Click image for the full infographic.
We tend to ooh and ahh over modern youth’s remarkable ability to adapt to rapidly changing technology, but, as I’m sure anyone involved in educating young people in whatever way shape or form can attest to, a lot of them kinda suck at using technology for meaningful learning. One of the things that often surprises me is that, even at the college level that I teach, students can be woefully ill-informed about the basics of using Google to search for useful resources. I came across this great infographic that illustrates some of the more useful techniques wonderfully. I think every student should have this permanently mounted on the main screen of whatever ICT devices they use for learning.
My one qualm about this infographic is what it says about citing Wikipedia. Yes, we should always be wary about citing Wikipedia but not because it’s Wikipedia; rather because we should be wary about citing any encyclopedic resource. Encyclopedias, like Wikipedia, are secondary sources that should clearly reference their primary resources. When using these for learning purposes we should always go to the primary resources; and, if we’re using a good encyclopedia, it should be easy to do this.
I love infographics and am fascinated by how this medium has developed and been popularized in recent years. When done right, it’s a great way to present useful information in a clear and concise manner. Educators should make more use of these, especially to encourage their learners to create infographics. It’s a wonderful way to learn.
