Week 4: Reflection
This week in class, we watched Jane McGonigal's TED talk on gaming and discussed surveys and formative assessment.
I really enjoyed watching the TED talk, and the points McGonigal made were definitely interesting, but I think it would take a major game developer to get on board with her scheme to really make a big difference through gaming. I imagine a cross between Oregon Trail and Mad Max or the zombie apocalypse might catch on in the wider world and be able to impart some of the transferable skills she was talking about, but I don't imagine the scale she was working with was making that much of a difference. It was definitely thought-provoking, though, to take an activity like gaming and frame it in a different way.
We discussed surveys, including question formats, possible pitfalls, length, and tools for online surveys. We also discussed formative assessments, focusing mostly on strategies to utilize in a library setting.
Week 5: Learning and Transfer
How do we identify and promote information transfer?
The question of how to identify information transfer seems complicated. According to the readings, the evaluation of effective transfer is the speed at which learners apply previously learned skills to new situations. First, we'd have to identify the skills that we're measuring, then ask learners to implement them in a new context, and finally evaluate the efficiency of that ongoing process.
As far as the promotion of information transfer, the readings stress the importance of learners making meaning and thinking abstractly about knowledge. We must take into account and build upon prior knowledge, and remember that transfer is "an active, dynamic process." Allowing for ample time to build understanding during the initial learning process, emphasizing understanding rather than memorization, contextualizing knowledge, and both giving feedback and encouraging self-monitoring habits in learners are all important pieces of the puzzle of promoting transferable knowledge.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Week 3: Reflection -- Week 4: Reading Response
Week 3: Reflection
This week in class, we watched and discussed a few of our screencasts and discussed the information literacy articles we found and read before class.
Some of the positive points of our screencasting critiques included enthusiasm, suggestions of ways to use the tool, pacing, and clarity of instruction. Quite a few of us also learned of new tools from our classmates' screencasts. I definitely agree with my classmates that in that exercise, preparation was key, as well as the ability to edit my screencast.
Our discussion of the information literacy articles we had found and read revealed a huge breadth of investigations into information literacy, which makes sense considering the diversity of anticipated career paths in class. One point that seemed to figure into each small group discussion, however, was the need for collaboration - between faculty and librarians in academic libraries, between school and public librarians, and between public librarians and community members and organizations. The need for a library's patrons and community to recognize the value of the library and the services is especially important now, with many libraries facing continuing budget cuts, and the rapidly changing field of technology. We touched on the concepts of transliteracy, the ability to understand and communicate through many different media and platforms, and metaliteracy, (which I understand to be) a sort of unifying set of concepts that cross boundaries among multiple literacies to create a blueprint for understanding the information contained in different media environments.
Week 4: How People Learn, Ch. 6, and Sadler article
How People Learn, Ch. 6: The Design of Learning Environments
This chapter discusses learner-centered environments, knowledge-centered environments, assessment-centered environments, and community-centered environments and how they intersect and create a framework for learning. Along the way, formative assessment and the connection between educational television and student success are touched upon. Learner-centered environments build on prior knowledge to conceptualize new information, take into account the cultural norms of the students, and build connections between the language students use outside of the classroom and inside of the classroom. In a knowledge-centered environment, the curriculum begins with students' prior knowledge, as in a student-centered environment, but goes on to concentrate on the information that helps students to understand the subject, thinking critically about the information presented and seeking to understand in layers rather than just memorizing facts. Assessment-centered learning environments "provide opportunities for feedback and revision...congruent with one's learning goals." Formative and summative assessment both play a large part in these environment, though traditional assessment techniques frequently fail to measure deep understanding of the material, instead focusing on the memorization of facts and procedures. Community-centered environments encompass the classroom as community, the school as community, and the larger community to which the school belongs, including the global community. The ideal learning environment must balance all of these elements.
D. Royce Sadler, Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. 1989.
Sadler focuses on the concepts and skills necessary for students and teachers to assess work qualitatively and make improvements. The nebulous nature of qualitative assessment makes the conceptualization of this process somewhat challenging, but Sadler breaks it down into manageable chunks. Formative assessment must include both feedback and self-monitoring. The concept of metacognition has come up in our readings before, and I'm sure it will again. Sadler emphasizes the importance and challenges of the student's understanding of what quality work is and the uselessness of comparisons among students, instead advocating the use of standards and exemplars to show high and low quality work. Students must take ownership of a goal to begin effectively evaluating their performance. One part of the article resonated particularly for me - the idea that "if the rate at which expectations are raised is consistently greater than the rate of improvement, the inability of the student to keep pace results in little or no sense of accomplishment even though improvement may actually be occurring."
Throughout both of these readings, I kept thinking how much sense all of this made, and how hard it can be to actually implement strategies informed by these concepts. At the same time, I'm not sure how many of these ideas would be implemented in the sort of short-term instructional environments most often found in library settings. I'm looking forward to class to hear what everyone else is thinking!
This week in class, we watched and discussed a few of our screencasts and discussed the information literacy articles we found and read before class.
Some of the positive points of our screencasting critiques included enthusiasm, suggestions of ways to use the tool, pacing, and clarity of instruction. Quite a few of us also learned of new tools from our classmates' screencasts. I definitely agree with my classmates that in that exercise, preparation was key, as well as the ability to edit my screencast.
Our discussion of the information literacy articles we had found and read revealed a huge breadth of investigations into information literacy, which makes sense considering the diversity of anticipated career paths in class. One point that seemed to figure into each small group discussion, however, was the need for collaboration - between faculty and librarians in academic libraries, between school and public librarians, and between public librarians and community members and organizations. The need for a library's patrons and community to recognize the value of the library and the services is especially important now, with many libraries facing continuing budget cuts, and the rapidly changing field of technology. We touched on the concepts of transliteracy, the ability to understand and communicate through many different media and platforms, and metaliteracy, (which I understand to be) a sort of unifying set of concepts that cross boundaries among multiple literacies to create a blueprint for understanding the information contained in different media environments.
Week 4: How People Learn, Ch. 6, and Sadler article
How People Learn, Ch. 6: The Design of Learning Environments
This chapter discusses learner-centered environments, knowledge-centered environments, assessment-centered environments, and community-centered environments and how they intersect and create a framework for learning. Along the way, formative assessment and the connection between educational television and student success are touched upon. Learner-centered environments build on prior knowledge to conceptualize new information, take into account the cultural norms of the students, and build connections between the language students use outside of the classroom and inside of the classroom. In a knowledge-centered environment, the curriculum begins with students' prior knowledge, as in a student-centered environment, but goes on to concentrate on the information that helps students to understand the subject, thinking critically about the information presented and seeking to understand in layers rather than just memorizing facts. Assessment-centered learning environments "provide opportunities for feedback and revision...congruent with one's learning goals." Formative and summative assessment both play a large part in these environment, though traditional assessment techniques frequently fail to measure deep understanding of the material, instead focusing on the memorization of facts and procedures. Community-centered environments encompass the classroom as community, the school as community, and the larger community to which the school belongs, including the global community. The ideal learning environment must balance all of these elements.
D. Royce Sadler, Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems. 1989.
Sadler focuses on the concepts and skills necessary for students and teachers to assess work qualitatively and make improvements. The nebulous nature of qualitative assessment makes the conceptualization of this process somewhat challenging, but Sadler breaks it down into manageable chunks. Formative assessment must include both feedback and self-monitoring. The concept of metacognition has come up in our readings before, and I'm sure it will again. Sadler emphasizes the importance and challenges of the student's understanding of what quality work is and the uselessness of comparisons among students, instead advocating the use of standards and exemplars to show high and low quality work. Students must take ownership of a goal to begin effectively evaluating their performance. One part of the article resonated particularly for me - the idea that "if the rate at which expectations are raised is consistently greater than the rate of improvement, the inability of the student to keep pace results in little or no sense of accomplishment even though improvement may actually be occurring."
Throughout both of these readings, I kept thinking how much sense all of this made, and how hard it can be to actually implement strategies informed by these concepts. At the same time, I'm not sure how many of these ideas would be implemented in the sort of short-term instructional environments most often found in library settings. I'm looking forward to class to hear what everyone else is thinking!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
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.
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.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, January 9, 2012
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.
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