BIG6

Description

The DWC faculty and librarians believe that using Big6 as a “common semantic/linguistic framework” to teach students will provide them with a background for success. According to Alicia, students at DWC typically have little experience in completing research. Introducing the idea of a common semantic/linguistic framework – and since this is an ESL institution, in a secondary language, no less – means that Big6’s simple terminology is a big advantage.

Mike’s current work focuses on information, communications, and technology (ICT) literacy, information credibility, and information science education K-20. Mike is co-author of the “Big6 approach to information problem-solving” – the most widely used information literacy program in the world. Mike is a prolific author (9 books and dozens of articles and papers) and has worked with thousands of students—pre-K through higher education—as well as people in business, government, and communities to improve their information and technology skills.

Dubai Women’s College, founded in 1989, is an English as a second language (ESL) institution with more than 2300 students. Dubai Women’s College (DWC) is one of 14 colleges that make up the Higher Colleges of Technology system, a public institution of higher education in the United Arab Emirates. DWC enrolls female Emirati students in a variety of business, education, health sciences and technical programs, and awards both lower credentials (“diploma” and “higher diploma”) as well as Bachelor degrees in these areas.

Even though students used the Big6 to locate a broader range of materials, DWC instructors found that the students still needed to develop a stronger ability to evaluate information. In my experience working with college students, I emphasize Big6 Step 4.2, Extract Relevant Information, to include evaluation of materials for scholarship, reliability, relevancy, accuracy and authority. Our college students need to learn the difference between a scholarly journal and a popular magazine, and understand the distinction and reliability of multiple web sites on the same topic.

We founded The Harker School Information Literacy Committee during the 2004/05 school year in order to develop a strategy for implementing the continuum recommended in the California School Library Association’s Standards and Guidelines for Strong School Libraries . During the first year, seven committee members adapted these guidelines to meet the needs of the Harker School. In addition, we selected The Big6 as the preferred research methodology for the K-12 range.

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