week 10

Class

The one-shot workshops were great and I learned so much from copyright to social media!  I must admit seven groups seemed a bit overwhelming because most groups felt rushed, but we finished by the end of the class period.  In general, groups had to really to watch their time to make sure everyone had a chance to present.  Because some of us felt rushed I thought that we were not able to absorb and reflect on all of the information we had just learned.  One group did bring yummy cupcakes, but one can never have enough treats…

How People Learn, Chap. 7

This chapter describes how to become an effective teacher because it is not all about the knowledge one possesses on the subject.  It is about the having both subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge (how to incorporate activities that best teach students the material).  The emphasis is getting students in disciplines such as math, history and sciences to understand the material, not just memorize it.

This concept makes sense to me.  I feel like my AP or honors teachers used these ideas, which facilitated more understanding of the material.  In less challenging courses the teacher only wanted you to get the right answer on a test or quiz.  Is that why so many people who did well on standardized tests did not always do well in college?  They could memorize the material they needed, but in college you also needed to understand what you were reading, not just regurgitate it back.

“Online Webinars! Interactive Learning Where Our Users Are: The Future of Embedded librarianship” by Susan E. Montgomery

Montgomery talks about how embedded librarianship should include online resources such as webinars in order to help and connect with students.  Less and less students are using face-to-face interactions and look towards the web for answers, therefore, librarians should move towards an online environment to keep up with the changing times.  Unlike screencast and tutorials, webinars provide interactions and two-way communication.  Webinars can be used an instructional tool to connect students and faculty outside the traditional library setting.

The Embedded Librarian Online or Face-to-Face: American University's Experiences

By Michael A. Matosa; Nobue Matsuoka-Motleya; William Mayer

This article also talks about the role of embedded librarianship in the academic librarian profession.  Embedded librarianship is separated into two categories, traditional and hybrid.  The traditional role is what most of us are accustom to because the librarian is in a specific library serving the students and faculty in that department.  A hybrid librarian spends lots of time in the university library but leaves often to perform instruction and events in the department they support.  To keep this short since most of you read it I will just say that technology such as web-based tools allows librarians to perform their tasks more successfully.  In the end their ultimate mission: helping the users.

I personally have never heard of the term embedded librarianship before this week’s readings and I must say it seems a little daunting.  In addition to providing information to students and faculty, librarians must come up with and execute different methods to reach the patrons.  If execution was not enough, the librarians must do it well and have all of these technology skills.  Whatever happened to the days of sitting at your desk waiting for patrons with questions and getting first dibs on new books before they’re released to the public?  I use to think librarians had it made, but now I see that they have to be Superwoman (or man).  We’ll see how I compare with my webinar.

Week 9--We Are Getting Close!

This is going to be a shorter post since there isn't any additional reading for this week.  We are all working on our one-shot workshops.

I am going to give you guys a little preview to what you can expect from my group (Emily and Elise) on Monday.  Our topic is the need for librarians in public schools. With the current economic crisis around the nation, many school libraries are reducing their library staff to part-time or are eliminating them all together.  Because of this students are not receiving the instruction they need to become successful in college nor learning necessary skills.  We will be presenting our workshop to administrators in charge of the budget, and try to convince them that the need for school librarians. (I know you all our excited!)

Class

We had a lot going on in class that night.  We went over our assignment for next week, the one-shot workshop.  I think that this is interesting approach to convincing a specific group your view or benefit for whatever issue you are presenting.  At first, I thought these workshops would be similar to our screencast where we demonstrated how to use a tool.  I never considered using a workshop to advocate certain concerns.  I am excited to see what ethical issues everyone presents and if I would be convinced or agree with them afterwards.

 We also discussed HCOD and had a guest speaker, Bobbi Newman, through a webinar.  She was extremely level headed about the whole HCOD debate.  Most librarians seem to just rant and state how mad they are in their blogs (though they do have good reason to).  I am continuing to follow this issue and am curious how libraries will continue to deal with this issues—not just HCOD, but the problems with ebooks in general. Will other companies follow HarperCollins examples? How many libraries does this really affect right now? So many questions!   I do not like being left hanging!

Week 8

So Daylight Savings put be a little behind today, however, there is still a little sunshine outside!

Class

Last week was book club week and I enjoyed it as much as I thought I would.  All of our stories had a mystery/creepy/death theme to them.  I wish I could say that I walked away with more answers than questions; however, I think I had more questions at the end.  That’s the problem with mysteries.  Sometimes you just don’t have an answer.  Two of our works were by Poe so we were able to refer back to him and his stories throughout our meeting.

While our book club was a success in general, I think providing more background information (if available) would be beneficial to this type of book club.  Since we picked different stories and some of us weren’t familiar with the author or work, I think more information would have helped us all understand the material better.  Overall, we had a great time and ate cake!

Readings

HC's official statement on Library Love Fest blog 3/1/2011

I read this blog to get a sense of HarperCollins’ side of the story.  Their official statement tries to justify their reasons for only allowing 26 uses for an e-book seems absurd.  What I don’t understand is why libraries must rebuy e-books when they don’t have to buy the print version again.  I believe HC is being greedy and are complaining how cheap they are selling e-books for—“20% lower than the print version.” It should be! They do not have the printing cost for e-books.

ALA Washington Office, 3/8/11

The ALA responds tastefully and respectively to HarperCollins' new conditions.  If you read between the lines, I think they are saying they disagree with HarperCollins new guidelines. There have created two groups, the Equitable Access to Electronic Content (EQUACC) and the E-book Task Force, to combat and hopefully persuade publishers to change their new positions on e-books.  While ALA must approach issues professionally, I am not sure how much effect these groups will have.

Northeast Kansas Library System

I chose this blog because it’s from my hometown and was curious to read about the reactions there. I actually have never used the Overdrive service because I prefer to read my books in the physical form and just haven’t gotten around to using their music section.  I thought it was interesting that NEKLS advised libraries to temporary boycott Overdrive purchases and place HarperCollins’ works in a separate Overdrive category.  I wonder who else is advising their libraries to do the same.

It’s looking like a lot of people disagree with HC new guidelines and I am one of them.

ALA Code of Ethics

I was surprised how short the ALA Code of Ethics was, however, it seems thorough.  None of the guidelines stuck out more than another because it seems similar to SAA’s Code of Ethics.  I guess each profession needs its own.  Since the MLA’s Code of Ethics isn’t assigned anymore, I may have to read it on my own just to see how it comes to ALA’s.

“Creating a Library Assignment Workshop for University Faculty” by Mosley

This article examines problems with the lack of communication between teachers and librarians in dealing with assignments and describes how to go about fixing these issues with a workshop. The author goes into detail the planning, activities, and executions to make this workshop successful.  All I can say is wow. I could not believe how much work and planning went into this workshop. There are just so many details I didn’t even think about and will be useful when planning my one-shot workshop.

Week 7--The Halfway Point

Class

As usual I enjoyed class especially our guess speaker, Vicki Brown from the Ann Arbor District Library.  She discussed book clubs, tips, and various trends occurring.  In addition, she informed the class that the AADL assembles bags called “Book Clubs to Go.”  These bags contain the basic essentials required to hold a book club—multiple copies of the book, discussion question/notes, and the movie version of the book if available.  I did not know about this resource and am so excited to try it out that I am currently picking out a few options for my personal book club.  It’s hard because there are so many choices!

In addition to our guest speaker, we discussed the return of our blogger issue assignment, our upcoming book club assignment, and Socratic seminars.  Socratic seminars require deep critical thinking that help people (students in particular) to truly understand a document/writing/artwork, etc.  While leaders head up the discussion, they do not share their opinion.  They let the group come to their own conclusions.

At the end of class, a few “lucky” classmates (not me!) demonstrated the process of how the Socratic seminar worked.  Kristin asked each member of the seminar a question based on the Darnton’s article we read and they formulated their opinion.  While I am a fan of the Socratic seminar in academic settings, I am not for book club purposes.  I feel that the direct questions make people feel uncomfortable and can be intimidating, which is not the atmosphere I wish to conduct a book club discussion in.  I believe it should be relaxed and inviting not inquisitive.

Readings

My book club chose a short narrative by Edgar Allan Poe called " The Cask of Amontillado." After reading other selections for this week it fits in well for our book club.

 

“A Good Man Is Hard To Find”

I must admit this story did not turn out the way I anticipated it to. It starts off as a regular short story about a talkative grandmother and her family taking a short vacation to Florida; however, this narrative turns deadly. I am interested in hearing other group members’’ take and perhaps meaning behind the plot.

“The Imp of the Perverse”

It looks like another group also chose a work by Edgar Allen Poe.  Being familiar with Poe’s work and genre, I am expecting grimness and death to occur throughout the story.  I am not disappointed.  Though having read several of Poe’s works, I have not read this one in particular before.  I did find it more complex than some of Poe’s other stories.  I wonder if others felt the same way?

“Roosts”

The picture that appeared with the story was creepy enough even without ever reading the story!  I must admit I am slightly confused at the ending of the story.  Why weren’t things “the same again after that?”  Why were these birds going there to die? So many questions!

This book club should be interesting since all of these stories seem to share similar themes, which should provide stimulating discussions.  While I find thrilling stories, well, thrilling, I dislike how they end without explanations.  I always wish for more information and understanding—not left to ponder my own conclusions.  I am curious to the insights of others and their comprehension of these readings.  Maybe they can provide answers to my questions.

Week 6

Readings

Hoffert “Book Clubs”

Book clubs have evolved over the years. Thematic approach allows readers to read books that possess the same themes instead of everyone reading the same book.  This appeals to people who normally do not attend book clubs, but might enjoy the topic.  Another aspect that’s different is linking books with other media such as plays, movies and videoconference.  These new clubs attract not only the avid reader as before, but also new people.  They build a community.

It’s funny, one of my not-for-schools book I reading mentions how cool it is to be in a book club now a days.  I thought this was interesting because we are talking about it in class now and the book was written less than a year ago.  I’m in a book club now and I think they are fun even if we’re pretty traditional.  I’m always looking for an excuse to read more. J

Metzger, Margaret. "Teaching reading: beyond the plot."

In this article high school students were have a difficult time understanding complex text; therefore, Margaret Metzger, a high school teacher, modified the Socratic Seminar to help.  A Socratic Seminar is a focused discussion made up of a group of students that revolve around a specific text.  Student takes turns voicing their opinions, ideas, and questions based on their interpretation of the material with little or no interference from the teacher.  It took a few tries and alteration of executions, but in the end Margaret Metzger found that the students were able to understand the material better.  Being engaged allows for more absorption and comprehension in learning settings.

I mentioned this is my last blog, but I had a teacher who used the Socratic Seminar and it really facilitated the learning processes.  I’m not much of a debater but they were always interesting discussions.  I wish more teachers implemented this method.

Lynda Tredway “Socratic Seminars: Engaging Students in Intellectual Discourse”

With the Socratic Seminar students develop their critical thinking skills and bounce their ideas and questions off of one and another.  As the article states students participate in active learning, therefore, should retain more information.  Students also develop their vocabulary, text analysis, and interpretative and comparative reading (27).  In addition to the educational benefits, students gain self-worth and esteem.

Teachers have slightly different roles as a seminar leader.  They are not just pushing the information out to students in hopes that it gets absorbed.  Instead they guide students to

1.       A deeper and clarified consideration  of the ideas of the text

2.       A respect for varying points of view

3.       Adherence to and respect of the seminar process (28)

My favorite part of this article is the end.  It says that the schools primary purpose is to prepare “thoughtful citizens for active involvement in a democratic society” (29).  The Socratic Seminar is supposed to facilitate that.  I think it just might…

Class

I have to admit I was kind of drained during class since I had lots of homework due this week; however, the cheesy, old Valentine’s Day cards perked me up.  Normally, I think I recap well, but this week I may be lacking.

                                                                                                                                                    

We discussed transfer and how it has tied into our semester readings so far and how it applies to not only K-12 librarians, but all librarians.  After all, aren’t libraries environments where transfer is supposed to occur?  Before I only thought the idea really applied to K-12 librarians, and now I am beginning to rethink that.

We also talked about “hook questions” and Kristin used the example of how a person would do research to obtain information about cars.  Lots of good answers…

Finally, we picked partners for our book club assignment and discussed what type of material we could use.  I think we may be leaning towards a children’s book.  Yeah, I love children’s books.  I still have most of mine.

 

Week 5

Wow, so some concepts are beginning to click as I realized that many of the themes we have been learning about reoccur.  Ideas are connecting and the light bulb has turned on. J

Readings

Wiggins & McTighe’s “Put Understanding First”

This article talks about high school curriculum and the difficulty students have about trying to apply their knowledge into various problems.  The authors state that the goal of high school is not to teach students content but to prepare them for the real-world.  To do that the high school curriculum must accomplish three things:

1.       Acquire important information and skills

2.       Make meaning of that content

3.       Effectively transfer their learning to new situations both within school and beyond

These ideas of transfer, meaning, and acquisition make up the majority of the ideas in this article.  You must have these happen to be a successful learner.  Teachers need to improve their methods by incorporating the teaching methods that provide direct instruction, facilitation, and coaching.  Unfortunately, high schools teachers and/or the curriculum fail to teach in the manner needed, which causes students to not be able to achieve these goals. 

I must agree with this article.  My favorite teachers were the ones I learned from the most because they use different teaching techniques.  It seemed like it was mostly my AP teachers that went above and beyond basic lecturing.  In fact, one of my history teachers made us participate in Socratic seminars, like the article mentions, throughout the semester facilitate our learning of the material. At the time I hated them because I do not like to speak in class, but they proved extremely informative.  I also notice that Kristen also uses different methods of teaching to help with our learning.

Chapter 3 “Learning and Transfer”

The idea of transfer continues with this chapter. Certain kinds of learning experiences lead to transfer.  These are the main characteristics of learning and transfer (53):

·         Initial learning is necessary for transfer

·         Knowledge that is overly contextualized can reduce transfer

·         Transfer is best viewed as an active, dynamic process rather than a passive end-product of a particular set of learning experiences

·         All new learning involves transfer based on previous learning

Other key points from the chapter about transfer and learning are that there is a difference between understanding and memorizing, the amount of time to learn affects transferability, the content in which one learns affects it, and all new learning involves transfer.  Of course these readings wouldn’t be complete is they did have the word “meta” somewhere in it.  This week the textbook discusses the metacognitive approach.  This approach assists students to learn about themselves as learners.

Like Wiggins & McTighe’s, the textbook also agrees that “Transfer from school to everyday environments is the ultimate purpose of school-based learning” (78).  After all what is school for? Most of us won’t spend the rest of lives in a school setting (even though somedays it feels like it); therefore, we need these transfer skills to help us be successful in the real-world.   I completely agree we the readings for this week, however, I'm kind of tired of all the "meta" words. My spellcheck doesn like them all either!

Class

Last class we dicussed summative evaluation questions,  split into groups, classified sets of questions, constructed models based on our classifications then walked around looking how other groups divided the questions. We watched a video with Dr. McGonigal: gaming can make a better world. This is what she discussed:

·         We need to play more games and games are powerfuld

·         We are not as good in real life as we are in game world—we are our best selves in game world

·         Playing games build trust between people

·         Give people the power to achieve epic wins

We did a workshop survey assessment based on Dr. McGonigal's presentation and we formative assessment strategies.

All in all, not a bad night. 

Week 4

Class

In class this week we viewed a few screencast from a couple classmates and I must admit I was impressed.  I know I personally recorded mine 10 times or so before I ended up with my final product; however, the few we watched blew mine out of the water.  They were so professional and helpful.  My best didn’t even compare to theirs.  I guess I need to practice more or download software that allows me to really edit my screencast.

We also we split into groups and tried to define information literacy without the terms “use information”.  It was interesting and more difficult than originally anticipated because each one of us had different ideas what information literacy is.  Some definitions were theoretical while others were practical.  We all agreed, in the end, that “understand” should be included. 

Not to sound like a goody-goody, but each class get more interesting and informative. I've never taken a class that instructed methods of teaching.

Readings

Formative Assessment and the Design of Instructional Systems

This article discusses two main concerns--formative assessment and feedback.  The author states that even with good feedback from teachers, students’ work does not improve, therefore, formative assessment is needed.  Formative assessment can be defined as the concern "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 trail-and-error learning" (120).

In order to improve their work these things need to happen:

1. Students "must develop the capacity to monitor the quality of their own work during actual production" (119).
2. Students "have the evaluative skill necessary for them to compare with some objectivity the quality of what they are producing in relation to the higher standard" (119).
3. Students "develop a store of tactics or moves which can be drawn upon to modify their own work" (119).

In the end, there should be a move from feedback from teachers to student being self-monitoring.

I personally prefer articles that are more practical versus theoretical which is what this one was.  Maybe students do not change their work for various reasons that do not have to do with the way they judged.  For instance, in the past I’ve ignored the assessment of teachers and did not change my work because I did not feel they were right.  Some assessments are based on one’s opinion and I do not always agree with the teacher’s opinion.  In another example, I was too lazy or did not wish to make the improvement in my work.  It wasn’t worth the few extra points to exert more effort.  While I respect many of the points this article makes, I do not agree with them all.

Chapter 6: The Design of Learning Environments

This chapter assesses the four different learning environments

1.      Learner-centered environments connect students’ previous knowledge to current academic assignments.

2.      Knowledge-centered environments help students to learn skills to understand and organized knowledge.

3.      Assessment-centered environments states that feedback is important and teachers should attempt to understand their students and help them build self-assessment skills.  Formative assessments and feedback fall in this category.

4.      Community-centered environments advocate a sense of community and that everyone has similar learning values and objectives.

I have to wonder, can librarians really provide all of these things—learning environments and formative assessments?  It seems like a large job.  While these articles offer theoretical examples can these all be applied to everyday life?  It's a lot to digest.