Module Six: Information, Media and Technology Skills

Module Six-Activity 5 Communication

Educators need to learn more about Web 2.0 tools to communicate knowledge. Whether it is to encourage students to share ideas and reflect and think more critically or to learn more about changes in education and content areas—educators need to communicate in a way that is effective, timely, collaborative, and media-rich.

In exploring Module 6 readings and activities, I found the information on research websites useful and insightful. The del.icio.us website is wonderful tool for organizing and sharing research, and I would make this tool available to my students if it were accessible in our school. I plan to share information about “tagging” and the website to coworkers and students regardless.

The Evaluation Wizard offered through the Illinois Math and Science Academy will also help students decide whether a source selected is highly rated and worth considering as a resource. Using website and blog evaluations help to determine the validity and reliability of the information presented and ultimately the use of the resource in critical analysis of a topic.

The use of blogs as an educator if they are not filtered in a school district can be a useful tool to post projects and encourage feedback. In some districts, it is a tedious process to be able to create a web page and have it uploaded to the district’s website dependent upon design. The use of a free blog website would surpass district website restrictions and allow timely postings, links, instructions, and conversation.

I do think that websites that offer free space to share personal information are being overused and abused by many young people in our society and by those who have a criminal intent. Recently, a local news program commented on a newer website titled JuicyCampus.com. The concern about the website is that those who author or contribute to the website are not accountable for the information posted—the information can be completely falsified and can ruin a person’s reputation or more personally-self respect and self image. Issues related to freedom of speech and freedom of the press will continue to arise about these types of websites.

As written by Joyce Valenza on information literacy “Students need to be fluent for all information formats—traditional, current, and emerging. They should be able to identify a wide array of information and communication strategies and choose the ones that best meet their needs.” As educators, we need to keep current with information formats and help students learn to use them effectively.

Module 6: Information, Media, and Technology Skills

Module 6 Activity 1
Village of Gilman
Water & Sewer Issue

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/wm/glwsp/facilities/munifp.htm
The basic purpose of facility planning is to assess the condition of a sewerage system, establish a need for improvement, evaluate options to address system needs, and to identify the cost-effective alternative.
Google Web
Wisconsin DNR
Waste Alternatives

http://www.goerie.com/
Published: March 16. 2008 6:00AM
A vast array of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones -- have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.
Google News Archive
Water Contamination

http://www.scipub.org/fulltext/ajas/ajas49619-627.pdf
Nitrite and nitrate are highly soluble and easily leach out of soil solution. Therefore, continuous application of cheese whey at higher rates may result in ground water contamination and eventually becomes a threat to human and animal health.
Directory of Open Access Journals
Water AND Contamination

http://md1.csa.com
Results of this study indicated that the nitrate and chloride concentrations in the groundwater of the central Wisconsin sand plains are significantly above background, and that the main source is the irrigated agriculture in the region.

Nitrate and Chloride in Ground Water Under Irrigated Agriculture in Central Wisconsin
Saffigna, PG; Keeney, DR
Ground Water Vol 15, No 2, p 170-177, March-April 1977. 3 fig, 4 tab, 18 ref.
Google Scholar
Wisconsin Ground Water

http://www.questia.com/
Results of a study suggesting an association between breast cancer and perchloroethylene (PCE; also called tetrachloroethylene) exposure from public drinking water. Women were exposed to PCE when it leached from the vinyl lining of water distribution pipes from the late 1960s through the early 1980s.
Journal article by Ann Aschengrau, Sarah Rogers, David Ozonoff; Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 111, 2003
Google Scholar
Wisconsin + Contaminated Water

http://www.questia.com/
The association between nitrate levels in public and private sources of drinking water and gastric cancer mortality in Wisconsin was investigated in a case-control study.
Gastric Cancer Mortality and Nitrate Levels in Wisconsin Drinking Water Rademacher, JJ; Young, TB; Kanarek, MS
Archives of Environmental Health AEHLAU, Vol. 47, No. 4, p 292-294, July/August 1992. 1 tab, 17 ref.
Google Scholar
Wisconsin Water Results

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/cfa/EL/Section/Clean.html
The Clean Water Fund Program (CWFP) is one of the subsidized loan programs included in the Environmental Improvement Fund (EIF). The CWFP provides loans to municipalities for wastewater treatment and urban storm water projects.
Google Search Web
Wastewater Facility

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/dwg/report.pdf
2006 Annual Drinking Water Report—Wisconsin’s Public Water Systems
(Includes chart data on maximum permissible contaminant levels for drinking water.
Google Search Web
Safe Drinking Water

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-9908924_ITM
Article describing how three wastewater-treatment plants in Wisconsin recently earned national and regional awards as outstanding examples of design and operation.
Google News Archive
Wisconsin Wastewater
“Village of Gilman”

http://www.wrwa.org/field.html
Ed Hendzel has over 22 years of experience in the water and wastewater industry. Prior to joining WRWA, Ed served as the Public Works Director for the Village of Gilman for over 17 years.
Google Web
“Village of Gilman”


When trying to decide key words and search engines to use for this activity, I had to think of what sources I wanted to draw from in gathering data. I wanted some quotes and examples of Wisconsin’s wastewater situation, I wanted to find people directly involved with Gilman, Wisconsin’s situation, and I wanted to find scientific studies on wastewater contamination and the effects on area residents. The search tool that gave me the best results for the scope of the project was Directory of Open Access Journals, Google Scholar, and Google Web. These tools may have worked best because the project is very specific to Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has much information developed on this subject. Search tools I found least effective were MagPortal.com and FindArticles.com. I was deterred most often by having to register and pay for articles.

Module Five: The Big6 Information Problem Solving Model

In this module, I found learning about The Big6™ very interesting and useful. One of our main goals as educators is to help students develop problem solving skills and the Big6™ is a well designed framework for integrating technology. Use of an organizer for the appropriate grade level allows students to learn a process that if used consistently can be applied to most situations in life as well as projects for school. Once students learn to think through the steps then they will be able to choose which ones are needed when solving a problem. The steps are pull out and need not be completed in a linear order and every stage does not have to take a lot of time as indicated in the article The Big6™ Skills Overview written by Mike Eisenberg. “It’s the smarter solution—one that helps students develop the skills and understandings they need to find, process, and use information effectively.” Ultimately, students are successful and we as teachers feel accomplished as well.