"Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they're finished."
Dan Gilbert shares recent research on a phenomenon he calls the "end of history illusion," where we somehow imagine that the person we are right now is the person we'll be for the rest of time. Listen to Dan Gilbert in his TED Talk:
The psychology of your future self.
Also, think about Information Literacy and the ability to conduct effective Internet research.
- You must understand what you need to find.
- Choose effective search terms, and
- Evaluate the results and refine your search if necessary
Wikipedia in its article on Information Literacy states: The United States National Forum on Information Literacy defines information literacy as " ... the ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem at hand."
Other definitions incorporate aspects of "skepticism, judgement, free thinking, questioning, and understanding..." or incorporate competencies that an informed citizen of an information society ought to possess to participate intelligently and actively in that society.
A number of efforts have been made to better define the concept and its relationship to other skills and forms of literacy.
Although other educational goals, including traditional literacy, computer literacy, library skills, and critical thinking skills, are related to information literacy and important foundations for its development, information literacy itself is emerging as a distinct skill set and a necessary key to one's social and economic well-being in an increasingly complex information society.
Remember, you are never going to learn all you need to know in your external life inside a classroom, any classroom. But what you get from school is guidance in where to start looking for information and people to help you in developing skills of your own, to start you on your way to becoming a lifelong learner who always knows where to look.
Here's a little song to get you going:
