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Though a recent report by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project has found that in general, digital research tools impact students’ work positively, the study also reported that teachers believe that access to technology is also making students much more easily distracted.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded a $291,178 grant to the Public Library Association (PLA) to develop an online collection of digital literacy resources. The two year grant, which was given via the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, will help PLA partner with the American Library Association (ALA)’s Office for Information […]
In Bristol, a city straddling the border of Tennessee and Virginia, the Bristol Public Library (BPL) is taking digital literacy training to the next level. The library employs a small staff of full-time teachers, who have made computer training a key component of BPL’s 25 year-old Patricia Freedman Literacy Academy (PFLA). The academy launched as a GED prep program in the late 1980s, and even then, it offered a small computer component for students who wanted to learn keyboarding, said BPL Executive Director Jud Barry. Computers have since become ubiquitous, and five years ago, BPL opened a new main library with a computer lab, where the teachers are available for one-on-one instruction five days per week.
In a challenging economy, ISTE and ALA grapple with advocating for their school librarian, media specialist membership and then there’s the hot-button issue of digital literacy.
A nationwide plan described in the New York Times has sparked an angry response among school librarians. But tech trainers in the $200 million program will teach computer skills after hours and in public libraries–not in school or directly to students, according to the FCC and ALA.
