Don’t Believe Everything You Read Online: Using SMART Goals to Increase Digital Literacy (Week 2)

Digital literacy is such an important skill for students since they have the world at their fingertips…or rather, in their pockets. To improve my peer’s ability to increase digital literacy in her 10th grade ELAR students, I provided her with the following SMART goal:

Specific

During a semester-long research project, the teacher will have students analyze and evaluate ten online sources related to their chosen topic. Students will focus on the reliability of each online source by completing a credibility tracker. 

Measurable

For each source, students will complete a credibility tracker that will be teacher monitored. Students will accurately evaluate 90% of sources. For each source, students will answer the following questions:

  • What are the author’s credentials?

  • Is the source supported by current cited research? 

  • What biases and omissions are noticed? 

Achievable

The teacher will check student progress on their credibility trackers bi-weekly to ensure appropriate and accurate use of multiple databases. 

Relevant

Digital literacy aligns with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) 10.11.G.i “examine sources for: (i) reliability, credibility, and bias; including omission” (TEA, 2019, p. 23). The Texas Standard emphasizes the importance of media literacy for students who are preparing for the real world.

Time-bound

Students will work on this project for a semester, and feedback will be given bi-weekly. This timeline ensures that students and the teacher are given an appropriate amount of time to complete and evaluate their source analysis work.

Action Steps and Triple E Framework

The Triple E framework articulates the importance of both media literacy and technology integration as demonstrated through, “Despite media often claiming a new piece of technology will "revolutionize" learning, that is almost never the case.  The Triple E framework takes this fallacy of technology as the magic bullet learning into account and allows teachers to become critical consumers of making mindful choices around technology tools in their teaching” (Kolb, 2015, Triple E). Triple E articulates the complex but necessary relationship between media literacy and technology integration. To help students understand digital literacy and technology use, the teacher should carry out this SMART goal by following these three action steps: 

Step 1: Introduce Digital Literacy (Engage)

To engage students, the teacher should introduce digital literacy. To help students recognize bias, omission, and credibility, the teacher could display news headlines from various broadcast channels. For example, students could discuss the difference between a headline from FOX News and CNN News. These differences would motivate students to begin understanding the importance of media literacy.

Step 2: Explain Credibility Tracker (Enhance)

To enhance student learning, the teacher should explain the credibility trackers. These trackers will intentionally allow students to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the factors within digital literacy such as credibility, bias, and omission. 

Step 3: Allow Students to Choose Research Topics (Extend) 

To extend student learning, the teacher should help students choose their research topics. By allowing students to choose their topics, connections between students’ academic and everyday lives can be prioritized.

ISTE Student and Educator Standards

This goal aligns with several ISTE Standards for both students and educators. For students, ISTE Standard 1.3.b Evaluate Information states, “Students evaluate the accuracy, validity, bias, origin, and relevance of digital content (ISTE, 2024, 1.3b). This standard clearly connects with this goal as the premise of the project is to help students understand the validity across databases. For educators, standard 2.3.b Evaluate Resources for Credibility notes, Educators foster digital literacy by encouraging curiosity, reflection, and the critical evaluation of digital resources” (ISTE, 2024, 2.3b). If teachers expect students to practice digital literacy, we should also hold ourselves to the same standards. 

Educational Leader ISTE Standards

As I’m working throughout this program, I am becoming aware of the responsibilities of teacher leaders. By completing this project, I aligned my goal to key ISTE Educational Leader Standards including 3.2.b Build a Strategic Plan: “Build on the shared vision by collaboratively creating a strategic plan that articulates how technology will be used to enhance learning” and 3.3.d Use Tech to Meet Student Learning Needs: Support educators in using technology to advance learning that meets the diverse learning, cultural and social-emotional needs of individual students. (ISTE, 2024, 3.2.b and 3.3.d). These standards demonstrate key components of successful educational leadership by demonstrating essential conditions of prepared educators.

As digital media consumption only continues to increase, it’s important we explicitly teach students how to absorb the constant information overload. It’s the difference between people using the media and the media using people. 


References

2. Educators. (2024, July 15). ISTE. https://iste.org/standards/educators

Kolb, L. (2020). Triple E Framework. Retrieved from: https://www.tripleeframework.com/

TEA. (2024). T-TESS RUBRIC. https://teachfortexas.org/resource_files/guides/t-tess_rubric.pdf

Texas Education Agency. (2017). English Language Arts and Reading K - 12 Vertical Alignment Strand1.https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/Vertical%20alignment__K-12_English_06-2019.pdf

Comments

  1. Elizabeth HendersonAugust 30, 2024 at 4:53 AM

    Great job Haylee! I love that the focus here is digital literacy. I personally have a background in math, but even I have noticed that our students do not have digital literacy. I have sometimes helped my students with their projects in other classes where they would research things, they assumed that because it was published, it was credible. This is a great plan to help students understand credibility!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ashley EnglishAugust 30, 2024 at 9:38 AM

    Haylee, this sounds like such a great project! I could see myself doing a project similar to this in my history class.

    ReplyDelete
  3. April BrockAugust 30, 2024 at 11:51 AM

    What a great Blog! I love that you discussed hoe Kolb's Triple E framework and how educators are able to make mindful choices on technology tools around teaching. That is such an important part of integrating technology into the classroom. As you said, there is no magic bullet. I love how you are learning about enhancing collaboration and meeting the diverse needs of students.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tara ZavadaAugust 31, 2024 at 9:37 AM

    It's great to hear that you are gaining insights into the responsibilities of teacher leaders. I feel sometimes our voices are not heard. Hopefully this is helping! Your blog is so organized and well put together. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jim LawsonSeptember 3, 2024 at 10:45 AM

    Hi Haylee! I enjoyed reading your post on creating a plan to boost digital literacy. Your approach is well-organized and appropriate for 10th grade students. I especially like the use of the credibility tracker tool — it's something we should encourage adults to use too! Great job incorporating the Triple E Framework and adhering to the ISTE standards!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

EDUC 5313: Week 1

Introduction Hello, all. My name is Haylee Cannon, and I currently teach 8th grade ELAR in Anna, Texas. I find the middle school kiddos are entertaining, chaotic, and full of fun. I find they bring a unique sense of joy and laughter to most situations. In my current role, my main priority is to teach students to think both critically and empathically. If they can do both of those things by the time they leave my room, I feel my job has been accomplished. In addition to teaching, I am fortunate to have other leadership opportunities within my campus and district that align with my future goals. I serve as Department Chair of the English team and am a member of the District Technology Integration Leadership Team. Both roles allow me to work with and lead adults as well as teach students. These opportunities have given me practical experience with leadership, collaboration, and professional development. These skills will help with my future career goals as I’m hoping to obtain a leadershi...
Read more

EDUC 5313: Week 3

Image
  Blog 3   Haylee Cannon          Three major points from chapter four of How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures (2018) are executive function , self-regulation of learning, and memory. These three concepts are central to student learning, making them key factors in curriculum design. It's important that educators design lessons in a way that will be most effective when it comes to student learning.             Executive functioning is centered around “the abilities to hold information in mind, inhibit incorrect or premature responses, and sustain or switch attention to meet a goal ” (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). These tasks are key to success in the classroom as they are markers of a student who can not only memorize information but retain it as well. Essentially , executive functioning is a student’s ability to control their thinking. This concept is importan...
Read more

EDUC 5313: Week 2

       Authentic Intellectual Work is built on the idea that students learn things that will be relevant to them in the real world outside of the classroom. This method of learning is achieved through a combination of several measures such as high rigor, building student interest, in depth teacher content knowledge, and preparing students for the real world ( Newmann et al., 2007 ). The focus switches from memorization to the specific skills students will need to succeed in their future careers. The goal of Authentic Intellectual Work is to mirror the student’s learning to necessary future skills. This switch differs from traditional approaches by prioritizing critical thinking and real-world skills instead of short-term learning to take a standardized assessment. Overall, learning needs to be meaningful and relevant instead of superficial and standardized to increase a student’s proficiency in critical skills necessary for life.         Th...
Read more