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last updated
11/13/2011
Media / Information
Literacy Program
Assignment
Your
final team project involves developing a program on media or information
"literacy" for college freshmen, such as ILA students (or
advanced high school students). The program should include a
presentation of important material that these students can use,
discussion and at least one "hands-on" activity.
GOAL:
The purpose of this assignment is for your team to create a training
program that provides knowledge and the ability to use that knowledge on
how to cope with information and media in this complex internet driven age
to younger student. Thus, your team must design a short training
program to present to these students that
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introduces
your selected topic and shows how it is relevant and important to the
students your are training.
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provides
concrete and usable information about your "literacy" topic
in an interesting and vivid way.
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and
engages the students with the material through discussion and some
form of hands on experience so that they will be sure to have a
signficant "take-away" from your program.
Structure
of the Program: The typical program should last about 30 minutes
including presentation, discussion and activities. Your team's program
will need to include the following elements.
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An
introduction to the topic that gets attention,
sets a context for your
presentation and establishes why this
material is important to the students you are presenting it
for. [ A-M-T-O of the AMTOBUL model you studied in COMM 101 ]
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A
"meaty" PowerPoint slide show that lays out the
key ideas your team has decided to include. ("Meaty"
in this case means that the slides should contain enough information
that the slide show alone could be useful to a person who views
it.). The slide show presentation by your team could (and
probably should) involve discussion and interaction with the students
being trained as you go through it. The actual presentation of
content should likely not last longer than 10 minutes
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An
activity that gets the students to actually use the ideas
you have presented to them. the activity could be a game, a
simulated assignment, work in groups, etc. But it should
involving using the literacy materials you teach, be engaging and be
FUN.
Steps
in completing this assignment:
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Begin this
assignment by discussing the potential topics suggested below with your team.
Determine what each topic might involve and what knowledge your team
already possesses that might be useful in training younger students to
be more effective consumers of information or media. topics will be
assigned to teams on a first come-first served basis. Your
team may propose a topic not on the list below with approval from the
instructor.
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Once
you have selected a topic and had it approved, schedule a meeting with
a reference librarian (Lauren, Lynn or Rick at the Hewes Library) or,
in the case of media topics, a local expert suggested by your
instructor (e.g. Prof. Angotti, Bond, Capener, etc.). This
meeting is a requirement of the assignment and the expert you meet
with must verify that members of your team attended the meeting.
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Determine
the ideas you will present. Remember, less is better. A
few important ideas that are well illustrated are better than a lot of
material that will be quickly forgotten.
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Think
of ways to get these students (strangers to you), to talk with you
about the concepts you are presenting.
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Develop
an activity or game that gets students to use or engage with the
material.
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Lastly,
create an introduction that will be vivid, gain attention, and
establish that your program has significance for the students you are
training.
Advice:
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Keep
things thoughtful and useful but SIMPLE
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Use
lots of VIVID SUPPORT material to illustrate your points
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Be
sure the students you train can see HOW to use this material and WHY
throughout.
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Keep
the students ACTIVELY ENGAGED during the program. Don't let them
become passive observers. (for example, don't let them sit
listening for more than 3-5 minutes at a time, max.)
Presentations
will be graded on the following basis: How professionally accurate and
appropriate are the concepts your team presents, how well organized your
program is, how vivid is the support material your team uses, how
engaging the structure of your team's program seems to be, how effective
the program is at getting students to use what the just learned, how
involved all members of the team seem to have been in the development
and presentation of the training program.
Information and Media Literacy Resources
Presentation
Evaluation Form
DUE DATES: Tues. & Thurs, Nov. 17 & 22 - in class team reports
Potential
Media / Information Literacy Program Topics
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Understanding
Research Materials: Assessing the reliability and quality of
the various kinds of materials (peer reviewed journals, blogs,
general interest and view-point specific magazines and journals,
Wikipedia, etc.) found through various search methods.
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Understanding
Sources: Determining the reliability, fairness and
likely accuracy of sources and authors of the information that we
use in school and everyday life while discovering ways we can be
sure our knowledge is "fair and balanced."
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Getting
Started: How to develop a general understanding (overview) of
a serious public topic that you know little about (e.g. when to use
the Wikipedia and when to look elsewhere)..
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"Reading"
Video News: What
all viewers should know about how TV and Cable news is made.
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Truth
Checking the Politicians: How to begin determining if
candidates are telling the truth or blowing smoke.
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Lies
and Statistics; Understanding some of the most common
confusions and distortions that are created by (mis)use of
statistics in public life.
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Advertising
and Consumer Protection: What students should know about the
kinds of advertising directed at them and how to respond to
ads thoughtfully.
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