Digital Comptency : Developing and Mobilizing Information Literacy

Mastery of the fourth dimension of digital competency, Developing and Mobilizing Information Literacy, is essential to help both teachers and students find their way in today’s information landscape. It is defined as a person’s ability to effectively find, assess, manage, and use information in a digital environment. 

More specifically, it involves working on the following elements: 

• Selecting and using information: Understanding how to appropriately select information for use, being mindful of algorithms and filter bubbles that can impact our access to information 
• Research strategy: Deploying an effective and meticulous strategy to find the information you need
• Mobilizing available resources: Understanding the importance of mobilizing complementary resources (e.g., information specialists such as librarians or content experts) to find nuanced and relevant information
• Assessing digital information: The ability to assess the reliability of sources or content 
• Information analysis: Efficiently organizing the information you find for reference and analysis 
• Reflective attitude toward information: Taking into account the context in which information is produced to assess its credibility 

In concrete terms, these are the kinds of actions we can expect of you as a teacher: 

• Act as a role model by selecting reliable information 
• Teach appropriate and effective strategies for finding truthful information, such as by demonstrating how to use assessment criteria like the publication date, website, author credibility, publication context, etc. 
• Propose a variety of projects that enable learners to search for, assess, and synthesize information
• Discuss a current event in class, and ask your students to analyze the credibility of various online sources, deconstructing fake news if necessary;
• Show students how to use appropriate online research tools. 

The following behaviours are expected of your students as they develop their own skills within this dimension: 

• Plan and implement research strategies to prepare an oral presentation by learning more about a topic
• Check the reliability of the sites and sources used and cite them correctly
• Use reliable search engines, such as Google Scholar, to do research 
• Do assessment exercises to help them develop their critical thinking skills and their ability to distinguish credible information from questionable information

Essentially, the aim of developing this dimension is to make students autonomous and able to cope with a sea of information—from research and analysis to critical thinking and assessing sources. There are a host of tools available for this purpose, including activities, quizzes, and printables. 

Here are a few to get you started, depending on which skills you want to work on with your students: 

Planning a research project 

• This Alloprof article is full of tips for writing the best research paper of all time! 
• The librarians at the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM) have created a comprehensive webpage (in French) to help students learn how to do research (plan, search, and analyze). 
• This digital skills playlist on YouTube (in French) has plenty of tips for planning a research project.
• The CSSDM has a directory of various research reference tools (in French). 
• The Faire une recherche, ça s’apprend website (in French) has a wide range of downloadable education resources for learning to do research. The LES is primarily designed for Cycle 3 elementary and Cycle 1 high school students.

Learning to Search for Information

• Alloprof’s articles on keyword searches and online research tools (in French) are a great starting point for learning how to search for information.
• Media Smarts’ DigitalSmarts workshop, Navigate Online Information, has a practical worksheet, slide show, video, and even a script to help teachers tackle the topic of searching for information online in various contexts. This tip sheet lists important points to keep in mind when searching online. 
• Media Smarts’ Hero Project  activity is designed for students in Grades 4 to Secondary II, and aims to develop their online search skills. 
• This CSSDM poster is a great reminder of the top search tips (in French) when searching an online database or search engine.
• Cycle 2 and 3 elementary school students can play Mission Wily (in French), which has players simulate an online search on a fun topic (how to take care of their friend’s pet guinea pig).
• The LES Qu’est-ce que les humains et les animaux ont en commun? (in French) is designed to develop a range of digital skills, including how to search for information.

Assessing the Reliability of Information

• This interactive activity from COlab (in French) is designed to help students learn the criteria for information reliability. It was developed as part of the Grade 3 CCQ course. 
• Incroyable mais pas vrai! (in French) is an LES for Grade 3 students that encourages them to question the reliability of certain content. 
• Vraisemblable ou pas? (in French) teaches Cycle 1 students that some online information is made up, and that they should learn to question the reliability of whatever they find. 
• The Let’s break the fake! campaign has several tools, including an interactive learning module, for learning how to verify information found online. 
• This CSSDM poster can help students learn to assess information in the digital age (in French).

Detecting Fake News and Disinformation

• Alloprof’s How to Spot Fake News poster is a handy tool to display in the classroom as a reminder! Additional tools are available in our media literacy articles for elementary and high school students.
• Agence Science-Presse’s poster of questions to ask when considering scientific news (in French) is a good complement to Alloprof’s poster. 
• This Radio-Canada chatbot (in French) hosts workshops on how to counter disinformation. 
• Science Presse’s VÉRIFIÉ! video clips (in French) help 8- to 12-year-olds distinguish true information from false.
• Another section of the CSSDM (in French) librarian team’s website focuses on disinformation (in French). Encourage your students to browse these pages. 
• This article (in French) and activity (in French) from Les Explorateurs tackle the topic of fake images. Artificial intelligence has increased the likelihood of stumbling across fake images online, and it’s important that your students be made aware of this possibility. 

Understanding Algorithms and Filter Bubbles

• This short video from Agence Science-Presse (in French) explains filter bubbles and echo chambers in about three minutes. And these posters address cognitive biases, more specifically, confirmation bias. 
• The Algorithm & Data Literacy Project has several useful resources about the effects of algorithms on access to information.
• These activities teach students that their online activities are subject to algorithms that subtly influence their subsequent choices: L’impact subtil des algorithmes sur le quotidien (in French) for Cycle 1 high school grades and La complexité de l’être humain (in French) for Cycle 2 high school grades.
• These activities are designed to get students thinking about the impact of algorithms on a person’s choices and consumption habits: La recette des algorithmes (in French) for Secondary I and II and Les algorithmes… utiles ou pas? (in French) for Secondary II.