InformationFluency

Mary Schwander, New Hope-Solebury High School Toni Vahlsing, Abington Friends School

toc **Control the information - don't let the information control you.**

Information Fluency involves three skills: Information Literacy, Technology Literacy and Critical Thinking. The use of these skills gives students the "ability to perform effectively in an information-rich and technology-intensive environment." ([|U. of Central Florida]

= Search Tools =

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[|Kids' search posters revisited!] media type="custom" key="5882421" [|Reframing Google's search options] media type="custom" key="5882385"

**Google Apps**
[|Google Custom Search] Use Google Custom Searches on your Pathfinders to help students search specific sites for specific units. See this example for a Shakespeare assignment.

Google News - Google Timeline

[|WonderWheel]

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[|Google Scholar] media type="custom" key="5634123"

[|Image Swirl] [|Google Squared] Categorized search results which can be customized.



[|Google Fast Flip]

[|WallWisher for data collection, backchanneling and more]

Other Search Engines
[|Clusty] - clusters results in categories Sweet Search - with a new directory for school libraries! Wolfram Alpha [|Mashpedia]

Alerts and RSS Feeds
[|Google Alert] media type="custom" key="5635969"

**Twitter**
Visit [|this guide] for ideas on how students can use Twitter to gather information for research and collaborate for projects.

Use [|Twitter hashtags] to follow Tweets on a particular subject, such as the One Book One Twitter promotion.

Follow authors (or any other Twitter lists!) by using [|Twitter List Widget]

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[|TwtPoll -] Students can use this polling tool to gather information for research or a project.

= Information Management = Joyce's Pathfinders Polling tools

Widgets
Embedded widgets on your library website help students and teachers easily get to the information they need. New Tools: Widgets

**Book Widgets**
Add virtual bookshelves to your website which announce "New Arrivals", "Summer Reading", or class book lists, or add searchable book widgets to search inside books. [|GoodReads] [|LibraryThing] [|Google Books] - embed a searchable book on your site OR add a [|Google Books widget] which allow users to search for books. [|GuruLibrary] [|KidderLit] - A Twitter widget which reports first lines of children's or young adult books Scholastic Book Wizard Widget - allows you to search by title, author or keyword ||
 * media type="custom" key="5684105" width="40" height="40" || [|Shelfari]

Databases & Bookmark Widgets
Many databases offer widget options so that users can search from the library website media type="custom" key="5694067" AskHere PA media type="custom" key="5694305" || [|EBSCO Widgets] [|ProQuest Widgets] [|JStor]
 * [|Gale Widgets]

[|Diigo LinkRolls] - share your bookmarks with a widget on your site [|Diigo TagRolls] - Display bookmarks with certain tags [|Delicious LinkRolls] [|Delicious TagRolls] ||

News & Information Widgets
[|Discovery News] [|New York Times Widgets] [|Reuters Widgets] [|Wall Street Journal Market Widgets] [|USA Today] ||
 * media type="custom" key="5694397" || [|CNN News]

Presentation Widgets
Embed guides and presentations on your website to instruct your patrons how to navigate research tools, manage their library materials, or any other step-by-step guides. [|Google Presentations] (such as the ones embedded above for Google Apps!) [|MyPlick] [|Scribd] [|SlideShare]

Widget Tools & Builders
[|SproutBuilder] [|Widget Box]

Screencasts
Embed, link, or email screencasts of tutorials and guides to your students and teachers. media type="youtube" key="rYNkF8Jx2tY" height="190" width="320" Avi Screen CAM Studio Copernicous - for Macs iShowU - for Macs [|Jing] Screen Jelly Screenr [|Screen Toaster] Screencast-o-matic TipCam

Social Bookmarking & Notetaking
Social bookmarking sites aren't just for keeping track of all your favorite websites - they also allow you to easily share "Favorites" or "Bookmarks" with colleagues and students. Some of the social bookmarking apps also have options for embedding "linkrolls" onto your website which work well with Pathfinders (see "Widgets" above). Groups can also be created allowing classes, teams or departments to collaborate and develop a list of tagged websites.

Diigo > [|Click here] for tutorials on how you can use Diigo for research, sharing and collaborating.
 * Special educator accounts are available so that teachers can set-up classes

[|Delicious] [|Edu Tagger] - for K-12 Social Bookmarking [|Google Bookmarks] - select sites as you surf Google; Google Lists are now available also! Fur.ly Fur.ly is a great way to compile multiple websites and present them as a single URL. Adding sites is as easy as copying and pasting URLs into a blank. Once all sites are added, then the Fur.ly address is created and the websites can be interacted with, individually and all sites can be scrolled through and interacted with. This is of great use when compiling electronic resources for teachers and projects once they have been looked at by resource gatherers. [|Jog the Web] - take your students or staff on a tour of saved websites [|Reddit] [|Simpy] [|Stumble Upon]

[|Evernote] - for storing and organizing information; see this [|clever video] on the benefits of Evernote ("//Information doesn't control Jill, Jill controls information!")//. Noodletools- a citation machine that has notecards that students can drop into their outline. Zotero- advanced students can use this Firefox add-on to collect citations, snapshots of webpages, and take notes. [|Ubernote]- You can send twitter messages to your notes in Ubernote, use a firefox ad-on, and more!

Portals
Portals are starting points for students or staff to help them begin a search for information. It can consist of widgets, lists, links and more.



[|PageFlakes] [|LibGuides] [|iGoogle]

Citation Tools
Noodletools- A free version offers MLA only citation help, but if you purchase the package for your school, students can choose a citation format, save their lists, take notes and make outlines. EasyBib- Search by ISBN or keyword on books, and all of your information is filled out automatically! Free MLA, costs $ for additional formats. KnightCite- Quick-and-dirty, cut-and-paste, with plenty of options Zotero- For more advanced users, this Firefox plug-in can integrate with MSWord. Has ISBN lookup so you can enter books automatically. Also takes snapshots of webpages. You can take notes, too!

=**Presentation Tools**= [|MuseumBox] is a great way for students to show off what they know, and comment on other student's work. Here's an [|example] of a finished one.