Introducing the 15 Challenges

Confused by where or how to get started on the path to Information Fluency?

Introducing the 15 Challenges, a new portal to Information Fluency. By completing these fifteen challenges, users are introduced to essential digital searching and evaluation tasks that include:

• browsing
• truncation
• effective keyword queries
• basic operators
• finding better keywords in snippets
• database selection
• evaluating an author
• evaluating a publisher
• detecting bias
• checking online reputation
• fact checking
• freshness checking
• creating proper citations

Try it for yourself here: https://21cif.com/INTERNETSEARCHCHALLENGE/

Read more about the 15 Challenges in the Spring 2019 Full Circle Resource Kit

Winter 2019 Full Circle Kit

The winter 2019 Full Circle Kit is now available online,

https://21cif.com//fullcircle/winter2019/index.php

This quarter the topic is helping know where to look--database mining. This is different than data mining in that the process relies on student thinking to select relevant information, as opposed to software and algorithms that detect patterns in massive amounts of data.

If you find yourself creating search lists for your students, you need to read this article.

In addition to the feature article (viewable without a subscription), there is also a guide to curricular integration and assessment (with a subscription).

If you know a database you recommend students mine for information, post your suggestion here along with the type of assignment (e.g., history research paper). We'll gladly add your recommendations to the Feature article and credit you.

Winter 2019 Full Circle Kit

Author Detective

Introducing the third revision in our series of Investigative Searching tutorials: AUTHOR.

No need to rely on the old Flash files any longer. There are 11 challenges in this set, from finding the name of an author to evaluating the author's credibility.

Get started here:  https://21cif.com/tutorials/evaluation/author/author-1

Publisher Detective

Just released: Publisher Detective

Try it for free for a limited time. Nine exercises to help searchers track down and evaluate publishers of online information. Helps in the hunt for credible news.

This replaces the flash version archived on our site.

https://21cif.com/tutorials/evaluation/publisher/publisher-1

New Tutorial: Date Detective

In an effort to replace old Flash tutorials, we've undertaken the redesign of several interactive MicroModule tutorials. The first one is the DATE tutorial--how to track down publication dates of digital sources.

There are 10 activities in this set that start with determining the best date to cite to locating hard-to-find publication dates using queries, browsing and metadata.  30 points are possible. A score that demonstrates investigative competency is a 25 or higher.

Give it a try! How strong are your investigative skills?

https://21cif.com//tutorials/evaluation/date/

Needle and Haystack

For a limited time, try out a new feature: Needle and Haystack.

These four search challenges are based on several challenges recently posted in this blog. The format includes clues that lead the way to the solutions.

Try them out and leave any feedback you want.

https://21cif.com/INTERNETSEARCHCHALLENGE/challenges/needle/haystack

The subscription version will track user's scores and include additional challenges.

Haunted Search Challenge

At this time of year, scary attractions abound: yard displays, haunted houses, horror film festivals. It's also possible to find creepy hiking trails open year-round.

Where can you find this year-round haunted trail?

Use these clues to locate the name of the park, all associated with this allegedly haunted location.

Haunted
Trail
Park
Think of keywords associated with Halloween

Once you locate a likely place, verify you found the right one
by reading its history of mysteries that go back well over a century.