EDUC-6712I-2 Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

Before taking this course, I thought that I knew how to research information. However, the most striking revelation I had about teaching new literacy skills to my students is I realized that I knew very little about researching a topic and absolutely nothing about validating Websites. When researching, I would type in a key word and then look at all the links that “popped up”. It was time consuming and exhausting. I knew that not everything on the Internet was fact, but if it looked and sounded valid, I believed it to be true. The knowledge and skills I have acquired from this course will enable me, as well as my students, to validate sites and gather much more reliable information.

I have gained knowledge and experience from this course that will influence my teaching practices going forward. I have learned that web literacy skills are necessary and I must teach them to my students. Eagleton and Dobler (2007) state that “at a minimum, students need to be able to identify an information need, figure out which resources to use to address that need, evaluate the information they find, read and synthesize information from multiple sources, and transform all those stray pieces of information into something original.”

I have also learned how easy it is to incorporate different types of technology into my classroom. I stated numerous times, in my posts, that the technology is not available at my school. However, I now know how to incorporate it, when it becomes available. According to Dr. Hartman (2009), “Our past was rooted in book culture. The future will be rooted in online and digital media”. Creating my Farm Inquiry Unit Plan helped me gain knowledge and experience with integrating different forms of technology to units and lessons.

My professional development goal that I would like to pursue that builds upon my learning in this course and develops my own information literacy or technology skills is to teach my students 21st century technology skills so they can be successful the rest of their school career and in life after school. I will do this by using the technology that I have as much as possible so they can become proficient in research processes and presentation modes.


Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Baltimore, MD.