Information Literacy in schools

Khan Academy is slated to launch its iPad app any minute now in Apple's store. The enhanced version of Khan Academy will include time-syncing between devices--no Internet connection required--an interactive transcript of the lectures for easy searching, and a handy scrubber for moving between parts of the lectures.

The iPad frees Khan Academy from the constraints of a laptop and Internet connection.

By referencing numerous studies conducted throughout the United States, the brief illustrates the importance of school libraries in the lives of all students, particularly when it comes to literacy, college and career readiness, ...

Let a Billion Readers Bloom: How Bollywood Teaches LiteracyNational GeographicThis article was curated by Olivia O'Sullivan, our Media and Research Assistant.

Technology is a tool that can be used to help teachers facilitate learning experiences that address the diverse learning needs of all students and help them develop 21st Century Skills. At it's most basic level, digital tools can be used to help students find, understand and use information. When combined with student-driven learning experiences fueled by Essential Questions offering flexible learning paths, it can be the ticket to success.

As educators what do we want from e-textbooks? It goes without saying that the e-Textbooks need to be visually stunning. This is imperative given the nature of the iPad and what we have already seen as possible. The e-textbooks need to have an inherent interactivity that engages all our students - it should be a fascinating read, because the concepts in it are demonstrated with interactive images, text and manipulatives. They need to have visuals that can be dismantled in order to focus on one aspect of the system and then the ability to gradually add components to see how the parts work together in order for the whole to perform. The students should be able to change the variables so that the effects are changed accordingly. The e-Textbook should be filled with engaging non-linear interactive media that allows the students the freedom to negotiate their own learning activities. In the e-Textbooks we want learning experiences that immerse the students into the real world experiences that a mathematician, scientist, architect or product designer experiences. It should include interviews with these same mathematicians, scientists or artists...

The latest recording from the British Council  Seminars series is about digital literacy. What is digital literacy, and what is its significance to you as a teacher?

The study was designed to gauge middle school students'capacities to describe digital images from two digital libraries that they used in an information literacy activity. When describing the image attributes, students (N=81) ...