Information Literacy

Information literacy is the ability to utilize communication information. This takes many forms but is critical for being an educated citizen in the information age. Much of information literacy is the ability to evaluate sources of information as reliable or not. Access to information and finding it is an important part of information literacy. Information literacy is important so people can find and evaluate information to solve problems in the modern age.

Definition of Technology in the Classroom

Technology is any force multiplier for your efficacy of instruction. Anything that exists in your classroom that makes you a more efficient teacher is educational technology. Having a wide view of technology is important because if you limit it to what is digital, you will not see the things outside of the digital realm that can make you a better educator. Most technology falls into two categories: helping the student and helping the teacher. Automated homework programs help the student by being able to make curated content on the fly, but it also helps teachers because they don't have to spend hours each week grading homework. This extra time can be spent developing better lesson plans, learning new skills, and many other productive channels.

Educational Philosophy

I am partial to the constructivist educational philosophy. Constructivism says that knowledge is constructed on prior life experiences. This makes knowledge, and by extension learning, personal experiences. We must take our education personally to make it effective. So, our duty as educators is to motivate our students and make our instruction personal so they build knowledge in their minds instead of just memorizing facts and regurgitating them on a test. I have taken inventories on my philosophy, which reflects the same position with an added element of existentialism. This does not surprise me because I am big on saying, "People learn about what they want to learn about." It's also unsurprising because I have been a lifelong fan of Noam Chomsky.