Thursday, May 20, 2010

WILU 2010 Conference: Lightning Strikes/Birds of a Feather

"Lightning Strikes" were 7-minute presentations to the whole group. I liked the format.

"Building educational video games for non-programmers," Sarah Forbes, U-T Scarborough.
They used gamesalad.com (mac-based). The gamesalad creations can also become apps for the iPhone/iPad. Game Maker (Yo Yo Games) is the equivalent pc-based software.

"Legal Research Literacy--blended learning & learning community strategies," Julie Lavigne, Univ of Ottawa Law Library.
Use 2 models:
Learning community--in an upper-level course on legal research & writing-- team-taught by librarian, professor, and local practitioner (lawyer).
Blended learning--web self-instruction modules in Blackboard.

"Digital classroom for information literacy, " Janet Goosney, Memorial Univ.
Cutaway computer tables (I have asked her for an image to give to our new building committee).

"Birds of a Feather" were self-selected table topics.

Student-designed curricula discussion--could the students in CAP 115 create LibGuides themselves, one per section of the course? (No, unfortunately.)
At Dartmouth, a Library Resources box similar to that which Laura created for Blackboard is automatically added to all of Dartmouth's BB course sections. Could ours be?

One library has a student advisory committee to the library which reviews the website, etc., and they receive letters of recommendation from the library dean (or designate/s). To get student participation on the committee, they put a note on the library's website, advertise through Student Services, etc., and provide food at meetings.

WILU 2010 Conference: What I really learned

18-20-year-olds don't have long-term planning skills.

To Do: match the ILCCs to my library instruction sessions from Fall 2009-Winter 2010 & make a chart by department & course of where ILCCs are being met.
School | Department | Course # | ILCC
___________________________
SoC | Photography | CPH 279 | ILCC....

Also, add the ILCCs to my libguides.

Take a look at the LibGuides stats for my pages--which links get used the most? Re-order items according to this info.

Ask students for feedback on the LibGuide itself during the library instruction session, using the Comment link.

Since deep learning means that learners use their new knowledge and skills in a new context to solve a problem (extrapolation/transfer of knowledge to a new situation), then assessment has to employ problem-solving (as in the CLA), not be a typical standardized test such as SAILS or the JMU test.

In CAP 115, how can I apply deep learning and activity theory? After students have annotated their topic & research tool handouts (or groups' blog/wiki entries on search engines/websites), have them trade handouts (or blog/wiki entries), use the tool the student noted on the handout/blog/wiki entry, and see if it provides something useful to the person reading the handout/blog/wiki entry.

In Writing 150, have students trade essays/papers to see how the quotations or referenced items actually contribute to the point of the paragraph and overall thesis? Is it clear how it changes or adds to the student's thought?

McMaster University has a training program for COTs on the single-service-point desk. I passed the info along.

One library used their graduate library-school intern to organize the internal staff wiki. The intern made a 3x5 card to represent each page, and another card for the various headers, and asked the librarians individually for feedback about which pages went under which heading, and took notes as the librarians talked and/or moved the cards around.

WILU 2010 Conference: Sessions

2B: "Good, better, best! - in peer learning." Karen Hering, Grant McEwan University.

"Polishing Diamonds" is a tool for fostering professional development in teaching excellence. It is a non-evaluative self-assessment through reciprocal peer observation. They ran a parallel program for librarian teachers under the FTLC (equivalent).
Time commitment=1.5 hours/week for 7 weeks.
Ground rules:
  • 4 people/group ("diamond")
  • only 1 observer/instruction session
  • make only positive observations, not judgments--reflect on things you saw which you could use to improve your own teaching (don't comment on the librarian's teaching!).
Buy-in came from the library director encouraging the librarians to participate. Run program every 2 1/2 years with different groups each time. Meet at beginning of semester with all participants to go over ground rules. Each diamond meets after everyone has observed a session to share reflections. All participants met at end of semester to wrap up.

3A: "From active learning to activity: Getting beyond busy work and into deep learning." Wendy Holliday, Utah State University

Students were engaging shallowly with information in writing classes & perceived their assignments as busy work. Activity theory--deep learning requires a contradiction or bind in which your current tools don't work. Learning is a social/joint activity.

4B: "Sources as social acts: Using Genre Theory to transform information literacy instruction." Joel Burkholder, York College of Pennsylvania.

Use social purposes to define & classify:
  • language used by a community to accomplish tasks
  • guidelines for participating in community.
Evaluation should expose context. Is it useful? Not? Helpful? What's appropriate & when?

5A: "From pre-defined topics to research questions: An inquiry-based approach to knowledge." Michelle Allen & Benjamin Oberdick, Michigan State University

"Cephalonian" method. Inquiry-guided learning. First-year writing students "read" & regurgitate without processing material in any fundamental way when doing traditional research papers.

Inquiry-guided learning:
  • questions, problems, issues
  • investigate, create new knowledge (this is the model Wendy Nelson used)
  • show a 1-2 minute YouTube video to spark curiosity or show a picture (e.g., Climatechallenge.gov.uk)
  • have students write a question during the video & volunteer them ("those are all great questions")
  • get to the researchable questions; pick one
  • tell students to use this process to analyze & develop their own research questions
  • give a few minutes to search however they want to
  • each group sends 1 person to demonstrate on the instructor pc/display
  • ask: what can we learn from this (article, etc.)--access, evaluation--then guide them to parallel library resources

WILU 2010 Conference: Keynote address

Keynote speaker: James Paul Gee.
Libraries should be the interactive space for 21st-century learning. Games like Yu-Gi-Oh, Sims, & World of Warcraft optimize:
  • play
  • analysis of theory & practice
  • fun
  • learning ultra-technical language (despite gamers' reading level academically)
  • problem-solving
  • technical skills development
  • interaction between people of varying ages--the best learning communities are not age-related or age-limited
  • interest-driven learning--when learners design their own curriculum (as they do games)
  • role trading (leadership is distributed; eroded distinction between amateurs & professionals/experts
  • distributed knowledge --the community is the expert, not individuals
  • personal responsibility for the learning
  • clear, concise, instant, & community-based feedback
  • high tolerance for frustration and for community feedback & mentoring
  • play/learning in either virtual or physical space.
This type of learning can't happen in schools because of societal inertia & because schools are organized to create a bell-curve (i.e., some learners succeed & some fail). Schools emphasize individual, not communal learning. But libraries can facilitate 21st-century learning: libraries were behind the surge in 19th-century literacy; libraries include many learning tools; librarians are designers, team leaders, organizers of play & cooperation; they provide resources.

From gaming we know that reading levels are directly correlated to interest & knowledge. Learners can be organized by their passion for something, not age or race, etc. Everyone has a passion for something & a deep skill in it. This is a different model from the curricular model of everyone knowing the same thing.