The potential of the Information Assessment Method for developing students' digital information culture

The relevance of the research is due to the increasing integration of the digital environment into the life of the average person, which raises questions about the development of digital information qualities, particularly the substantive expansion of the concept of information culture. This implies the development of a critical and rational attitude towards digital information, meaning its continuous evaluation in the process of information activities. The aim of this article is to reveal the potential of the information evaluation method as a tool for developing the digital information culture of students. Digital information culture is established as a new quality of a person in the internet age, taking its substantive roots from the traditional understanding of information culture but having distinctive features compared to it. The research is based on the principles of fundamental works that emphasize the subjectivity of the learner within the frameworks of personalized, activity-based, and problem-oriented approaches, as well as current publications addressing the development of information culture among learners in the digital technological paradigm. The main method of the research is descriptive pedagogical analysis, which grounds the high potential of the considered method in the context of specific pedagogical interactions, and the method of abstraction, which allows information evaluation outside the context of its specific content. The article illustrates, through examples of pedagogical situations, the potential of information evaluation by students for developing a critical and rational attitude towards information, which are the main distinguishing features of the information culture of individuals in the digital age. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that the presented method transitions the student to the status of an evaluating participant in the educational process from the traditionally accepted status of being evaluated. The author’s conclusions, drawn from the research, suggest that information evaluation is a cognitive condition for developing a critical and rational attitude towards it, as well as understanding the lack of guarantee of a priori substantial quality in contemporary digital data; meanwhile, the main substantive feature of the information evaluation method is that it endows the student with "expert" competence, which in the educational process evolves into real informational and professional competence.