I've been working with the 21st Century Information Fluency Project
for most of this century. We've developed a number of free resources
that you're welcome to use in your effort to address student and
faculty information literacy.
Our work is online at
http://21cif.com
I've also assembled a free online instructor's information fluency
tool kit:
http://www.diigo.com/list/wiredinstructor/21_cif-learning-games-and-online-resources
For the last three years we've been working with Northwestern's Center
for Talent Development to deliver online information fluency training
to nearly 3000 7th-12 graders. At the same time about 200 adults have
also taken the training. We've seen significant gains (approx 30% as
measures against a pretest) in skills from this 3-4 hour self-paced
performance assessment.
You can preview our 2.0 Moodle version at
http://21cif.mrooms.net/course/view.php?id=90
Just login as a guest. You can see everything except the
assessments.
This years version (Information Investigator 3.0) is based on a
medical theme and is currently being taken by CTD students as we
speak. In this edition we're using levels in a new more game like
approach. As students complete each task they earn badges and move to
a more sophisticated level.
Our first self-paced training was almost 10 hours. This last one can
be done in about 3 hours. We're please to see that the learning
outcomes remain about the same, in the 30% gain area.
Two things stand out for us. 1. Students assume all databases work
like Google and are easily baffled when basic searches don't yield the
results they expect. (In this year's version we ask them to search
PubMed for specific information.) We've also found that most teens i
simply refuse to check facts. They also resist training in how to
check facts. 8-)
I've used these materials with my graduate students at UW-Stout. It's
been my experience that most folks over-estimate their abilities when
it comes to online searching and content evaluation.
Hope this helps!
Dennis
Dennis O'Connor
Founding Partner: 21Cif.com
Program Advisor
E-Learning & Online Teaching
School of Education
Online Professional Development
University of Wisconsin-Stout
Wisconsin's Polytechnic University
530-318-1145 (Cell)
Skype: wiredinstructor2