WikiInfoLit Learning Task Analysis, Prerequisites, Learning Hierarchy
Here is the link to the learning hierarchy.
The learner will choose to teach critical thinking and information literacy skills using a class wiki and Wikipedia rather than not using it at all or using it merely as a negative example.
attitude - prerequisite skills are verbal information and other attitudes
prerequisites
- Verbal information - Some information sources are better than others, and it is possible to judge the quality and reliability of an information source.
- Verbal information - It is possible to produce a better research project by using better information sources.
- Attitude - Chooses to help, support, teach students basic skills of research rather than expecting them to have them already, or expecting them to learn through unguided practice.
The learner will define and explain the concept of critical thinking.
defined concept
prerequisites
- Verbal information - "Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness... Critical thinking can be seen as having two components: 1) a set of information and belief generating and processing skills, and 2) the habit, based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behavior." From "The Critical Thinking Community: Defining Critical Thinking".
The learner will classify the concept of information literacy.
defined concept
prerequisites
- Verbal information - "Information literate people will demonstrate an awareness of how they gather, use, manage, synthesise and create information and data in an ethical manner and will have the information skills to do so effectively." From "The Seven Pillars of Information Literacy: The Core Model".
- Verbal information - Students need to be able to: "Choose suitable material on their search topic, using appropriate criteria", "Assess the quality, accuracy, relevance, bias, reputation and credibility of the information resources found", "Assess the credibility of the data gathered", and "Critically appraise and evaluate their own findings and those of others". From "The Seven Pillars of Information Literacy: The Core Model".
The learner will generate lesson plans to teach critical thinking and information literacy skills using Wikipedia.
intellectual skill or cognitive strategy - prerequisite skills are rules, verbal knowledge, cognitive strategies, and attitudes
prerequisites
- Intellectual skill - structure and components of a basic lesson plan.
- Intellectual skill - structure and components of a learning objective (either ABCD or Gagne's).
- Intellectual skill - how to create a rubric for authentic assessment.
- Attitude - Student will choose to use constructivist learning theory over instructivist, instruction that tends to be more whole-task than part task, authentic tasks and assessments wherever possible.
The learner will generate a strategy of evaluating the authority of Wikipedia articles and other information sources by presenting written paragraphs addressing the concept of cognitive authority, including its problematic aspects.
cognitive strategy or maybe intellectual skill
prerequisites
- Attitude - The learner will choose to treat the authoritativeness of authors and information sources as a relative, subjective, and situational thing, as opposed to absolute, objective, and universal.
- Verbal information - Authority means the reliability of an information source based on who created it - their reputation for expertise, experience, etc.
The learner will generate a strategy of evaluating the neutrality of Wikipedia articles and other information sources by presenting a written paragraph explaining the concept of neutrality, including problematic aspects of it such as how much weight each point of view is given, and questions whether other points of view have been excluded.
cognitive strategy or maybe intellectual skill
prerequisites
- Verbal information - Neutrality is best summarized (maybe ironically) in the Fox News motto, "Fair and Balanced." Neutrality strives to present all widely held points of view and minority points of view only in proportion to how numerous and influential their proponents are. In a neutral information source, the author and publisher/sponsor of the information source is not supposed to reveal their own opinion or try to influence the opinion of the audience.
- Neutrality is an ideal that is contentious, questionable, problematic, and is frequently honored more in the breach than in the observance.
The learner will generate a strategy of evaluating the objectivity of Wikipedia articles and other information sources by presenting a written paragraph discussing the concept of objectivity as opposed to subjectivity, and the importance of argumentation involving claims, grounds, warrants, etc.
intellectual skill
prerequisites
- Verbal information - Information is objective if it can be validated externally by reference to empirical facts and to reason/logic.
- Verbal information - In scholarly information sources, the goal is to let evidence and logical arguments (NOT emotional appeals or other manipulative techniques) persuade the reader. If emotional appeals or manipulative techniques (such as inappropriate use of imagery or anecdotes, weasel words, loaded words, etc.) are detected, the information source falls short of being objective.
- Verbal information - Bias in research is a tendency to favor one outcome or point of view over another. It is not the same as a random inaccuracy, but a tendency for the inaccuracies to all "err in the same direction".
The learner will state the reasons for citing sources in a written paragraph.
verbal information
prerequisites
- Verbal information - An important purpose of citing sources is to allow the scholarly community of readers to trace information back to its original discoverer/inventor and to see how it has been modified, built upon, and reinterpreted as it was passed on.
The learner will explain the concept of genealogy or provenance of knowledge by explaining it in a written paragraph.
defined concept
prerequisites
- Verbal information - In scholarly information sources, whenever information is presented (as a fact, an idea, a piece of data, a quote, etc.) the author of the new information source cites the existing information source from which they got it.
- Verbal information - When doing research, it is possible to use the citations in one information source to find other information sources on the same topic simply by investigating what sources the one in hand cited, and what sources cited the one in hand.
- Verbal information - When doing research, it is possible to judge the quality of an information source based on whether it cites sources that are original, high quality, and reliable.
== The learner will state the advantages and disadvantages of the peer review system in a written paragraph. ==
verbal information
prerequisites
- Verbal information - All scholarly sources are peer reviewed, or go through a process that is similar in most respects.
- Verbal information - Non-scholarly sources are not peer reviewed, and other forms of quality control they may go through vary considerably, from none at all, to extensive proof-reading, revision for style, fact-checking, etc.
- Verbal information - The peers in peer review are other scholars in the same narrow subject specialty, who have volunteered.
- Verbal information - Double-blind systems exist to reduce bias, and work by keeping all participants ignorant of who the other participants are and what they are doing. However, real double-blind in peer review is often impossible because of the small number of experts in each specialty, and the fact that part of their job is to familiarize each other with each other's work.
Verbal information - Wikipedia is a non-scholarly source and does not have peer review as it exists in scholarly sources. However, self-selecting Wikieditors conduct a sort of informal, non-double-blind peer review in the Talk pages.
== The learner will explain the concept of scholarly communication or the conversation among scholars that takes place in journal articles and monographs, and also compare it to the less formal generation and negotiation of knowledge that takes place inside and outside of the scholarly community (eg in Wikipedia), by writing or creating a media presentation. ==
defined concept
prerequisites
- Verbal information - There is a difference between scholarly and non-scholarly (a.k.a. popular) information sources.
- Verbal information - Scholarly publications communicate the outcomes of original research.
- Verbal information - Scholarly publications build upon and respond to previous scholarly publications, and anticipate that future scholarly publications will do the same. It's a kind of conversation.
- Verbal information - Popular non-fiction publications simplify and interpret the information that is derived from original research, or else do not trace their information back to a verifiable original source at all.
Verbal information - Knowledge is not an absolute, external thing that people simply discover or acquire, but something that is to some extent constructed and negotiated.