Week 2: Reflection -- Week 3: Information Literacy Articles

Week 2: Reflection

In class, we talked about formative assessment, professional development, the difference between novice and expert skills, ADDIE, and screencasts as well as the larger question of the efficacy of online learning modules. The questions that stuck with me most were those about online learning. I feel that there are specific needs that online instruction fills, the need for answers right now and for enrichment in addition to face to face instruction, and specific situations where it is the best of a limited variety of solutions. Personally, however, given the choice between an online-only program and a primarily face-to-face instructional setting, I pick the face-to-face, because the opportunity to actually get to know classmates and teachers and being a part of that educational community makes the experience that much more valuable and meaningful.

I think I got a little off-topic there, maybe. Anyway. Are online modules effective enough to replace face-to-face instruction? They can, in certain situations. For procedural skills, like learning how to use a tech tool or an introduction to searching a certain database, an online module completed outside of class can conserve valuable class time so the instructor can spend more time on more complex skills. Does it matter whether online instruction is effective, or does it just matter what the students want? Of course the effectiveness of the instruction matters. If it doesn't work, that student won't have the necessary skills/knowledge to achieve his goals or to do his job well.. Which is bad news.

Week 3: Information Literacy or Information Fluency or Transliteracy Articles

Both Trimm and Farkas focus heavily on the changing landscape of technologies, platforms, and information available to the average information consumer today. Farkas stresses the fact that evaluation of information available on the open web has become much more "nuanced" today than it was, say, six or eight years ago. Trimm addresses the need for librarians to keep up with changing technologies, to take time to explore and play with new tools so that they can incorporate those skills into library instruction and encourage their communities to explore new platforms "for communicating and producing information."

Birdsong discusses the Information Literacy Initiative at the University of Washington iSchool. This organization focuses on "outliers," or people who have not received information literacy instruction, of any age or social status. She explains two programs the organization has implemented: one for teens and one for older adults; she also enumerates the reasons information literacy instruction is so important for these "outliers."

Trimm, N. (2011). Not Just Literate, but Transliterate: Encouraging Transliteracy Adoption in Library Services. Colorado Libraries, 36(1).

Farkas, M. (2011). Information Literacy 2.0: Critical inquiry in the age of social media. American Libraries, 42(11/12), 32.

Birdsong, L. (2009). Information literacy training for all? the outliers. Searcher, 17(8), 18-23, 54.

Week 1: Reflection -- Week 2: Workshop Readings

Week 1: Reflection

I agree wholeheartedly with Andrew that our first class felt like a better version of Ed school – specifically, a much better version of the technology class we took (which was universally regarded by the students as completely useless, in part because barely any of us had access to the necessary technology, but never mind that, I'm getting off topic). I have to admit, I wondered whether this course would be useful to me, but I've come to the conclusion that it will. I'm excited to dig into the material, to learn more about the approaches and tools I can use in the educational setting.

Week 2: Readings

As I began the One-Shot Workshop reading, the material seemed pretty common-sense to me, but then I do have some experience planning instruction. ADDIE is definitely a logical set of steps to take when preparing a lesson, and I can definitely appreciate the idea that a the whole and the pieces of a workshop can be continually updated and reused, adapted to fit different content, and be a solid foundation for beginning instructors.

The ADDIE model definitely showed through in the Johnston and Yelinek readings. I think that the fact that those readings were in line with One-Shot is a reflection of the sensibility and applicability of that set of concepts to the planning of workshops and tutorials as well as assessments.

The Griffis article was a clear, concise summary of the pros and cons of various free screen capture tools, and I don't doubt that it wil come in handy. As far as what sort of skills would be best improved with the use of screencasts and online tutorials, I feel that these tools would best be utilized to demonstrate the use of different platforms and software, both for the basics and the advanced features, where a visual demonstration is more useful than a textual explanation.

Week 1 - Classmate Interview

Cary interviews Liz.egg on Aviary.

Week 1 - How People Learn, Ch. 1 & 2

On Chapter 1

Most instruction I have observed has been a struggle between the teacher's desire to impart a comprehensive understanding of the topic and the limitation of time with the student. In the grade school setting, teachers were further limited by pre-set curricula and pressure from administrators to teach to the test. Teachers did examine and engage students' prior knowledge, and more metacognitive practices were implemented in higher-level classes than in basic ones. In the library setting, the greatest limitation was time. It seems that most library-based educational opportunities tend to be one-shot sessions. Effective "chunking," however, could lessen that limitation. Some of the library programming I've seen (which, admittedly, hasn't been very much) has had the problem of too much information and too little time, coupled with inexpert instruction. The participants might've remembered a few fun facts, but overall, it wasn't the most productive use of their time. The instructors did engage some prior knowledge, but an emphasis on metacognitive skills was not apparent. 

On Chapter 2

I think that some, if not all, of the best teachers I've had in my academic career have encouraged their students to examine their own thoughts and conclusions about the material to promote deeper understanding and structured their instruction in such a way that they built a sort of framework for the material covered in that class and students' future learning to grow on. By focusing on how to solve or think about problems rather than focusing on simple facts, teachers encourage students toward expert-level growth. 

I think the concepts introduced in this reading will be important for the instructional librarian, though the text won't be universally applicable, as it seems to be focused on a traditional learning structure rather than the one-shot approach more frequently found in libraries. However, if a one-shot educational opportunity is informed by the lessons imparted by the text, with the instructor focused on conditionalizing students' knowledge and metacognition, it is more likely to be transferable by the learner.  School librarians, of course, will more likely have opportunities to build upon previous instruction with the same students and construct a farther-reaching web of information.