Response to “Web 2.0 Meets Information Literacy: Make New Friends and Keep the Old”

Joyce Kasman Valenza brings up some very critical points in her article “Web 2.0 Meets Information Literacy: Make new friends and keep the old.” Valenza starts by arguing that it is important for students to learn how to use credible, great sources with the best information so that they will be prepared for college and the business world. She states “I have heard celebrated information specialists and futurists proclaim that we live in a good enough / why bother world. If people can easily find some information, they will not be motivated to find better or best information. As a teacher and as a librarian I find this approach impossible to accept.”

I agree witih Valenza here in that teachers must teach students how to find the best information for their research. For the last paper in my composition class, I had many students who turned in websites such as Wikipedia and about.com as their “credible” and “great” research. I would like to blame it on their ignorance, but they had just been through four straight days of instruction/activities that focused on how to use databases appropriately and how to evaluate websites correctly. Those students who chose to turn in sources that were not on the databases complained when I gave them zeroes, claiming that they should be able to use the sources, even though most of the sites didn’t give them very good information and even some false information. One student said to me, “so what? It will work. How is anyone going to know whether or not it is true or false? If you just ignore it, no one will know.” Even after I explained to him that it was immoral and that it was wrong to pass off work that is biased or inaccurate as truth, he seemed to be adamant about using those sources. He and a few other kids mentioned that other teachers don’t make them use those sources, so why do I have to make them use the sources? Again, I sat down and explained the ethical issues involved, and again, they seemed to not care because they wanted the easiest and quickest information they could find.

So my question is, how do you truly motivate students to use credible sources? Grades can be a factor, but how can you get them to truly understand the ethical issues involved in writing research papers and have them consistently follow these ethical standards? I think the answer is to have them publish their work using a Web 2.0 technology. Students will then need to make sure they follow ethical standards because it will be published work and they will see the immediate importance of it much more clearly. As a journalism teacher, I have to sometimes reiterate to students the importance of crediting sources, using copyright free images, crediting photographs and other works. Because the paper will be read by the public, they hold themselves to a higher standard. I am curious as to how the English students will respond to this. I think I will try it sometime soon…