While most parents would agree that it is important for their
child to be information literate in today’s digitally rich world, few parents would
be aware of how to go about supporting their children in this area. Furthermore,
many parents express concern about the potential misuse of IT by their children
and feel ill-equipped to help their children use information critically,
ethically and creatively (Kong & Li, 2009).
Enter the teacher librarian.
As the information literacy expert, TLs have many
opportunities to foster parent-school collaboration in this area. They have the capacity to educate parents
about the information skill-set required by students, while informing them of
how learning has changed.
Learning today is vastly different to what it was
30 or even 15 years ago. Rather than
having to memorise content (we don’t need to - we have Google) and regurgitate
it in a test, students are now expected to actively engage with the
process of learning. In other words, it is no longer adequate to
"know" a set number of facts. Students must now be able to identify
problems and apply the skills and information to
solve these problems.
Central to this is getting kids to think critically about information. Just because an
article appears to be convincing on the internet, doesn’t mean that it is
reliable or credible information. This message needs to be reinforced not only
at school, but also at home.
Parents also need to be informed about the appropriate
and ethical use of information and the new blurring of boundaries between
learning at school and learning everywhere through social media
and other networks.
The TL's role in the school community is critical in keeping
the wider school community up-to-date on current pedagogical practice. Parent
information nights, newsletters, guest speakers and social media platforms such
as Facebook and Twitter are useful tools in supporting parents in assisting
their child’s information literacy development.
It’s often said that the most overwhelming key to a
child's success is the positive involvement of parents. If this is the case,
parents need to be positive role models for their children in their critical
and ethical use of information.
Silhouette, Father And Son, Sundown Pixabay
Reference
Siu
Cheung Kong & Kai Ming Li (2009). Collaboration between school and parents
to foster information literacy: Learning in the information society, Computers & Education, Volume 52, Issue
2, Pages 275-282
