Bellingham (WA) Schools Online Information Literacy Course

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Staff -- School Library Journal, 04/01/1999

Bellingham (WA) Schools Online Information Literacy Course

http://www.bham.wednet.edu/literacy.htm

There's a lot of talk about how important information literacy is for students, but what about educators? There are few quality resources that can help media specialists and teachers gain the basic skills they need to pass those skills on to students. One of the few helpful resources is the Bellingham (WA) School District's "Information Literacy and the Net" online course. Its effective design and strong content make it my choice for the SLJ Online Library Web Site of the Month.

In 1996, the district's library/media technology department developed the site in collaboration with a committee of teachers and library media specialists. The course, which takes six to eight hours to complete, introduces educators to a variety of information literacy skills, such as how to do effective searches, find visual resources, save graphics, and use numerical data. The site also discusses how to guide students in their use of the Internet at different stages of the research cycle.

"The course works really well in practice," says Nancy Messmer (nmessmer@bham.wednet.edu), the district's director of library/media technology. "It brings together teachers in different stages of their careers. There is time built in for teachers to explore and make lesson plans." A course update will target non-teaching staff, says Messmer, "so that all staff members know what children are expected to know and do."

--Walter Minkel (wmink@teleport.com), Multnomah County (OR) Library School Corps Technology Trainer