Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Threshold concepts

Meyer, Jan H.F., Ray Land, and Caroline Baillie (eds.). Threshold Concepts and Transformational Learning. Sense Publishers, 2010.

Page 3 definition of "proactive knowledge." Page 7 = correspondence to deep learning as extended by Ramsden to include the transfer of knowledge to new situations/problems, & the application of informed learning. Page 9 includes alertness, positive attitude, & ability to apply knowledge as part of "proactive knowledge." Alertness has to include "weakly cued" situations (p.12), & include "freeform noticing & self-initiated engagement" -- "intrinsic motivation" (p.14). Page 16 despite this book's denial of "deep learning" and phenomenography, it acknowledges the need to accept variation, disciplinary contexts, process, & transformation (variation theory, etc., are part of C. Bruce's underpining of informed learning).

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Christine S. Bruce, Mary M. Somerville, Ian Stoodley, Helen Partridge (2013), Diversifying Information Literacy Research: An Informed Learning Perspective, in Mark Hepworth, Geoff Walton (ed.) Developing People’s Information Capabilities (Library and Information Science, Volume 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.223-240. DOI: 10.1108/S1876-0562(2013)0000008018 ; http://library.catalog.gvsu.edu/record=b3570873~S19

"Informed learning attends to variation in peoples' information experiences rather than their skills or attributes. Within the framework of informed learning, ... information literacy education ... [is] changing awareness of people's experiences of using information to learn" (225). "a holistic approach to understanding information use" ... takes into account the interrelations between people and their environment" (226).

"Key principles... include:  ...
  • ... simultaneous attention to information use and discipline content.
  • Emphasizing learners' awareness, either of different aspects of how they use information to learn, or of different facets of one aspect....
  • ...inseparable connection between people and their world," (226-7)
"holistic social context...importance of each individual as a contributing member of the social group.... reciprocal relationships between one's social groups and the natural world. ... involved all dimensions of one's being while providing both personal development and technical skills through participation in community life.... essentially a community integrated expression of environmental education" (Cajete, 1994, p. 26 as quoted in Bruce et al, p.234).
"lives are truly and profoundly connected to other people and the physical world, reflecting a deep relationality" (ibid).

"Such a framework suggests a way of being in the world, as well as experiencing the world, in which learning is cultivated within a community culture that values information and knowledge closely intertwined with the experience of using information to learn. This approach to learning departs significantly from Western societies' assumptions about information and learning" (234).

"In the interpretive tradition...some researchers focus on...the way in which people in different contexts build meaning together...."
"learning groups or communities ... are grounded in specific contexts. Significant diversity exists in the kind of information or knowledge that is valued.... In spiritually grounded cultures, ... emphasis [lies] on experiencing information as transformational and subjective.... Information in these cultures appears also as purposeful and intentional" (235). "... information...becomes part of a process that determines action, enables insights, creates a work of art" (Bruce, 2008, p.101, as quoted in Bruce et al, p. 236).

"Such insights highlight the need for educators...to ensure that they understand the information experience of the communities they serve instead of assuming the validity of pre-existing information literacy standards and models" (236).

"it may not be useful to continue to treat academic, workplace and community settings as separated" (Lloyd, 2010, as summarized in Bruce et al, p.237) ... "perspectives intermingle" (237).

"Understanding information experience from multiple perspectives ... has the potential to guide...practitioners, in refining their practice, since the experience of information use is pervasive across settings" (237).

"Future agendas"
"d. The need to enquire into whether the language of informed learning counters the dominating assumption that information literacy is comprised of skills and behaviours to be learned" (237).

[Conclusion]
"information use...is...creative, transformational and collectively achieved. [rather than paternalistic, "controlled and correct"] ... socially grounded ways of understanding...constructed in and through relationships; [w/fac liaisons, e.g., DW, VV, MV] spiritual information and spiritual experiences as different from conventional understandings..." (238).

TO READ:
Harlan, Mary Ann, Christine Bruce, and Mandy Lupton. "Teen Content Creators: Experiences of using Information to Learn." Library Trends 60.3 (2012): 569-87.
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/docview/1009906531?accountid=39473

Somerville, Mary M., and EchoHawk, Dana. (2011). Recuerdos Hablados/Memories spoken: Toward the co-creation of digital knowledge with community significance. Library Trends, 59(4), 650-662.  http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/docview/868866506?accountid=39473 
 

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