Information Has Value

The Information Has Value frame refers to the understanding that information possesses several dimensions of value, including as a commodity, as a means of education, as a means to influence, and as a means of negotiating and understanding the world. The flow of information through systems of production and dissemination is impacted by legal, sociopolitical, and economic interests.

Learning Outcomes:

Students should be able to…

• apply the four factors of fair use in order to determine the potential use of a copyrighted image in their work.
• explain the value of citing sources in order to effectively use information sources in their writing.
• evaluate a source using specific criteria in order to determine whether it meets their information need.

                                                      

Activity:

•  Ask students to find a newspaper or popular article on copyright, fair use, open access, and the public domain. Have them write a 1-page opinion piece about how this would affect them in some aspect of their life. Have open discussions about the availability of papers for purchase on the Internet. Use this as a way to open dialogue about the ethical issues of using intellectual property.
• Have students “grade” each other’s works cited page for correct style and completeness of citations as well as appropriateness of sources cited.
• Have students create a bibliography of sources they have used for their projects and explain why they choose each source and how each is relevant to their needs.

Activities related to knowledge practices:

• Students will have ability to understand that  intellectual property is a legal and social construct that varies by culture.
• Students will have the ability to give credit to the original ideas of others through proper attribution and citation.
• Students will have the ability to recognize issues of access or lack of access to information sources.

Searching as Strategic Exploration

Locating information requires a combination of inquiry, discovery, and serendipity. There is no one size fits all source to find the needed information. Information discovery is nonlinear and iterative, requiring the use of a broad range of information sources and flexibility to pursue alternate avenues as new understanding is developed. This frame focuses on keyword development, Boolean search strategies, and the exploration of reference sources as a starting point for research.

Student Learning Objectives: 

• Identify the best databases to use for a research topic.
• Create appropriate and effective search strings for database searches.
• Identify broader, narrower, and related terms or concepts when initial searches retrieve few or no results.

Activity:

1. Give students a topic where they have only a nebulous idea of their topic, develop key terms to search with, and use two different databases to locate information on their topic.
2. Students will use a reference database (e.g., Credo Reference) and develop search strategies for a research topic.
3. Students should be able to use at least two Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to find materials for their topic.

Materials needed:

• Computer with internet access.
• White board
• Pre and Post-test questionnaire

How these activities relates to knowledge practice:

Activity one relates to knowledge practice four as after the activity students will have the ability to match information needs and search strategies to search tools.

Activity two relates to knowledge practice five as students will have the ability to design and refine needs and search strategies, based on search results.

Activity two relates to knowledge practice seven as students will have the ability to use different searching language types (e.g., controlled vocabulary, keywords, natural language).
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/help-students-analyze-text