Reading for evidence

When we went to school our reading of information was quite different from that of students today. Information we had access to was limited in range and predominantly in print form and there was an implied perception of trust in the information due to the accountability that was attached to print forms. Today we live in a 'digital universe' where information is rapidly expanding; it is instantly and continually accessible without having to leave the confines of our classroom or home, and almost immediately available from the time of generation and often with little evidence of source or validity. The information varies from vitally important matters of life and death to the trivial and unimportant, such as what a distant relative ate for supper. The International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that digital information will grow 47 % in 2011 alone to reach 1.8ZB (1.8∈×∈10²¹ bytes) and rocketing to 7 ZB by 2015 (IDC, 2010). This enormity of information changes the landscape of how in our everyday lives we filter, select, and read information and how it is shared and used in classrooms. Of particular importance is how students themselves find and evaluate information-tasks that teachers have set for students for generations but now occurring in a rapidly changing digital universe.