AASL released its list of Best Digital Tools for Teaching and Learning 2021! This year’s list took into special consideration how well these tools work for remote/distance students. The resources enhance learning and encourage the following qualities:
Innovation/Creativity
Active Participation
Collaboration
User-Friendly
Encourages Exploration
Information/Reference
We share these resources every year and you can explore our archive of past recommendations here.
This FREE tool uses real world examples to teach critical-thinking and habits to evaluate today’s information landscape. Examples come from social media and news sites. Students learn to recognize reliable sources and dismiss false information.
Grades: 7-12
“Checkology is a current events application that shows middle through high schoolers how to successfully navigate today’s challenging information landscape. Students learn how to identify credible information, seek out reliable sources, and apply critical thinking skills to separate fact-based content from falsehoods.”
How do your students fact check a claim on social media? Or do they even bother? Shockingly, we can’t always believe what we see or hear on social media. Journalist’s Resource to the rescue! Their Tools for verifying and assessing the validity of social media and user-generated content is a list full of sources for students to make sure that what they are seeing or reading about on social media is true. The list isn’t just reference type materials. The social media landscape demands tools that go beyond facts. For example, the image tool list allows students to analyze images to see if they are real or modified. There are even tools for research and case studies that can be discussed in class or used for instruction.
23 Mobile Things is a new program that allows library personnel to learn about apps and to stay up to-date with the latest devices. Content will be arranged under 23 basic categories including; Thing 5: Note Taking, Thing 7; Content Saving and Sharing, Thing 11: Library Reference and much more. Each of these categories will be comprised of a list of apps for program participants to select from.
On December 5th, Minitex hosted a webinar by LeAnn Suchy from Metronet; the Twin Cities multitype library system. If you missed the 23 Mobile Things Program Preview, you can still obtain the information. Click on the link to listen to the recorded session and access the program PowerPoint =>http://tinyurl.com/mwtnugs.
Registration for this event will open on January 15th. Check back to our site for additional updates next month.
Image by Kjell. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Common’s licensing.
According to a study released this summer by Connect Minnesota, digital literacy can be defined as the ability to find, understand, evaluate, create, and communicate digital information using a computer, basic software programs and the Internet. It outlines digital literacy rates among Minnesota residents. In addition, it identifies potential barriers such as training, skills, technology and access to electronic resources.
As we wrap up School Library Month, it is especially timely for Maureen Sullivan, president of ALA to write a blog post specifically about the importance of school libraries. Maureen mentions cuts to specific federal programs that may have impact on our school media centers in Minnesota. She also mentions that “The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project Online Survey of Teachers found that although the Internet has opened up a vast world of information for today’s students, their digital literacy skills have yet to catch up. Twenty-four percent of those surveyed stated that students lack the ability to assess the quality and accuracy of information they find online. Another 33 percent reported that students lack the ability to recognize bias in online content.” This reinforces the critical role that media specialists possess in our schools.
