Information Literacy by Osmosis ?

Hat's off to William Badke for an excellent article in ASCD's Education Leadership's March 2009 issue. (If you're like me, you had some time to catch up on professional journals over the break!) Here are some great points he makes:

• Many online sources are void of gatekeepers who "turf out trash and publish only the worthwhile."


• Average HS students lack the ability to sort the good stuff from the garbage. Not only that, but they are overconfident in their inability! They equate their technological saavy with information literacy....Big mistake.


• Students will NOT just pick up information literacy skills while they surf, on their own. The "information literacy by osmosis" myth has been debunked with reams of formal research (Badke p. 55)


• Badke suggests an acronym for evaulation: CARS -- Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness, & Support. Originally coined by Robert Harris.

The article is well worth reading, but for we Cybrarians-- he's preaching to the choir. However, remember, this was published in ASCD's magazine which is read by your administrators. Thank you William Badke!