The sites and their locations were verified on August 20, 2001. However, because of the inherent structure of the Internet, no warrantee is implied. It is important to be aware that individual site content and availability may have changed since this list was compiled and verified.

American Association of School Librarians National Guidelines & Standards. http://www.ala.org/aasl/ip_implementation.html

The AASL site contains links to the standards, guidelines and resources to educate and assist school librarians to promote information power for students. The information and materials references by this site are taken from or based on the book INFORMATION POWER: Building Partnerships for Learning. The site also contains presentation materials to promote the importance of information power in the schools. While the site is designed for school librarians, classroom educators and administrators will also find this a valuable site for its coverage of information literacy standards and resource guides. (Links)

American Association of School Librarians Position Statement on Information Literacy. http://www.ala.org/aasl/positions/ps_infolit.html

The AASL issues position statements on a variety of issues that are key for school librarians. The AASL position paper defines information literacy as "the term being applied to the skills of information problem-solving". The paper identifies the key elements of information literacy and argues that it is critical to integrate these elements into the curriculum. The section of the paper on "Information Problem-Solving Skills" contains specific steps for achieving basic competency. The section on "Information Literacy in Action" contains 8 different examples of how information literacy can be integrated into classroom lessons and activities. The National Forum for Information Literacy, an umbrella group of over 60 organizations, has adopted this position paper. (Bibliography)

Maryland Library Association: A Model Statement of Objectives for Bibliographic Instruction. http://research.umbc.edu/~romary/teachingobjectives.htm

This paper identifies four skill objectives that must be met for an individual to be information literate. These objectives parallel the information seeking, selection, and evaluation process. For each of the objectives, specific sets of competencies are listed that the student must be able to perform to successfully retrieve and use information. The objectives and competencies are listed in a succinct form that facilitates their incorporation in learning activities. They could also be used as a checklist to ensure that necessary skills are taught and measured.

Oklahoma Information Literacy Standards (Acrobat format). http://sde.state.ok.us/acrob/pass/infolit.pdf

Oklahoma emphasizes the acquisition of information literacy skills across the curriculum. The state uses the nine AASL Information Literacy Standards for student learning as the basis for integrating Information Literacy into all subjects across grade levels. For each standard, two to five measurable skills are defined on three levels - basic, proficient, and exemplary. The site also contains a glossary of terms related to Information Literacy. This document is available as a web page for online viewing http://sde.state.ok.us/publ/pass_pages/infolit.htm.
These sites and others can also be reached from the Oklahoma State Department of Education home page http://sde.state.ok.us/home/defaultns.html by following the links for Curriculum > Priority Academic Student Skills>Integrated Curriculum>Information Literacy

Colorado Standards for Information Literacy with Information Literacy Guidelines. http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdelib/slinfolitindex.htm

This site contains links to the Colorado Information Literacy guidelines and references. The section on "Standards for Information Literacy with Colorado Information Literacy Guidelines" charts the AASL nine IL standards against the applicable Colorado IL guidelines and requisite skills. The "Model Information Literacy Guidelines" expand the Colorado Guidelines by specifying a list of specific skills and activities that demonstrate a student's ability to meet each of the five guidelines. An especially useful resource is the "Information Literacy Rubrics" document that provides a chart for each of the five IL guidelines. Each guideline chart consists of a list of "Target Indicators" and the skill level that a Beginning, Partially Proficient, Proficient, and Advanced student would demonstrate. Searching for "information literacy" on the Colorado "Standards in Action" http://www.cde.state.co.us/index_action.htm page returns an extensive list of Information Literacy resources including literacy units for several grade levels.

Children's Partnership. http://www.childrenspartnership.org/

This organization focuses on identifying and publicizing the needs of children, especially the low-income and underserved. They are particularly concerned with access to the Internet and information technologies. Two areas of particular interest to educators are the publication "Parents Guide to the Information Super-Highway and their new campaign "Young Americans and the Digital Future." State by state statistics have been compiled and made available in the "Young Americans: Toolkit for Action". Copies of their publications and research reports are available online at their site.

Pacific Bell/UCLA Initiative for 21st Century Literacies. http://www.newliteracies.gseis.ucla.edu/

This site describes the Pacific Bell/UCLA Literacies joint project designed to evaluate the meaning of literacy in the rapidly changing, technology driven, environment of the 21^st century. The initiative addresses three areas - educating the user, improving the information system, and addressing policy issues. Initiative projects supporting each of the three areas are briefly described. A 15-minute video "e-literate" is available through the web site. This video is designed to introduce "Literacies" to young people by highlighting the rapidly changing technologies that are dramatically reshaping how we live our lives. While designed for young people, the video is both entertaining and informative for anyone living in today's world.

Nuts and Bolts of Big6™: In Search of Information Literacy. http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/big6/

This site belongs to Pacific Bell's Knowledge Network Explorer and is part of their ongoing program to support education in California. The Big6™ defines the six broad skill areas necessary for successful information problem-solving --Task Definition, Information Seeking Strategies, Location and Access, Use of Information, Synthesis, and Evaluation. This site describes these steps, provides resources and activities that can be incorporated into classroom activities, and contains a game designed for 5th and 6^th graders to reinforce the Big6™ .

Blue Web'n™ Learning Sites Library. http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/

Blue Web'n™ is a searchable database of over 1000 outstanding Internet learning sites -- lesson plans, instructional units, learning activities, and background information -- categorized by subject area, audience, and type. Sites are selected for their quality and usefulness with new sites being added on a regular basis. To find good literacy sites search using keywords literacy, media, and/or information literacy.

Just Think Foundation: Media Literacy Education. http://www.justthink.org/index.html

"Just Think" is a non-profit organization focused on promoting media literacy and critical thinking. The organization maintains resources for classroom teachers including a Lesson Bank that contains a collection of detailed lessons with links to online resources that promote media literacy in the context of language arts, social studies, science, etc. These lessons are designed primarily for middle and high school. Educators are invited to submit additional lessons for inclusion in the bank. The organization maintains a list of online media education sites, Links to Think, which includes Media Literacy organizations, projects, and curriculum resources. The organization also develops media education programs that are available for purchase.

Center for Media Literacy Links to Media Literacy Online. http://www.medialit.org/othersites.html

This organization maintains a list of links to online media literacy organizations and resources. The category "Good Sites for Teachers and Classes" lists a variety of resources including lesson plans, student activities, and PBS videos. Two other categories provide additional links - "Student Productions" and "Commercial Sites with Resources for Teachers and Classes". The CML home page provides additional resource links that may be of interest including a media education crash course available in the Los Angeles area http://www.medialit.org/CML/aboutcml.htm.

Media Literacy Online Project http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/FA/home_index.html

The College of Education at the University of Oregon created this site to support teachers. It contains an exhaustive list of resources divided into 5 sections. The "Teachers Desk" in section A contains links to lesson plans, guides, materials, and standards. Section A also contains a list of 250 organizations and recommended web sites. Section C contains a list of web sites that deal with Media Literacy issues such as advertising, gender, violence, etc. This site will be available until May 2002, when it will be replaced with a new web site currently being developed titled "Media Literacy Review" http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/mlr/home/index.html.

Media Literacy Clearinghouse. http://www.med.sc.edu:1081/

This site is an excellent resource for an amazing amount of material on media literacy. Resources include articles, lesson plans, and background information listed under the categories of gender, media literacy, tobacco advertising, commercialism, advertising, television, magazines, newspapers, motion pictures, health/prevention, media literacy resources, propaganda, and the Internet. The section on the Internet deals specifically with Information Literacy. There is also a "Handouts for K12 Educators" section. In addition there is a workshop on assessment and a media literacy listserv.

Kathleen Tyner: Strategies for Media Literacy. http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/FA/mltyner/tyindex.html

This site contains online links to Ms. Tyner's articles on media literacy. The articles cover a broad spectrum of issues, projects, and proposals including tips for parental managing of TV and video games. There is also a bibliography of print, video, and online resources for educators.

Project LOOK SHARP http://www.ithaca.edu/looksharp/

Ithaca College's Project Look Sharp promotes the integration of media literacy across grade levels by providing support and resources to teachers. The project promotes 12 principles for integrating media literacy into any classroom and details specific activities for applying these principles at 4 levels - early elementary, upper elementary, middle school, and high school. Resources include basic concepts, key questions, and links. A key area in the links is "Media Literacy Curriculum Integration". The links in this section are subdivided by subject area and reference lesson plans, projects, activities, print media, etc.

British Columbia Ministry of Education, -- Information Technology 8 to 10 http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/it810/ittoc.htm and - Information Technology 11 and 12. http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/it1112/ittoc.htm

These sites contain detailed Integrated Resource Packages that document instructional guidelines and strategies along with detailed curriculum by grade level. While the title is "Information Technology", the focus is on the use of technology to solve informational problems to meet the educational goal of information literacy. Each grade level curriculum contains detailed learning outcomes, instructional strategies, assessment strategies, and resources.

Electronic Literacy pre K-12, Montgomery County Public Schools. http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/departments/isa/elit/index.htm

This site focuses on the skills necessary to find and use information in electronic environments. It addresses search strategies, research process models, and web site evaluation. The site also provides electronic literacy curriculum and lessons plans for elementary, middle and secondary grades. The site contains a well-balanced selection of internally developed materials and links to outside resources.

Managing Information in a Digital Age, Corinne A. Seeds University Elementary School. http://www.ues.gseis.ucla.edu/news/informan.html

At UES, the Information Management Curriculum is designed to promote the skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed to develop effective lifelong information awareness, seeking, management, and presentation strategies. The curriculum is based on seven steps starting with the reason students seek information, progressing through framing and focusing questions, identifying and collecting , evaluating, sense-making, reflecting and refining, to finally using the information. The site contains the curriculum table of contents and directions for obtaining a copy of the complete document.

About-Face: who we are. http://www.about-face.org/who/index.html

"About-Face is a media literacy organization focused on the impact mass media has on the physical, mental and emotional well being of women and girls" and the actions necessary to change the message being sent. This web site is very up-front in its content and message. Content areas includes a gallery of the worst advertising offenders, actions to promote a new model, making changes, and additional resources on a variety of subjects such as body image and women's health.

Web Research Evaluation Checklist, Information Literacy Program, University of Louisville. http://www.louisville.edu/infoliteracy/evaluate.htm

This site contains a set of questions and caveats to use when evaluating web sites for accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and coverage. In addition to evaluation criteria, there are links to sample sites illustrating each of the five criteria.

FIT: Fitness in Information Technology. http://depts.washington.edu/itlit/

This web site resulted from a summit held at the University of Washington on February 8, 1999 to discuss Information and Technology Literacy. It contains links to summit presentations including Lawrence Snyder's presentation on the National Research Council's report "Being Fluent with Information Technology. This report, available online <http://books.nap.edu/books/030906399X/html/index.html>, was authored by the Committee on Information Technology. This report documents why fluency is important, the requirements for fluency, relevant issues, and implementation considerations to achieve fluency.

The American Association of School Librarians. http://www.ala.org/aasl/index.html

The AASL web site contains resources related to information literacy, media literacy, the use of technology to solve information problems, and children's use of the Internet. Information Literacy is addressed in the section on National guidelines and Standards. Browsing the section on resources provides an overview of topics addressed by this organization. The section on technology has a valuable link to the ALA's "Libraries and Internet Toolkit" http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif/internettoolkit.html which contains guidelines and resources designed to help librarians manage children's use of the Internet.

Visual Literacy Exercise, Cleveland State University. http://www.csuohio.edu/history/exercise/vlehome.html

The exercise consists of a series of 15 woodblock prints depicting a variety of Japanese landscapes. The student is asked to view all 15 prints and then answer 3 basic questions about what he/she deduced about the geography and climate of Japan based on the prints. The student is then shown the 15 prints again but this time annotations have been added pointing out significant geographical and climatic features in the scenes. The student is asked to compare what they now know about geography and climate. The exercise takes about 30 minutes to complete. The format and basic ideas could be used with other images in a variety of learning environments. The site also contains teaching notes that include suggestions for classroom adaptation.

On-Line Visual Literacy Project, Pomona College. http://www.pomona.edu/Academics/courserelated/classprojects/Visual-lit/intro/intro.html

This site provides a good introduction to the basic elements of visual literacy. Visual literacy is defined and each of the visual elements - dot, line, shape, texture, hue, scale, etc. are illustrated with a small graphic. Clicking on the individual visual element displays a description of the element and how it can be used to communicate with the viewer. The description for each element includes visual examples with commentary, additional links, and references.

Association of College and Research Librarians (ACRL): Model Statement of Objectives for Academic Bibliographic Instruction. http://www.ala.org/acrl/guides/msobi.html

This site documents the ACRL's objectives for bibliographic instructions and is designed to provide direction to librarians when reviewing current programs or developing new ones. It is comprised of a set of objectives which describe the processes used when gathering information. The objectives are divided into four broad categories that address how information is identified and defined, structured, intellectually accessed, and physically organized and accessed. This format is intended to serve as a checklist to assess current and proposed programs.

UC Berkeley Library: Finding Information on the Internet : A Tutorial. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html

This site is based on the Internet Workshops offered by the teaching library at Berkeley. This is a very comprehensive site, with valuable resource links as well as how-to information. In addition to information on basic bibliographic knowledge, searching strategies, and resource evaluation, the site contains detailed information on the internet, web browsers, search engines, and resource citing. The section on search tools contains a comparison of search engines, links, subject directors, and a listing of specialized searchable databases.

University of Minnesota CLA Language Center: Using the Internet for Language Teaching and Learning. http://languagecenter.cla.umn.edu/lc/surfing/InetTandL

This site provides education links for both ESL and foreign language teachers. It contains links for teachers on how to use the web to teach languages and how to select and evaluate sites It also includes links to more than twenty examples of web-based language activities.

Association of College and Research Librarians (ACRL): Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilcomstan.html

This site defines information literacy and its relationship to Information Technology, higher, education, pedagogy, and assessment. It lists five standards and specifically defines for each of the performance indicators and outcomes. While the site defines the standards for higher education, the information is applicable to lower grade levels by defining the target skills students need to have to be "information literate".

ED Technology Digital Divide. http://www.ed.gov/Technology/digdiv.html

Government reports show that the "digital divide" continues to grow. This site contains annotated links to key government reports, publications, and web sites addressing this problem.

Wilton Library: Innovative Internet Applications in Libraries. http://www.wiltonlibrary.org/innovate.html

This site is a collection of links high-lighting innovative library applications on the Internet. Many of these links are specifically for children and teens. The links are divided into 14 categories ranging from "Ages & Stages" to Special Collections& Online Exhibits, Tutorials/Guides, and Virtual Tours. The referenced sites are sites designed by libraries across the US.

Evaluation of Internet Information. http://thorplus.lib.purdue.edu/~techman/eval.html

This site provides, in outline form, a concise description of first, why we need to evaluate information found on the Internet and then, how to evaluate information and sources for reliability and credibility. Focus is on who wrote it, accuracy, author's perspective, and the intended audience. A bonus feature, not always found on evaluation sites, is a set of suggestions for where and how to check the above criteria.

TILT: The University of Texas Information Literacy Tutorial. http://tilt.lib.utsystem.edu/

This site is a well thought out tutorial that covers the skills necessary to find, select, and evaluate resources on the Internet. The tutorial is divided into three modules - selecting, searching, and evaluating -each requiring approximately 30 minutes to complete. The modules can be completed in any order and consist of an introduction, a list of key concepts and skills, main text and interactions, and a quiz. The site can also be navigated using the map function that allows the user to go directly to any part of the tutorial.

Media Awareness Network - English home page. http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/

This Canadian site is designed for educators, parents, and others interested in promoting media literacy. It offers teaching units, student handouts, and resource materials for K-12. There are also three discussion groups - educators, secondary students and younger students with agendas appropriate to each age group.

DORIL: Definition of Information Literacy and Related Terms. http://nosferatu.cas.usf.edu/lis/il/definitions.html

This site is referenced by many Information Literacy sites for definitions of information literacy, information competence, media literacy, computer literacy, visual literacy, lifelong learning, and resource-based learning

National Forum on Information Literacy: Selected Resources. http://www.infolit.org/publications/index.html

This site provides an annotated list of books, publications, reports and videos on Information Literacy.