Week 13 - "Learning Activities"

We have made it to the final week of class!  Hard to believe we are here - time sure does fly! 

Webinars

Last week we hosted our own webinars and attended several hosted by our fellow students.  I was pretty impressed by my classmates' efforts and I think everyone did a good job both preparing and presenting content, as well as dealing with the technology-related problems we all seemed to encounter in one way or another.  While planning our group's webinar, I noticed that attempting to learn the Elluminate system and anticipate or troubleshoot technology problems added a level of stress not typically present in traditional presentations.  While I am still not a big fan of webinars, either as a host or participant, I think they are definitely better than nothing for reaching an audience from a distance. 

Week 13 Reading - This week, as we wrap up the course, our reading focuses on the development and implementation of continuing professional development, particularly through motivated learning activities. 

• "The C's of Our Sea Change: Plans for Training Staff, from Core Competencies to Learning 2.0" - Helene Blowers and Lori Reed

This article is somewhat of a case study outlining the way one library developed a technology training program for its staff through a combination of "core competency" training sessions and a self-directed "Learning 2.0" program.  Through core competency training, you can focus resources on making sure staff at various levels have a basic level of technology skills they need in their daily jobs.  Using something like the "23 things" modules in the "Learning 2.0" program allows individual employees to build on those basic competencies by adding knowledge about discrete tools they may previously have been too busy or nervous to learn, or simply did not know existed.  Also it has the advantage of being online itself, allowing staff to participate at a distance from the training facilitator. A program like this also acknowledges that everyone will have some need for training, but individuals can each have different needs or interests.

• "Planning an Online Professional Development Module" - Kristin Fontichiaro

Following the lead from the first article, this selection discusses the way  library media specialists might adapt Blowers's "Learning 2.0" model to teaching Web 2.0 tools to K-12 instructors.  The emphasis here seems on the model's flexibility, allowing teachers to learn at their own pace through hands-on exploration of Web 2.0 tools, guided by modules developed by the library media specialist.  Professionals may not want or need an instructor holding their hand while learning Web 2.0 tools, but instead want to "play" on their own (as mentioned in this article and the Blowers & Reed article).  I can completely identify with this - when learning new software or a new online tool, I get bored watching someone else demonstrate but also get nervous if someone is standing over my shoulder watching all of the mistakes I make.  Rather, having time to "play" on my own, while also knowing there is support out there if I really need or want help, sounds much more useful.

• "When Teachers Drive Their Learning" - Joseph Semadeni

The focus of this article is on one school district's "Fusion" program for teacher development.  The program allows teachers to choose a few instructional practices which they would like to master and encourages them through individual study, group discussion, "mentor" observations, and peer evaluations to strengthen their skills in a few select areas of instruction.  I really appreciated the idea that of acknowledging that some teachers can be "experts" in a single area or instructional method without necessarily being overall master teachers.  This allows the school to capitalize on and leverage the strengths of its teachers as a whole, while improving upon individual weaknesses.

• Overall Comments/Reflection

There were several consistent themes present in each of the three readings, but I think those regarding flexibility and focusing on the individual are particularly important.  In its own way, each program ensures that staff across the board acquire some type of training and development.  This is particularly important with regards to technology because the environment is rapidly changing; even if someone learns just one new thing, they have adapted to that environment more than someone who has not learned anything.  Also, each program brakes skills into discrete "chunks" or modules.  I think this is really important because it allows participants to build and gain skills in a manageable and less over-whelming manner than perhaps a full, one-day "Introduction to Web 2.0" workshop might.  Additionally, each program allows individuals to have at least some choice in what they learn, and the programs promote self-directed, self-paced learning and risk-taking in safe environments.  I imagine this would take some stress and pressure off individuals while promoting more authentic engagement in the learning materials.  

As librarians, we can expect to be both facilitators and participants of professional training programs, and understanding additional methods to make them successful is extremely valuable. 

Week 12 - "Space" Holder

I was about to start my post for Week 13, but it feels strange not having at least something here for Week 12! There was no blog requirement or class this week because we have all been busily hosting and attending webinars. 

Although this is in no way related to SI643 or the purpose of this blog, here is one of my favorite, classic "Pigs in Space" sketches from the Muppet Show... as a "space" holder for where an actual Week 12 post may have been.  I think it's that time of the semester when I think we could all use a bit of silliness.  Feel free to enjoy or ignore!

Class Reflections - 04/04/2011

Just a quick response to this evening's class!

Twitter Debrief

It was interesting to hear various perspectives on Twitter, both from novice users and more seasoned vets.  While I was not exactly positive in my previous Twitter review, I can appreciate many of the positive features my classmates pointed out.  It does seem like a great way to have many different resources all in one place - I just think it will take some more time for me to follow the "right" people and organizations, as well as to get my feeds organized the way I like.  I also need to develop more confidence in interacting with the people on Twitter I do not know in person; being a lurker for a while longer may be good for me.  Alas, this will likely placed on my list of things to do after the semester is over as I now go back to my self-imposed social networking hiatus.

Webinars

I do not have too much to say about webinars at this point other than we are all deep into planning-mode. As is always the case with new technology, I am a little apprehensive about pulling it off, but I am also very excited to have one more skill to which I can say, "Why yes, I have done that!" during an internship or job interview.  I think having these first-time experiences in a relatively safe, classroom environment is extremely beneficial, and I am always pleasantly surprised with the end result.  I am concerned about making it to five other webinars - there are enough sessions scheduled at times which fit with my other work/class/life obligations, hopefully there will be a space for me in each!

On that note, I also hope you can join my group on Wednesday, April 6th at 7pm for "From Let-Go to In-The-Know: Libraries Helping the Unemployed."  The link will be up on the wiki! 

Week 11 - Twitterpated?

This week's assignment to explore Twitter, combined with the (almost) promise of spring, of course has me thinking of the lovable, animated wildlife of the Disney classic Bambi.  Not familiar with that particular nugget of prior knowledge?  Check it out:

Prior to this week I was not a Twitter user.  Sure, I knew what it was, understood its language (srlsly, #si643 rocks!), and from time-to-time checked in to see what some of my favorite bloggers or celebrities had to say.  I just never felt the need to join myself.

After almost a full week on Twitter, I am not exactly "twitterpated."  While I see its value in promoting quick and fluid communication with a wide variety of people, I have not found it adding much to my intake of news or knowledge.  It probably does not help that my "real world" shyness leaks into online interactions - I really prefer to observe social situations before diving in (whether they occur face-to-face or tweet-to-tweet), which made it nerve-wracking to randomly "follow" several people I do not know and even more frightening to consider "retweeting" or addressing them directly.  While I know those types of interactions are just part of the Twitter culture and promote professional networking, I think it is going to take me longer than a week to adjust.

I do, however, understand the need for libraries and librarians to establish their presence on these types of popular social networking sites.  First, as I said, I completely see the value in communicating with a wide number of people at once.  It makes for dynamic and quick-developing conversations, and it's a great way to get a message out.  Also, if this is where our users are, then this is where we should be!  Once again social networking proves to be a great resource to make librarians visible outside of the library.  And of course we've all heard this one - today, if you don't exist online, you simply don't exist. 

For these reasons I will probably stick with Twitter for a while longer before making my final decision.  I assume an adjustment period is necessary to become fully comfortable with the platform, just as it took time to gain confidence blogging.

Won't you follow me on my Twitter journey? @kmiller0128

I cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with for webinars!  Be sure to join my team Wednesday, April 6th at 7:00pm for "From Let-Go to In-the-Know: Libraries Helping the Unemployed."  Check the class wiki for a link to our session!

Class Reflections 03/28/2011 - DPLA and Embedded Librarians

Tonight's class focused primarily around two discussions - one with Paul Courant regarding a Digital Public Library of America, and one with our cohort (and class-at-large) about embedded librarianship.

Paul Courant and DPLA

After tonight, I finally feel like I understand issues surrounding "orphan" works.  I had heard previously that these items, which are still protected under copyright but whose copyright holders are unknown, are one of the big hurdles digitization projects must overcome but I never really understood why.  Now, it makes much more sense to me - if the copyright holder cannot be identified, then there is no way to get consent for digitization, period.  I am not sure why I did not understand this previously but tonight it was an "aha" moment for sure.

Also, the quote "public library collections exist to be read; academic library collections are to be known," was particularly interesting to me.  If we conceptualize library collections in these ways, I think it implies not only that different libraries have different priorities in discussions about digitization projects, but also that we might not necessarily be able to speak as one "librarian voice."  What does this mean for "big L" Librarianship and our power as a profession?

Embedded Librarianship

"What does embedded librarianship look like in 'my specialization?'"  
This is something I have been struggling with a bit when considering the traditional model of an "embedded" academic librarian as being physically located within the department they serve.  Looking into my career crystal ball,I see myself more likely at a small college library, which I am guessing will have neither the demand for nor the resources for such a model.  I think, however, there is some value in expanding the definition to include other ways in which a librarian "leaves" the library (either physically or virtually) and "embedds" themselves in their community.  For instance, I could see holding office hours or research consultations outside of the library, being involved on the course management sites, monitoring class discussions (e.g., via Skype or Twitter), etc. in my future career.


Looking forward to seeing what everyone cooks up for webinars!

Week 10 - Embedded Librarians and Webinars

With just a few weeks left in the semester we are entering the homestretch!

How People Learn Ch7 -
The chapter begins by reminding us that effective teachers tend to have both subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge.  The chapter then goes on to give examples of teachers in math, history, and science who demonstrate these qualities in their classroom.  I have heard before (both from some here at SI, as well as other educators in my life) that good teachers can teach anything.  Since HPL argues otherwise, I would be interested to hear from those who disagree and have a bit of experience in the classroom. 

My main takeaway point is the importance of not just understanding what students need to learn and how they can best learn it, but also the importance of identifying the types of barriers they are most likely to face. What struck me about the examples provided in HPL is the importance of knowing your learners.  This is something that I think takes time to develop, requires a few iterations of teaching the same topic to similar learners, and emphasizes the need to assess what works well and what does not. 

Embedded Librarianship -

• "The Embedded Librarian Online or Fact-to-Face: American University's Experience" - Matos, Matsuoka-Motley, & Mayer (2010)
• "Online Webinars! Interactive Learning Where Our Users Are: The Future of Embedded Librarianship" - Montgomery (2010)

These articles both discuss models of embedded librarianship, as well as the value of webinars as a tool of the embedded librarian in an academic library.  Last semester I also did research on the importance of embedded librarians in serving distance education students, and during my reading I found webinars were mentioned quite frequently.  It seems one of the major benefits to embedded librarianship, in any form, is the opportunity for the librarian to become a member of the community which they serve.  In connection with ideas in HPL, from an instructional stand point this is very beneficial because the librarian would become more aware of who their learning population is and what students need to learn.

One of the major barriers I see to implementing an embedded librarian programs is whether or not a library has the necessary resources.  If an institution is sending librarians to "live" in the departments they serve (either physically or virtually), this means they must have the resources to staff both the "embedded" posts as well as positions in the main library.  When considering institutions that do not have this capability, I wonder if webinars can be particularly helpful for them.  For instance, this summer I will be interning part-time at a community college which has only two full-time professional library staff members to serve nearly 8,000 students.  They clearly cannot have "embedded librarians" in the traditional sense and have mentioned that they cannot provide instructional sessions to many courses as it is now.  I am not sure of the scale on which webinars can be given, but perhaps if many classes can attend at once or if a session can be taped and replayed for other classes, they could be a valuable alternative to institutions low on resources (time, money, staff, etc).


Preparing for Webinars - 
In preparation for our own webinars, I viewed an archived session from "Education Week" titled "Using New Media to Enhance Student Learning."  The webinar featured two speakers - an education researcher and a high school teacher - who presented ideas for using "new media" mediums (videos, websites, blogs, etc) in primarily K-12 language arts and English classrooms.  The topic was particularly interesting considering our previous discussions about information literacy and "transliteracy."  I also thought the format of the webinar itself was well done - a host introduced the webinar and gave participants "housekeeping information," then each speaker presented for about 15-20 minutes with slides shown in the webinar window, and the remaining few minutes were used to answer questions.  

The webinar also did not use a "chat" feature, per se, but did have a feature where participants could submit their questions privately and these questions were then shown in the main webinar window as they were answered.  I think I'm going to be in the minority on this, but I really preferred this model to a more traditional "free-for-all" chat.  I think it is important for participants to have the opportunity to ask questions and interact with the presenters (through polling, etc.), but during our in-class webinar I was really distracted by the participant chat and as a presenter I would be even more distracted.  This is one of the biggest decisions to make when planning our upcoming webinars - how do we best use the available tools to best our audience? 


[Edit -I subscribe to the ACRL ili-listserv (the Information Literacy Instruction discussion list) and in the last three days there have been two conversations which have specifically mentioned uses of Elluminate in libraries.  Looks like we're on the right track!]

Class Reflection 03/21/2011 - "Mea culpa" moment from workshops

Tonight was workshop night, and I have to admit I'm a little worn out from a two-and-a-half hour block of thought-provoking presentations and discussions.  In addition to presenting about potential uses of QR codes in libraries, I also learned about:
- Thoughtful consideration of library space design
- How to download eBooks
- How libraries can use Facebook pages
- Identifying collection biases in libraries
- Understanding ethical issues of Kindles and Netflix in libraries

Aside from these topics, I also learned something about myself as a newbie instructor - I sometimes forget the difference between making a presentation and providing instruction, and how this difference effects the way I can interact with participants.  More specifically, I need to learn how to better address opposing points of view.  For instance, during our presentation we did specifically ask for "cons" to using QR codes in libraries, yet when someone actually brought one up I found myself defending our presentation rather than responding thoughtfully and fairly to the idea.  Just a few seconds later, when I realized that I had unintentionally switched into "presentation-defense mode" instead of facilitating discussion, I felt really terrible.  I think teachers and instructors need to be open-minded and welcome thoughtful debate, rather than silencing differing opinions - yet here I was doing the exact opposite!  

Unfortunately, this exchange was also reflected in our feedback - it made us (or at least me) appear unapproachable and probably shut down discussion prematurely.  And I totally agree with the feedback.  A better way to handle this would have been to open it up to the group - simply asking if anyone else had a response or thoughts on the issue would have been a much better option than defensively telling them what I thought.  As awful as I feel about this exchange, I am also so glad that it happened in the relatively "safe" classroom environment instead of in an actual professional workshop.  While I still feel pretty terrible, I'm trying to see it just one of the many things I'm learning in this class.

Sorry everybody!  Lesson learned!

[Edit - if anyone is interested, here is a list I found of current uses of QR codes in libraries, "Library Success: A Best Practice Wiki - QR Codes"]

Week 9 - Workshops and "Information Hippies"

Workshop Planning

Since there are no readings this week, my energy has been focused on preparing for Monday's workshop.  My workshop partner and I will be presenting on QR codes and their uses in academic libraries.  I was a little apprehensive about planning and implementing a workshop in just one week, but so far I think everything is going well.  The biggest obstacle was simply choosing a topic that could be effectively covered given limited time for research and the short, 20-minute presentation requirement.  This was solved within about five minute of brainstorming, and it has been pretty smooth since then!  My only remaining concern has been balancing our instructional methods.  That is, I am very comfortable giving basic, "I talk and you listen" presentations, but that is not necessarily the best method of delivery for the entirety of a workshop.  We've been working hard to strike a balance between this type of lecture and more "participant involvement" opportunities, so I am interested to see how our workshop turns out.  

Although reactions and levels of interest have been mixed when I discuss our workshop topic with other people, I have really enjoyed learning about a different example of using technology to provide point-of-need service to library patrons.

"Forward-Thinking Librarian"

In addition to planning the workshop for class, I also attended the "A Day in the Life of a Forward-Thinking Librarian" event, hosted by ALA@SI.  An amazing panel of library professionals presented ideas about what it means to be a "forward-thinking" librarian, the future of libraries, and how they think graduate students should be preparing for challenges the profession is facing.  I wish I had been taking notes because there were some great ideas presented by each of the four panelists.  One idea that stuck with me the most was that of maintaining a sense of possibility.  That is, yes, library budgets are dwindling and it is easy to mourn what has been lost; however, the new challenge is to consider the possibilities of what libraries can do and what libraries can become given current realities.  I think this makes it a scary but exciting time to enter the field - recent changes in the professional landscape mean that no one has the right answer, leaving us (as students and new professionals) with a great chance to make an impact and explore whatever new possibilities we can conceive.  Once again, it is hearing these kinds of words from current professionals that reminds me I have chosen an exciting and challenging career path!  

[As an added bonus, my favorite quote from the panel - "... we're all information hippies - we went to library school!"]

Class Reflection 03/14/2011 - Workshops and HCOD

Class tonight seemed more jam-packed with activity than usual, and I think my brain is still catching up a bit.  As always, lots of interesting discussion happening, which naturally leads to plenty of material on which to reflect.

• It was helpful to talk a little bit in class about the different parts of a workshop.  In my mind, the word "workshop" has the connotation of learning a tangible skill or making a product, and the class discussion helped show how it can be more like an idea-based seminar.  I guess maybe using the word "class" is too general, but that is how I am conceptualizing it now.  Hopefully that is not an incorrect understanding.
• Considering how well people did with the book clubs last week, I am interested to see what everyone comes up with for workshops and I look forward to learning about some new, hot topics in the library world!
• I wish we had more time for small group discussions about the HCOD issue.  But I know we wanted to leave ample time for our guest speaker, and there is only so much we can pack into one, three-hour class.
• I really appreciated Bobbi Newman taking the time to speak with us via the webinar!  So far I have not been disappointed with the in-class librarian presentations at SI, and it was great to get a non-UM or non-Ann Arbor perspective, too.
• The legal aspects of an HCOD boycott is not something I had considered before tonight, and I am glad that someone mentioned it in class.  I think one of the issues mentioned was that ALA could not itself legally promote a boycott, and I would be interested in learning more about why that is and how that could related to upholding the code of ethics - how does the governing body live up to its own ethics if it is legally limited?  Does it do this through the individual actions of its members, without official coordination?  How do we speak collectively as a profession if not through this type of governing body?

Happy Pi Day everyone!

Week 8 - Workshops and HarperCollins/Overdrive

This week we begin preparations for our one-shot workshops on ethical issues in libraries.  I will be interested to see how we tie all of this together in class, and what types of ethical issues we will be presenting during Week 9.

"Creating a Library Assignment Workshop for University Faculty" - Pixey Anne Mosely, The Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol 24, no 1, pp. 33-41

This article gives details of planning and implementing a workshop at Texas A & M University specifically aimed at faculty who include library assignments in their courses.  I appreciated the article because it gives a relatively complete picture of "behind-the-scenes"  implementation of a one-shot workshop - from assessing the University's needs and designing the workshop to meet those needs, to implementing the workshop and incorporating participant feedback into future iterations.  

I particularly appreciated the thought process involved behind the different types of activities they included in the workshop.  The role-playing exercises seemed particularly effective - it is a great way to show faculty how librarians interact with students and addresses the faculty's lack of prior knowledge about library services.  It would be interesting to include some type of role-playing activity in an ethical issue-based workshop as a more powerful demonstration of how the issue would occur in a real-life situation, and to set the stage for more meaningful, practical discussion. 

Code of Ethics of the American Library Association

Although this was not the first time I have read the ALA Code of Ethics, it was the first time I read it with a particular ethical issue in mind (ie. the HCOD issue).  In general, I particularly appreciate the ALA's statement that the profession is "explicitly committed to intellectual freedom and the freedom of access to information," and that the ethical guidelines are intended to "provide a framework... they cannot and do not dictate conduct to cover particular situations."  Librarians need to understand core professional and ethical responsibilities, but also need the freedom to act within their own best judgment with regards to specific situations.

HarperCollins/Overdrive ("HCOD")
Oh, boy.  Where to begin?  We were asked to read at least three articles or blog posts about the HarperCollins/Overdrive issue which has taken over the library world the last few weeks.  Wanting to get a range of views on the subject, I read:

• HC's official statement on Library Love Fest blog 3/1/2011 "Open Letter to Librarians"
• Jason Griffey - "HarperCollins and some numbers"
• Steve Potash (OverDrive CEO) - "A message from OverDrive on HarperCollins new eBook licensing terms"
• Marilyn Johnson - "The 27th Patron"
• USA Today, 3/8/2011 - "Librarians launch boycott in battle over e-books"
• Free Range Librarian - "HarperCollins's Memento Plan: Short-term Greed versus Long-term Culture"
• Information Wants to be Free - "My thoughts on the Harper Collins/Overdrive controversy" (Not listed for class reading, but I highly recommend for an additional view of the situation)
• (I've also been following the coverage from Andy Woodworth at Agnostic, Maybe as part of my regular blog reading.)

Rather than summarizing or enumerating what each source said (if you're really interested, I recommend reading the material at the provided links, as well as the letter from Overdrive that started the whole thing), I want to focus on my general thoughts and concerns about the situation.

It seems like a lot of people are focusing on the "twenty-six circulations" policy.  While I think this brings up interesting questions about ownership versus licensing of digital information, the fundamental differences between print and digital materials, and the transparency of electronic resource policies, it is honestly not the aspect of the debate that is most concerning to me. 

The other two big parts of the issue - those of restricting the "geographic and territorial rights for digital book lending" and "the size and makeup of large consortia and shared collections" - are much more interesting and alarming to me.  Basically, I do not feel comfortable with a publisher or distributor having power to determine 1) to whom libraries issue borrowing privileges or 2) how libraries organize themselves to make the most out of their rapidly shrinking resources.  I am much more concerned with publishers attempting to tell libraries to whom they can lend and how, than whether or not twenty-six circulations is analogous to the life of a print book.

Another part of the issue that concerns me is how this debate is being viewed by the "non-library" world.  While I was reading news coverage from USA Today, I was struck by the number of negative, anti-library comments from the public.  A lot of them see this as just another example of "whiny librarians" who are not in touch with the modern world.  Others also "discuss" (more like, declare) that public libraries are unnecessary and the government's money would be better spent elsewhere.  So, while internally we are quibbling about the fair number of circulations for an ebook, for a large part of the country this issue is generating more questions about the need for libraries at all.  Is anyone else concerned about this, or even noticing it?

In addition to the important professional problems the HCOD debate raises, librarians really need to be careful about how our reactions are viewed by the general public and how we are representing ourselves as a profession.  Because really, without public support, the issue of ebooks in libraries will be moot - public libraries have to exist in order for ebook lending to be an issue, and continuing middle-class, public support to essential for public libraries to survive.  Therefore, while we are debating the issue within the profession, we also need to find a way to make the public understand and care about us, too.

Class Reflections 03/07/2011 - Hosting Book Club

Today was book club day!  Honestly, I was apprehensive about having this particular assignment right after "spring" break, but overall I think it went really well.  Everyone in my book club group did a great job, both in preparing the story for which they were "hosts," as well as in participating in all of the book club discussions.  There did not seem to be anyone who was "checked out" or not engaging in the conversation.  The one thing I felt did not go so well were some of the questions that required deep understanding of the text or the background of the text, without any sort of "warm up" questions or factual grounding.  Since we split our discussion amongst five different pieces, it was difficult for me to remember each story at the level of detail necessary to fully answer some of the hosts' questions.  Perhaps anchoring people in the text first (with factual questions, or even just reminding them "this is what the author says") could help move the conversation along.

From a host's perspective, I was really surprised at how quickly 30 minutes can elapse.  We ended up speeding through the second half of our article because there was so much discussion happening.  Although I really wanted to give equal weight to all parts of the article, I also did not want to interrupt the conversation.  It was satisfying to know that an article we chose or a question we asked generated genuine discussion - it was not at all like "pulling teeth" to get people to talk, as I was more prepared to do.  All in all, I think allowing the conversation to develop naturally was more important than pushing our hosting agenda, so I was more than happy to allow people to chat away.  It is like a delicate balance between allowing the conversation to develop organically and helping participants stay "on task" to accomplish the goals of the book club.  At least for our article discussion's focus on "professional development," I think it's better to err on the side of allowing "too much" discussion and letting people have a chance to talk about their concerns or experiences, rather than interrupting the flow of conversation.

It was a little strange not being together as a class - I hope everyone had equally enjoyable discussions!

Some Library of Congress Love

As mentioned in my last post, I have just finished up an Alternative Spring Break internship at the Library of Congress.  Today, I spent a portion of my last day wandering around the Great Hall in the Jefferson Building.  There are some great quotes all long the upper part of the hall, and this one in particular struck my in the spirit of SI 643 (and education in general).

(Personal photo)

Hope everyone has had a wonderful "spring" break!

Week 7 - Preparing for Book Club

Greetings from sunny Washington, DC!  I'm just finishing up my ASB project at the Library of Congress and attempting to recover from a cold (sick on spring break, of course!).  Overall it has been a great week, but has gone by way too fast.

It appears that my partner and I are the only students to have chosen a non-fiction piece for the book club/seminar week, which was surprising to me.  I guess maybe everyone is tired of academic articles?  Our article is "Four Habits of Highly Effective Librarians," by Todd Gilman, from The Chronicle for Higher Education. We were interested in keeping with the theme of the the course - professional practices in libraries and information centers - and will be aiming our seminar towards both graduate students and professional librarians.  The article caught my eye because it encourages "interdependence" in the library profession, particularly in academic libraries.  While I do not necessarily agree with all of the author's opinions and examples, I found it interesting to consider how the profession needs to rely on help from others more and more.  The article was written in 2007, and I think its message is even more important in the tough times we face in 2011.
In addition to preparing our reading for the week, it was interesting to switch into dense-fiction reading mode - I honestly felt a little like I was back in high school English class!

Other readings for the week:
"The Nightingale and the Rose" by Oscar Wilde
"A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift
"Hansel and Gretel" by Brothers Grimm
"The Landlady" by Roald Dahl

Of the four, the only one I had not read previously was the Oscar Wilde piece.  They each were delightfully dark and entertaining, however I found myself having a hard time reading for the "deeper meaning" in each piece.  Some were more obvious because I know the historical background to the piece, like for Swift's baby eating satire, or the author is pretty good at actively giving the reader hints, like Dahl who is also one of my all time favorite authors.  Hansel and Gretel was interesting because I had never made the association with the witch and the step mother dying... but it should be obvious, right?  I am not sure how I missed that in the past, but i guess that is why we need to read stories many times to fully grasp their true meanings.  "The Nightingale and the Rose" was more difficult for me, probably because I had not read it previously and I have never been a huge fan of Wilde's writing.  I did find the ending to be particularly amusing - the rebuffed student declares "What a silly thing Love is" and decides "... in this age to be practical is everything, I shall go back to Philosophy and study Metaphysics."  I am not familiar with the context in which Wilde is writing, but to a 21st century reader this has a touch of irony - I would not consider philosophy or metaphysics to be particularly practical!  I am looking forward to lively discussions this week, and I will hopefully gain an even greater appreciation for the nuances of each selection.

 As an added entertaining bonus for book club preparation, while visiting family before spring break I attempted to explain to my 4- and 7-year old cousins what I was reading for "homework" (ironically, they were sitting next to me while I was reading "A Modest Proposal" in particular).  Later, we read "Goldisocks and the Three Libearians," which I think would make an equally interesting book club!

Class Reflection 02/21/2011 - Facilitating Book Clubs and Seminars...

 ... a.k.a. "The week I am completely out-of-sync with my classmates."

First, I'd like to say it was really wonderful to have Ms. Browne from the AADL speak to us on the various ins-and-outs of book clubs.  I always appreciate hearing from experienced professionals and I gained some valuable insight into what a book club is beyond my preconceived notions.

Now where the fun begins.  I was completely caught off guard by the extremely negative reaction most of my fellow classmates had to the Metzger article.  I'm honestly a little surprised no one called me out on my previous blog post in which I rave about how great I thought it was and how I thought we needed more teachers like Metzger.

My feeling is these different reactions happened for main two reasons:

First - I was subconsciously reading the article from the perspective of myself as a student, not from the perspective of an educator (and certainly not from the perspective of a K-12 educator).  I'm still making the switch from student to instructor, so this is not that surprising to me.  I also think it is a good example of prior knowledge and experience influencing my interpretation.  My favorite high school English class was, in part, very much about students discussing a text without extensive input from the instructor.  We did not do this every class period and we did have to work up to it throughout the beginning of the school year.  But at some point we began having really interesting discussions on our own, and the teacher would step only as an equal participant or when we were struggling and needed help.  It was not a formal "Socratic seminar," nor did we have inner and outer circles, but the end goal was still the same - students critically assessing a selected reading and constructing meaning together.  I guess I got wrapped up in my own personal experience and did not fully step away to assess the larger situation.  It will take some more time to fully pull out of "student-mode" and get into "instructor-mode." 

Second - I think I was focusing more on the concepts in the article than I was the author's tone or bias.  However, during discussion I could easily see the issues many of my classmates mentioned.  I do remember being a bit turned off by the author's casual mention of students with learning disabilities, and agree that a better reaction to these students' experience should have been "How can my model be adapted for these students as well?" rather than just ignoring the issue.  I also agree that Metzger's writing style is much more stylized and editorial than I would expect of an academic article, but I guess it just did not bother me that much.  Aside from these issues, I still think the foundational concepts of the article are sound - that critical reading is an invisible skill and teachers need to find methods to both assess students in this area, as well as techniques for modeling these skills for struggling students.  

In the end, maybe I did not read it closely enough and perhaps I need to read it again with a new awareness of these issues.  But what really bothered me was the idea of tossing out the article all together.  I think it's dangerous to completely discount the article or its method because it did not work for all students.  I think it can still be a good demonstration of the importance of thinking about one's audience, understanding students' progress, and making adjustments accordingly.  Whether or not Metzger did this well or genuinely, I'm not sure, but she did at least address the issue.  I really don't think it's fair to say this was a completely terrible article for us to read.  Rather it should be read and critically analyzed for its strengths and weaknesses (which is what we should be doing anyway)

Week 6 - Book Clubs and Socratic Seminars

Working through the readings and looking at the syllabus leads me to believe we're in store for not only learning to facilitate Book Clubs and Socratic seminars, but also participating in a seminar during next week's class. Oh what fun!

Reading for the week:

"Socratic Seminars: Engaging Students in Intellectual Discourse" - L. Tredway (Educational Leadership, September 1995)

I am very thankful the reading started with an overview of the Socratic Seminar. Mostly because my prior knowledge of the method was a little off and needed correcting; reading a more complete description of the method gave me a better idea of what to expect for the coming weeks. What struck me most about the rest of the reading is how very related it is to our discussion of transfer last week (by design, perhaps?), as well as information literacy and assessment material from previous weeks. The premise of using the seminar method is for students to develop deeper levels of analytical and critical thinking skills.  Additionally, students develop literacy skills that can easily be incorporated into facets of information literacy, as well as interpersonal skills (such as respect when giving and receiving feedback).  These are important skills not only in academia, but also in everyday life, and I think they can easily be transferred out of the classroom and into "real-world" settings, though perhaps not in the same overt ways we discussed last week.

One of my favorite points the author makes is use of Socratic seminars in building self-esteem. More precisely I think it is more important to consider building students' feeling of self-efficacy, in that when people feel they are "good" at something they are more likely to enjoy it and feel good about themselves. So much of what makes learning successful requires internal motivation from students.  Therefore, if students like learning and we can help them be "good" learners, they are more likely to internalize their own educational goals.

"The Book Club Exploded" - B. Hoffert (Library Journal, 07/15/2006)

Having never participated in a formal book club myself, this article was insightful into the even the simplest wants and needs of book club members and the libraries which serve them. For instance, I never considered that if a library hosts a book club they will need multiple copies of the book to lend out (an admittedly obvious "duh" moment, but a necessary realization for someone who tends to write in books while doing close reading and therefore does typically use library books for this purpose).

Mostly while reading, I was considering the idea of mixed-media "book" clubs and the concept of information literacy (transliteracy or whatever other type of literacy I cannot remember right now). Though the article mentions that teens are an increasing demographic for book clubs, I thought the idea of using book clubs and different types of media is a good way to address continuing literacy development in "older" demographics.  By "older" I really just mean those people who are no longer in school and are therefore out of the scope of school or academic librarians. Information literacy does not seem like a skill anyone can completely master, yet once we leave school there is not the same level of concern for its development. Public libraries seem like a good place to facilitate continuing IL development, and including mixed media in book clubs will also promote learning about new types of information technology.

"Teaching reading: beyond the plot" - M. Metzger (Phi Delta Kappan, Nov 1998)

I want to start by saying that I think we really need more insightful teachers like Ms. Metzger in our schools. Period.

This article is a really great example of so many things we've covered in class during the past few weeks, and there's really no way I can do it complete justice.  I think it's a fabulous demonstration of how the Socratic seminar method can be adapted and introduced to encourage literacy, analytical, and critical thinking development in students. I also appreciated how honest the author was with regards to her own shortcomings and what she learned during the development of her class curriculum.  One thing that struck me about both her narration to us (the reader) as well as to the students in her class is a teacher's ability to model and demonstrate behaviors which would otherwise remain internal. In our reading and discussion several weeks ago about teaching for understanding and developing metacognition, one of the important skills teachers must learn is how to externalize thinking processes.  By demonstrating to students how she would complete their tasks (such as note taking or giving feedback) the author gives students a more concrete understanding of the task. Additionally, by explaining to the reader her own thought process during the class development, she is demonstrating the way an "expert" teacher thinks.

Veering away from the Socratic seminar a bit, another concept which really stuck out to me was the idea that "because reading is invisible" student's reading processes cannot be measured and assessed the same way other skills are.  Also, "most students do not understand how their more articulate, insightful classmates reach conclusions about literature." I think both of these statements apply equally well to the academic research process because out of class research is largely invisible to instructors. Sure, they see the paper and bibliography which are the result of the research, but they likely do not see the research process itself.  Students also may not understand how more experienced peers can complete the task because they probably do not do research together (either out of fear of cheating or simply because they are not researching the same topics). In library instruction, it is important to make the research process visible to students. Also, librarians are more likely than professors to see the research process as it is taking place. This means we have a more strategic  position in which to assist students as they navigate the research processes. Yet another reason for us to become well versed in theories and methods of instruction.

Those are my two-cents for the week!  Off to more "closely" read Darton's "The Library: Three Jeremaids" for our in-class Socratic session!

Class Reflections 02/14/2011 - Transfer

Honestly, I've been struggling through the transfer material. And I think class this week helped me to both understand how it can be applicable to libraries, as well as why I've been struggling with engaging the material this week.

Until recently, I was never the student to ask why I should learn something or how it would be applicable to my "real" life.  As a K-12 student, I assumed the teachers just knew what they were talking about when they said it was important (so trusting and naive, I know). I also inherently liked school and was good at it, "transfer" never really crossed my mind.  Then, as an undergrad at a liberal arts college, I never really assumed that what I was learning was supposed to have direct applicability - in some respect, I was learning a way of thinking and learning, not just actual the material itself (which is transfer, but it was not really presented as such on a day-to-day basis).  I also think this made me a lazy learner.  Not that I didn't study hard, but that I really hated when teachers or professors tried tactics like the "hook question."  I just wanted them to get on with teaching us whatever material would be covered for the day, and I'd make my own meaning later... if and when I felt like it. Basically, for the majority of my education I have not consciously thought of "transfer" as a particularly important part of my education.

It is only now that I am in a professional program, working towards a more distinct career goal, that I feel the need to ask "when and how will I use this?" This shift is coming slowly, which means it has been difficult for me to really internalize the importance of transfer. In some of my classes now, particularly the ones that are not overtly focused on libraries, the importance of transfer is becoming increasingly important to me. It's not that I no longer find knowledge for knowledge's sake to be important, but that on a very real level it's not what I need from education at this time. I need to be doing more transfer, and I need my professors to be helping. Ironically, I feel I've been getting less of it now than previously when I didn't find it to be all that important.

As a future professional, I can see the importance of transfer, even in a library setting.  For instance, do we want the same patron coming back to the reference desk every time they need to find an article in a different database?  Or, do we want to teach them skills that will transfer across platforms? Do we want to teach them "yes, you can check the database box that says 'limit to scholarly articles'?" Or do we want to teach them the different values and features of scholarly vs. popular articles so they can evaluate future sources themselves?

I also really liked the idea of the "hook question" from a practitioner's standpoint.  I've been struggling with practical examples of how to capture student's prior knowledge.  Tonight I thought the in class example of surveying how people would go about doing research on cars was a really valuable in understanding a method to tap into that knowledge base in a concrete fashion.

So, not a particularly exhaustive review of class, but rather this is what I am contemplating as we move into the next week.

Week 5 - Learning and Transfer...

... or answering the classic question, "What does dissecting a frog have to with my real life?"  While I will not be attempting answer that particular question today, I do have a few other thoughts from our reading this week.

How People Learn  - Chapter 3 "Learning and Transfer"

Once again, our text does not disappoint with a smorgasbord of learning research and theories, this time to help us better understand "transfer" - that is "the ability to extend what has been learned in once context to new contexts" (p. 51).  The basic set-up is:

• Initial learning is necessary for transfer
• Knowledge that is overly contextualized can reduce transfer
• Transfer is best viewed as an active, dynamic process
• All learning involves transfer based on previous learning

Many of the themes we have discussed previously are once again important points in this chapter - including the importance of addressing student's prior knowledge when learning new tasks, the importance of learning for understanding (rather than memorization), and the role of context in learning and transfer (a big one in this chapter!).  

There was also another discussion of the importance of metacognition in learning, this time with respect to transfer.  The "reciprocal teaching" model (p.67) particularly caught my eye due to its application in reading comprehension.  During our Week 3 class, we discussed the similarities between reading comprehension skills and information literacy.  Though as I mention in my previous reflective post I had not previously considered this comparison, it really makes a lot of sense to me.  Therefore, the reciprocal teaching model may be something librarians can consider when designing basic information literacy workshops.  Particularly in K-12 and academic libraries, I think there are some creative ways we can integrate this model into our standard curriculum, either in one-shot situations or through repeated exposure.  I think the most difficult-to-implement aspect of the reciprocal teaching model would be "establishing a social setting that enables joint negotiation for understanding."  What does this look like?  To me it implies some level of trust and common ground.  Can this be accomplished in a one-shot situation?

"Put Understanding First" - Wiggins and McTighe

The premise of this article is to suggest better ways that education in high schools may promote learning for understanding, with the end goal that this will produce learners who are not just good at "doing school," but instead are prepared for "the world beyond school."  Wiggins and McTighe suggest curriculum must help students to acquire and make meaning of information in the classroom, as well help them learn to transfer new knowledge to new situations.

It's difficult to disagree with the authors on this, as I feel many of my own K-12 (and even some college) experiences mirrored their observations - that schools stress acquiring large amounts of information before students are asked to apply or making meaning out of that information.  By the time an "appropriate" amount of information is a acquired, many students have lost interest or there simply is not time to include the "make meaning and transfer" tasks before moving onto the next unit (perhaps an example of education being "a mile wide and an inch deep?").  Additionally, I really liked the idea that "the textbook should serve as a resource, not as the syllabus."  Teachers (and librarians) spend a significant amount of time and effort to learn their trade; why then do we end up letting the textbook determine course of study?

Perhaps the idea I appreciated most in this article is the emphasis that traditional teaching and instruction methods are not inherently bad, but rather they are limited in the scope of their usefulness and have a tendency to be over used.  They do not advocate for lectures, quizzes, and standardized tests to be thrown out the window.  Rather, they suggest the use of these tools needs to be thought of as only a few of the very important methods by which students should learn and be assessed.  It's not so much about finding the *one* right instructional method, but rather learning how to use a variety of methods depending on the purpose of the teaching/learning activity.  Also, moving through teaching and learning should be considered an iterative process - students can cycle through acquisition, meaning, and transfer in a non-linear fashion.  

We should also consider how we can use these tools in library instruction.  How can we use a variety of activities to help learners move through acquisition, meaning, and transfer during information literacy development?  I think this goes beyond "If I show you how to access ProQuest through SearchTools, then you should also be able to find PsycInfo," to something more abstract about the context in which a database is appropriate to use (this is also related to HPL Ch 3, which helping students understand problems at a higher level of abstraction promotes transfer).  Once again, it is becoming clear to me how difficult it must be to integrate all of the necessary components of "learning for understanding" into a coherent curriculum or single instructional period, and even more difficult without foresight and planning.

"Failure" or "Iterative Design?"

For our blogger assignment I have been following K.G. Schneider over at Free Range Librarian, and her post today titled "In Praise of Succeeding" is very timely considering our recent discussions of assessment.  And, I happen to really love some of the things she says, so I thought I'd pass it along.  Schneider's article re-frames the discussion of being comfortable with "failure" and instead suggests we should be more concerned learning to accept and build on negative reviews, rather than quitting too early (or at least I hope I am interpreting this correctly).  I think some of these same issues are important to consider when we are issuing feedback - whether it is to students or colleagues.  Is there a way we can frame feedback to be truly "constructive criticism?"  How can we prepare ourselves and students to become better at receiving such feedback?
And for those of you who do not want to read the entire thing, my favorite paragraph from the original article:

"Patience, grasshopper. “Not now” is not the same as “no.”  Sometimes a great idea needs to wait its turn; sometimes it is simply precocious, and in a year will be timely. Other times, a great idea has lost its prime moment and needs to be left behind on the altar of things that could have happened in an alternate universe. You’re all the better for having had a great idea; there will be many more."

Class Reflections 02/07/2011 - Assessment

Here are a few of the my highlights from tonight's discussion about assessment:

• I am glad we were specifically asked to make the leap from the role of students to that of educators.  This is a struggle for me personally because I am so well trained to take on the role of a student.  But then I realized - every time I fill out a feedback form, I'm assessing.  Every time I have an interaction with a patron at the reference desk (even now as a student), I am providing assessment.  A new spin on how we traditionally think of roles.
• The McGonigal presentation on gaming was interesting and informative.  Even though I have no interest in gaming, I like the idea of taking something that people already spent a lot of time doing and making it serve a different purpose.  Also, I felt the exercise we completed after class, grouping different types of feedback questions, was an interesting way to segue into how we design surveys as feedback and assessment tools.  Coming from a social science research background, I can really appreciate the power of a good survey and how easy it is to make a bad one.
• I also appreciated that we talked about when it is appropriate to use summative assessment vs. formative assessment.  I think it's really important to understand the value of all tools and when to use them.
• My favorite idea from class tonight was the thought about summative assessment used as formative assessment.  Though this is particularly true when considering summative assessment as data for the "A" part of an ADDIE cycle, what really struck me was the example of some law school students considering their class grades as formative assessment for eventually taking the bar exam.  What if more education worked this way?  Looking at individual assignment grades as feedback with regards to your long-term standing in a course could be an interesting model to consider.  This would also take some restructuring of how classes are taught - not only resulting in more assignments worth smaller percentages of the final grade, but also how students are taught or socialized to think about the purpose of assignments.  Is the purpose of an assignment to play the numbers and figure out exactly what you have to do to get ___ grade?  Or is it to learn something that fits into the larger picture of the course?  My feeling is we'd all like to say assignments serve the latter purpose, but are they really presented that way and do students approach them that way?
• Additionally, I was thinking about the notion of fixed vs. malleable views of intelligence and how it could also be important to consider in the conversation about assessments.  Do learners with different mindsets respond better to one type of assessment over the others?  Or do they differ in their response to how these types of assessments are presented?

Not an exhaustive review of class, but a few things that are rattling around in my brain!

Week 4: Information Literacy Wrap-up and Assessment

Reflections on Week 3 Class - "Information Literacy"

Here are some of the interesting things I took away from the class period:

• Defining "information literacy" is hard, though I did enjoy finding new ways to conceptualize the term "use."  Our group felt "application" is a good substitute, but still lacks some of the connotation of "use."  I actually like the ACRL's definition of information literacy because, although it contains the word "use", it also casts a wider net of the skills we expect an "information literate" person to possess.  In class, my group also added an additional component to the definition - integrating new knowledge and modifying existing existing understandings and beliefs about information.
• Comparing IL with reading comprehension was not something I have considered previously.  I can see how reading for comprehension is very much analogous to deeper levels of information literacy (ie. looking for deeper meaning, making connections, analysis, etc).
• This was my third course in which we have discussed Kuhlthau's Information Search Process, and each time I find new facets that make me think a little deeper.  This time I considered the concept of "zone of intervention" occurring around the exploration phase, and also what this means for library students and the master's education curriculum.  Are we being taught that we should be engaging users a little later in the search process?  Are we gaining the skills for this?  I think my answer for UMich SI is mostly "yes we are," but some days I waiver, and I don't really know what the trend is overall for the education of future librarians.
• Also, a further extension of our discussion on whether our familiarity of a subject affects our movement through Kuhlthau's model - I suggest that perhaps instead of skipping steps altogether for topics with which we are familiar, we instead move through the first few steps much more quickly.  I have no data for this, just an idea.
• Striplings "Model of Inquiry" was also very interesting, but at this point in class I was becoming more cynical (read: low blood sugar) and couldn't help but wonder about the practical use of some of these models (not just Striplings, but others as well).  In a perfect world - yes, all of these steps would be present in information consumers at least part of the time.  But honestly, I cannot remember when I last had time to "reflect."  This blog is really the best example, yet I struggle with the blog because typically the emphasis in school is put on producing something (or "expression") and once that product is one, immediately moving on to the next product.  I almost feel guilty spending a significant amount of time on refection, even though the blog-as-reflection is also a "product."  What can we realistically do to incorporate more reflection into day-to-day tasks?  Okay, rant over.  I'm going to go eat a candy bar and hopefully come back in a better mood!

Design of Learning Environments and Formative Assessment
This week's readings built well on what we've been discussing in class.  How can we integrate what we know about how people learn and what we need to be teaching them (eg. information literacy) to promote learning and understanding.  This week's answer - through the thoughtful design of learning environments, including considerations about assessment techniques.

Chapter 6 - "The Design of Learning Environments" from How People Learn 
 The bulk of this chapter is discussing four important considerations for designing learning environments:

• Learner-centered environments - teachers are aware of the prior knowledge, skills, and beliefs that students bring with them to a classroom.  Teachers also attempt to use student's prior knowledge to enhance learning or can engage them in "cognitive conflict" and then help students understand such conflicts (p. 134).
• Knowledge-centered environments - address the areas in which students need to gain knowledge in order to be successful learners.  This goes beyond rote memorization, to encouraging learning as understanding and helping students develop an "integrated understanding of a discipline" (p. 138).
• Assessment-centered environments - students are provided with feedback with regards to how well they are achieving their learning goals.  Assessment may be "formative" or "summative"  Formative assessment is preferred for improved teaching and learning because it helps students develop an understanding of their performance while they still have a chance to modify it.
• Community-centered environments - teachers and students are recognized as part of a classroom and school community, as well as the larger local, regional, national, or global communities.  If the community environment is ignored, certain teaching and learning methods may not promote student growth in knowledge and understanding.  Additionally, the culture of each community has important implications in the classroom.  I loved the example on page 146 of the Inuit who view quiet children as a marker of high intelligence and self control, while the non-Inuit administrators assumed children who do not talk in class must have a speech delay.  Such misunderstandings can take negatively affect the ability of teachers and students to create a productive learning environment.

The last part of the chapter discusses the importance of alignment between the four types of learning environments.  Specifically, that understanding who students are, what is being taught, how it's being taught, where it's being taught, and how it's being assessed are all important for thoroughly understanding how much students are actually learning.

"Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems" - D. R. Sadler (1989)
This article describes in more depth what "formative assessment" is and why it is important in learning.  

• More specifically, formative assessment is "concerned with how judgments about the quality of student responses can be used to shape and improve the student's competence by short-circuiting the randomness and inefficiency of trial-and-error learning" (p. 120).  Teachers providing "feedback" to learners about the success and progress of their work is a key feature to formative assessment.  Additionally, the process of providing feedback to students also helps the teacher monitor student progress and adjust appropriately. 
• The purpose of formative assessment and feedback in learning is to help students continually improve their learning and performance by understanding: 1) the standard or goal to which they are to perform, 2) their current performance and how it compares to that standard, and 3) how to take action to fill in "gaps" between their performance and the standard (p. 121).
• Additionally, the article describes in some depth the "qualitative judgments" which are necessary in assessment.  That is, rarely can helpful assessment be based on hard-and-fast rules or a scale; rather, teachers must make many of their judgments based on tacit knowledge of what is "high quality" and what is not using a variety of criterias.  The qualitative nature of these judgments makes it difficult for teachers to accurately express performance standards to students.  The challenge then becomes for teachers to learn how to "download" these judgments and standards to students, so that students my learn how to monitor their own performance more effectively.

 Take-Away Points?
One of the biggest connections I made this week between these two readings and what we have discussed previously is the importance of metacognition and monitoring one's own performance as a key component of learning.  We have discussed previously that metacognition is a central feature of active learning and learning for understanding.  To me, two important features of formative assessment are: 1) it aims to promote students' awareness (self-monitoring) of their own functioning with regards to standards or goals for performance, and 2) the purpose of feedback is to help students develop an internal gauge for assessing their own performance, rather than continually relying on an outside authority to do so.  This is important when we consider that the aim of education should be to help students build a knowledge-base they can use outside of a classroom environment.  Additionally, formative assessment is effective at promoting this type of understanding because it allows students to incorporate feedback into their current product or performance, unlike summative assessment which does not.

Although I think assessment is an important feature of learning, I could not help but consider how much responsibility this puts on the teacher.  Particularly since many judgments of student work are qualitative and based on "fuzzy" criteria, teachers have a huge weight to bear with regards to communicating these standards effectively to allow students' development of learning, understanding, and metacognitive skills (as discussed above).  But I also do not think teachers can do this alone.  Therefore, Sadler's statement that "only when a learner assumes ownership of a goal can it play a significant part in the voluntary regulation of performance" speaks volumes to the fact that teachers can only do so much.  To some extent, students have to want to learn and they have to want to perform better.  Without this type of internalization, assessment seems nearly useless to the learner.  I think this is partially where other aspects of the learning environment, particularly the concepts of learner and culturally-centered environments, can support assessment because they allow teachers to understand their students and ways in which they can be encouraged to learn.

Of course, in the end this comes back to: how does this apply to librarians?  Or, how can librarians apply these concepts?  This week, I'm a little stumped because I do not understand well when librarians are given opportunities to provide formative assessment.  I suppose this will likely be discussed in class as well, and I look forward to hearing others' views.

ACRL Insider "Member of the Week"

This is mostly tangential to the purpose of this blog and to the course, but here it is anyway...

I subscribe to the ACRL Insider via Google Reader, and recently I have been paying more attention to their "Member of the Week" feature... perhaps partially due to our discussions in SI643 and grappling with what it means to be a "professionally practicing" librarian in the 21st century (see, there is a connection!).  I find it really interesting to read a little bit about each person, their background, and their views on academic librarianship.  Also, they have recently profiled some librarians with whom I share many values, goals, and ideas related to academic librarianship.  Of course, as humans we're naturally inclined to seek and believe information that is congruent with our own opinions and mental models (isn't social psychology fun?), but I also find it genuinely reassuring that there are current professionals whose views jive with my own.  As in, sometimes when I start questioning why on earth I am inflicting grad school on myself, I need that jolt of "Oh ya, that's why!"  And I've found these little snippets of real librarians, actually doing what I want to do and saying what I want to say, to be very motivating.

Oh, and the librarian featured this week is an instructional librarian... which makes two connections to SI643! 

Finished my screencast!

Check out my completed screencast - Using U of M's Interlibrary Loan

This exercise turned out to be much more frustrating than I had anticipated.  It seemed like with each recording attempt there was a problem - something technical that went wrong, I flubbed up the lines, or I forgot to include some information.  Eventually, I just decided to stick with the "best" take and move on because it never seemed to be "just right."  I used Jing to record and share the tutorial, which was much easier than I anticipated.  I only wish that it had some editing capabilities, so I could patch together the best of each take.

I am looking forward to seeing what the rest of my classmates have created!

Week 3: Screencast Reflections and Information Literacy

Reflections on Week 2 Class and Screencasting

A few ideas and issues that are still in on my mind after Monday's class:

• As I was scrolling through my Google Reader Monday night, I saw this posting on ALA Job List for an Assistant Librarian at LSU, which lists "experience in creating interactive tutorials" as a preferred candidate qualification. While I will not be job hunting until this time next year, I find it reassuring that the skills I am learning now can give me an edge in the academic library job market.
• I am stuck on the idea that there really is no such thing as a "perfect" screencast, and the decisions we must make to design the "best" tutorial we can. During class discussion, I noticed that some disagreement amongst my classmates about features they like to see in a screencast (eg. to close caption, or not to close caption?). Additionally, with regards to subject material for the screencast, we have to consider balance a balance in the type, amount, and depth of information provided.
• Trying to find this balance has my head spinning, and I think the ADDIE model could be helpful for addressing this problem.  For instance, in assessing a need, one might decide that hearing impaired people are likely to use the tutorial, and therefore closed captioning would be a nice feature in design.  Then, through evaluation, such features can be reconsidered and retooled to continually meet evolving user needs.  This speaks to the importance of planning as an iterative process.
• Or, some of these issues may be addressed using the model in this article from Library Journal, "Screen Casting for an Audience of One" (as sent by our fearless instructor).

Information Literacy Literature

This week, we were asked to choose three articles on "information literacy" in our field of interest. Broadly, I am interested in academic libraries and lean more towards undergraduate-level or community colleges focusing on learning and instruction (rather than research), and I tried to target my readings to that purpose.

• "Information Literacy Learning Outcomes and Student Success" - S. Samson (2010). The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36(3); 202-210  

The purpose of this article was to compare student learning outcomes with the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. The study examined the final projects from two groups of college students - first-year and "capstone" students - and analyzed the projects with respect to the ACRL's five standards and performance indicators (see list in page linked above for specific guidelines).  Interesting results included: 

- First-year students cited more newspapers and web-based resources, while capstone students cited more primary source materials

- First-year students were more likely to use more "general" databases and capstone students were more likely to use subject-specific databases

- Capstone students were more likely to identify bias in information

- Of the capstone students who presented copyrighted material, 43.8% did not include permission granted notices (note: first year students did not report using copyrighted material)

The several significant differences in these population is a good demonstration the importance of assessment and planning.  It also demonstrates the importance of understanding the context and background of your learners; even within the "undergraduate" population, it is important to consider how the needs of first-year students differ from more advanced students. Additionally, the article proposed this type of study as a method to identify areas in which students need more IL instruction. For instance, since students struggled with the legal aspects of information use, the library should incorporate this more readily into their instruction. I think this is an interesting framework for evaluation, but I also think it's dangerous if this is the only evaluative criteria.  Maybe students understood that they were supposed to cite a copyrighted work, but were confused about how to do the citation, or simply did not want to take the time to do it. There still needs to be more direct interaction with students and faculty to address issues of causal ambiguity.

• "Information-seeking Habits and Information Literacy of Community and Junior College Students A Review of Literature" - H. Groce (2008). Community & Junior College Libraries, 14(3); 191-199

This article is interesting because it covers several aspects of information literacy from the perspective of community and junior colleges, and includes a review of literature published 1996 - 2006. The major issues identified are: the internet and the digital age; required information-seeking classes; technology overload; legitimacy, reliability, and authority of resources; use of scholarly/peer-reviewed articles; and subject content of assigned research projects.  

With respect to instruction, the article suggests that IL analysis and assessment projects "need to stress that information literacy needs to be based on the students' needs."  This is great because it addresses both the importance of planning and analyzing the needs of the user before implementing a program, and it also implies that understanding the student (not their project or their faculty member) is crucial in designing instruction.  Both of these ideas have been important items for discussion in the first few weeks of class.

• "New Tools for Online Information Literacy Instruction" - S. Williams (2010).  The Reference Librarian, 51(2); 148-162

The final article I chose for the week discussed various web-based tools for online literacy instruction. Since we discussed tutorials and screencasts this week, I thought it would be interesting to read how different online methods have been used for IL instruction.  The basic premise of the article is that since students are increasingly turning to web-based resources for information, it may be important for IL instruction to also begin migrating to the web. The methods covered in this article include: course management software; academic organizations' websites; blogs; podcasts; screencasts; web-based board games; and Second Life. Of course there are pros and cons to each method, but overall the assessment was that online tools can be a valuable addition to an academic library's IL instruction.  I was, however, left wondering - does anyone ever actually use Second Life?

The article also spends a bit of time comparing face-to-face and online IL instruction, which I think is an important topic.  While it would be nice to have IL instruction online (and therefore meet students at their point of need), if is not shown to be an effective method of instruction, then what's the point.  One study found that a "hybrid" of both face-to-face and online IL instruction was more effective than either method alone.  This point has been made several times in our class and blog discussions already, and it was interesting to read some empirical data to back-up our assumptions.

Conclusions

So what does this all mean?  While there was much more information in each article than I could ever cover here (even given this lengthy post), the three points I took away were:

1) It is important to understand who your users are when designing information literacy instruction, particularly with respect to the aspects of information literacy with which they need the most help

2) Studying how students are interacting with information can be a tool in assessing user needs and evaluate existing IL instruction programs

3) As predicted, hybrid IL instruction can be more effective than either face-to-face or online-only modes of instruction because students can enjoy the benefits of both learning environments