The collaborative online learning environment created by myself, Judy and Christy I feel, overall, was successful.
Our process began with the initial teething problems: working from two different Google Docs – one that Christy had already done some work on that she shared with us via email and another one that Judy had started. The email trail proved challenging for myself and Christy so I suggested moving across to Microsoft Teams. The advantage of Teams was that all our messages were streamed on one screen and you could see replies to various threads.
The newest piece of software that I was unfamiliar with was Zoom. It timed out well however, as the move to online learning happened around the time we started collaboration and I had heard that this was a good tool to use as an alternate to Adobe Connect which I was more familiar with.
I found the online meetings most helpful. This would be a “norm” for collaborative learning that I believe should be present in a digital learning environment. Locke (2007) talks about the various spaces that are user-centred and have various functions and behaviours that are present in that space such as “group” and “participation” spaces.
In the case of our group project, it provided an opportunity to get to know each other personally and to discuss the ideas we had all had individually about how we wanted to approach the project. It was an opportunity to ask questions and get clarification on understanding which I felt was important if we wanted to create a cohesive module. This was particularly important as at one key point in the process there were differences in understanding as to who our audience would be and how evaluation using the Quality Teaching Framework was going to be embedded into the modules. To combat this Christy adapted the template that Julie had provided for us as a Google doc to help get clarification and streamline what each of us was doing which I felt was a good strategy.
In terms of the school environment, online meetings would be vital in building relationships to ensure that students can feel as though they can be open and learn from one another as “co-learners” safely and responsibly (Rheingold, 2016, para 1). This is fundamental in a face to face context so developing those parameters online would also be important.
Building the online collaborative learning into a school environment would also need to be collectively designed by the school community – executive, teachers, students and community to ensure there is some consistency across the digital learning environments, a fluidity between formal and informal learning spaces and enough room for personalisation both for the teacher and student.
Individuals are always going to have a preference as to what they like to use in terms of digital tools and the ways in which they prefer to collaborate (just like learning styles) so it may be difficult to make everyone happy all of the time. As evidenced by our recent move to online learning, the diversity of tools and the variety of styles we have used should, hopefully, in the long term, make our students (and teachers) more versatile in their online collaborations and therefore better able to learn from each other within a digital world as long as collaborative discussion is embedded within this practice.
This is the digital artefact I made on referencing for senior students. I used Adobe Spark, H5p and Wordle. I also sourced my images from attribution free sites such as Pexels and Flickr.
In this post I have summarised the key learnings I have obtained from my two years in the Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) degree. I have broken the reflection into three parts: Part A – Statement of personal philosophy, Part B – A discussion of key ideas facing Teacher Librarians and Part C – A personal reflection and evaluation on how my practice thus far reflects the professional Teacher Librarian standards.
Part A – Statement of Personal Philosophy
The role of the Teacher Librarian is to lead and advocate for a school culture whereby language, reading, writing, expression and information literacy are valued. They are an information specialist who is committed to ensuring students are both information literate and striving to improve. They must develop strong interpersonal relationships with staff, students and the community to ensure programs are delivered that are reflective of the syllabus requirements, innovative in their design and engage students in higher order thinking and experiential learning that will encourage a deeper understanding of information literacy. The development of the physical and virtual collection, the library space as well as teaching and learning resources should include cutting edge technologies so as to reflect best practice and support quality teaching. The Teacher Librarian is the vital connection in ensuring that the library becomes and remains the central learning hub within a school.
Part B – Critical Evaluation of Learning
Through my study in the Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) course I have come to believe that the role of the Teacher Librarian can be broken down into three key areas: teaching, collection management and leadership. As such in choosing to discuss three themes I have guided my discussion around these key points.
Teaching: Guided Inquiry and Information Literacy
Fundamentally, I believe, a good Teacher Librarian must be a good teacher first. I have felt this very strongly in my year as Relieving Teacher Librarian at my school. Looking back on one of my very early blog posts it is evident how much my thoughts on this have changed. The ASLA/ALIA teaching standards outline the guidelines by which the TLs practices must be founded and so many of them come back to the fundamentals of good pedagogy such as: “Excellent teacher librarians thoroughly understand how all learners develop and apply lifelong learning skills and strategies.” (Australian Library and Information Association [ALIA], 2004).
ETL 401 was pivotal in gaining an understanding of information literacy and the guided inquiry model. Familiarising myself once again with the Australian Curriculum and the cross curriculum priorities was also valuable as I found that by engaging with these it gave greater meaning, purpose and value to the Australian Curriculum in the context of the NSW curriculum in which I work.
Floridi (2007) discusses the information landscape and the various modes in which it is delivered: both digital and physical formats. The breadth of this information and the rate at which new information becomes available means that it is a complex and evolving landscape that needs to be navigated effectively (Combes & Valli, 2007). Thus the role of the Teacher Librarian in ensuring the skills needed to navigate these landscapes is taught. Guided inquiry’s constructivist approach provides students with an opportunity to learn how to judge the quality of information, find a way through complex and disparate sources, formulate their own focus, the answer to their own questions and to transform information into knowledge.
We looked at different models including the ISP process and how it is embedded into the guided inquiry model:
ETL 504 and its focus on leadership has also been valuable in shifting the awareness and attitudes towards the library and its place in supporting the teaching and learning of teachers and students. I have worked closely with the Head Teacher Secondary Studies and teachers of “Future Focused Learning” to redevelop the programs for our inquiry based units in Year 7 and 8 so that they are modelled on guided inquiry. This is the first phase of a whole school introduction of this model across the school.
EER 500’s scaffolding on how to research a question of interest was valuable, particularly in the early stages when we were completing the first and second assignment because it modelled fundamental research strategies that are useful when starting an assignment. I have then replicated these in my own teaching of the research process.
INF 532 helped me to appreciate the value of several web based tools that can be used to design and create resources that may be useful when delivering teaching and learning programs to students. In this unit I considered the nature of learning in the digital age and how the near unlimited resources have also had the ability to connect learners with others, a valuable skill when participating in inquiry learning. Students have been cultivating minds, seeing other students as resources and have been figuring out how to learn from each other. As such there is now a bridge between two worlds: the public and information based and the personal and structured (Thomas & Brown, 2011, p. 17-18). As such we looked at flexible and digital learning environments, MOOCs and sharing of resources as a way for students to learn and how the teacher is able to facilitate this.
My understanding of collection development has certainly expanded due to my study in ETL 503 and ETL 505. It is probably the one part of the role that is the most new and unfamiliar. Therefore I’m struggling to find an approach that works.
Cataloguing in ETL 505 was challenging but I appreciate how fundamental it is in understanding how to approach the organisation of the collection. It is important to reflect upon and evaluate the collection regularly because user needs change and the collection needs to maintain relevance if it is to be used. (Kennedy, 2006) Of particular focus in my practice has been deselection. My school’s fiction collection has not been weeded in over three years so it was important to be strategic in how I approached this with my staff. When on my Study Visit in Canberra earlier this year, one of the Librarians at The Australian National University was very practical in her approach to weeding and reminded us all that “part of a librarian’s heart is cold and black” and must be when weeding if the collection is to remain relevant and useful. I also had to explain this to the school staff as they saw trolley loads of books being taken to the skip bin or being sold at the bargain bin price of 50 cents. I tried to make light of it as many staff were mortified at the thought of books being thrown in the bin. I found this clip quite helpful:
SCIS Subject Headings was also something I found challenging. I feel it is valuable that all schools work within a “controlled language approach” (Schools Catalogue and Information Service [SCIS], 2016, pg 1) for subject access to the catalogue as it makes it transferable across schools and easier for students. There was a considerable amount of metalanguage that was also difficult to grasp. However, in my day to day workings as a TL I have been pushing for greater use of the search terminal, Oliver, and as such I have had to model how to search the catalogue and the benefit of subject headings in helping students to find resources, so without this subject I would have struggled to teach it.
My colleagues and I have had many discussions about the genrefication of the collection and the advantages and disadvantages of doing this. Whilst no firm decisions have been made in this regard I have lead the development of a new section called “Quick Reads.” This simple adjustment of the collection has already begun to attract “non-readers” who are trying to find “their kind of book” (Stiles, 2004, p 32).
This blog post highlights my learning and understanding of collection development. Much of that learning still holds true now. Writing the collection development policy for my school has been helpful in relation to this as it has provided a framework from which to consistently revise the collection and deselect anything that is not current. Writing the strategic directions was also useful. We wrote a direction that focused on developing the collection to ensure that it is current and useful to students and staff. I am still learning the intricacies of each of the KLA’s syllabi and have been working closely with Head Teacher and teaching staff to ensure the collection development policy and therefore collection, reflect their needs.
Lastly in this area of my practice, the development of the virtual collection has been a challenge. The library must ‘dismantle its walls’ and use the wider networked world as its new teaching space, rather than staying in its paper-based world (Lee, 2012). I conducted a survey with staff and students to ascertain their interest and willingness to use virtual resources. We have conducted several ebook/audiobook trials through Wheelers as well as a database trial with JSTOR. I have no firm perspective on this as yet and am still working to ascertain the benefits from staff but I am continuing to engage in discussion with various networks in order to keep abreast of ways in which to develop this area of our collection.
Leadership: The Role of the Teacher Librarian
ETL 504 was particularly influential for me throughout this degree. It held a great deal of resonance this year as I have relieved in the Teacher Librarian role in my school. It helped me to find a new vision, focus and motivation as I had become stale in my teaching practice and my desire to make a difference to young people. As such, it really helped to reinvigorate my teaching, how I view my role in public education and how I want the Teacher Librarian role to be viewed. It highlighted for me the shift that information professionals are trying to push for that moves the Teacher Librarian out of the familiar stereotypes and into the 21st Century.
Key ideas in ETL 504 that I came to reflect upon in my learning included the diverse range of management styles and the complexities of working with a diverse range of people. Working with the Principal is a key aspect of leadership of the library as this collaboration, if done well, should ensure support for initiatives and promotion of the library and its value within a school (Haycock, 2007, p31).
It highlighted for me the necessity for the Teacher Librarian to be visible, model best practice, contribute to committees and provide professional development for staff. To ensure they maintain an evidenced based practice to validate the vision, goals and strategies they are implementing. To effectively lead change the Teacher Librarian needs to understand the present culture and work towards creating new values and vision with like-minded staff. Additionally, leading from the middle was something I felt could help with this as it would be good to draw out the leadership capabilities of the staff because there is something “about the power we all have to build something together that none of us can accomplish on our own” (Gottlieb, 2012, para 26). Ultimately however, to advocate for the library requires leadership and through advocacy comes stronger leadership skills (Toor and Weisberg, 2011, pg 28).
I have taken a very active approach in my role as Relieving Teacher Librarian to raise the profile of the library within the school. This has involved me being a constant, engaged presence in staff rooms by attending faculty meetings, participating in collegial discussion about their information literacy and collection needs and considering how best to facilitate that through team teaching. I have begun to involve the Principal and Deputy Principal in discussions about the planned changes for the library including the development of a collection development policy, strategic directions and professionally develop them as to the expectations they should have for the new generation of librarians. I have been working to raise the profile of the library through its student leaders. The Library Leader program has the students not only volunteering their time in the library several times a week but also that service being recognised on their school report.
Part C – Personal Reflection and Evaluation
In reflecting on the ALIA/ASLA professional standards, I feel I have demonstrated an ability to address these in the following ways:
Professional Knowledge
I have actively sought the opportunity to develop teaching and learning programs in the Library. Utilising my understanding of guided inquiry and information literacy from ETL 401, I have revised and redeveloped the teaching and learning programs in Year 7 Future Focused Learning and Year 8 Project Based Learning to more effectively follow a guided inquiry model. Additionally, I have produced a series of lessons explicitly teaching research and referencing skills to select classes in various KLAs across Stages 4-6.
I have demonstrated a capacity to learn and lead the use of new and cutting edge technologies to deliver teaching and learning programs that reflect best practice and support quality teaching. INF 532 was particularly useful in developing these skills. I familiarised myself with new web based tools that I could add to my existing technology experience and as such implemented a number of innovative methods of curriculum delivery designed to improve student engagement for 21st Century learners. This has included redeveloping the online search terminal, implementing maker spaces and engaging with teachers and students in their classrooms through the BYOD program.
Professional Practice
I have actively sought out ways to develop and embed the library as a central learning hub within the school. I led professional development seminars for staff on accessing credible websites and databases and the APA referencing system whilst working in their classroom. I also undertook team teaching with various KLA teachers. I redesigned the layout of Oliver to include more specific, topical reading lists from which students could source credible information.
I have demonstrated highly developed interpersonal skills with a proven ability to work collaboratively within a team to support the development of high quality teaching and learning programs in the library. I am able to determine key content from the syllabus across KLAs and integrate technology across the breadth of curriculum. This has been through a collegial approach with Head Teachers and teaching staff. I have designed these for a range of performance and learning styles as well as a range of abilities including those with special learning needs through to gifted and talented students.
I have lead the upgrade of library facilities and physical resources.
The recent renovation of the library has presented challenges in terms of space and resources. Through my learning in ETL 504 I have lead the library staff in ensuring the library remains a positive, inviting space that is flexible to the needs of the staff and students during this time.
I have successfully lead the design and delivery of a library survey for staff and students to ascertain what the strengths and weaknesses of the library were in relation to the collection and services offered. A collection development policy, library handbook and strategic directions for 2020-2023 including a mission and vision statement have been developed in collaboration with the Head Teacher Secondary Studies, Principal and library staff to create improved transparency and accountability for all staff working in the library. My work from ETL 503 was imperative in gaining an understanding of these areas in order to implement these strategies.
Other initiatives introduced in collaboration with various staff and students included: a book fair, student resource recommendation slips, student reviews, displays, an improved library leaders program, reader’s advisory, pop-up library, reading circles, book club, refinement of the library collection to enhance diversity and support the school’s DEAR initiative and PRC all of which have enhanced the profile of the library within the school.
Professional Commitment
I feel my actions in the above two areas have demonstrated that I am a hard working information specialist who is committed to extending my capabilities as a teacher and my commitment to the profession. That being said, I can continue to develop my knowledge and practice by extending my networks and drawing on and contributing to these to develop programs within the library. I also aim through my enthusiasm, dedication, care and commitment to build on school strategies and teach students the relevant skills they need to become independent and mature young people and to support this with relevant and engaging resources. I will strive to continue to develop and expand the library to continue to effectively support students and their differentiated learning needs.
The Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) course has been a worthwhile learning experience. At times it has been very demanding, particularly when juggling full time work, family and friends. I feel the long term benefits will outweigh these short term challenges however and allow me to have a new range of skills that I can contribute to my teaching for years to come.
Combes, B. & Valli, R. (2007). Fiction and the 21st century: a new paradigm? Cyberspace, D-world, e-learning: giving libraries and schools the cutting edge. The 2007 IASL Conference, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
Floridi, L. (2007) A Look into the Future Impact of ICT on Our Lives. The Information Society, 23(1), 59-64, doi: 10.1080/01972240601059094
Stiles, L. (2004). Shelf Shifters. School Library Journal 50(9), 32. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lih&AN=14407881&site=ehost-live
Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). Arc-of-Life learning. In A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change (pp. 17-33). Lexington, KY: CreateSpace
Toor, R., Weisburg, H. K., & Walter, V. A. (2010). Being indispensable : A school librarian’s guide to becoming an invaluable leader (epdf). Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Based on your reading of the case studies and exploration of learning artefacts as provided by Tolisano (2011-2013) and Miller (2012-2014), choose ONE of these ideas and critically reflect on your blog. Find other student blog posts and interact with their ideas by leaving a comment or two.
The interplay between formal and informal learning across the physical and digital classroom environments
Ways you see these connected educators successfully build on knowledge networking to strengthen school-based classroom engagement and learning as part of instructional design
I decided to look at the case study on Tolisano’s work as I could see some connections between informal and formal learning across the digital and physical environments. In terms of being a connected educator, Tolisano knew what was going on in classrooms within her school, namely what the 4th Grade teacher was doing. The 4th Grade Teacher was also a connected educator because she was using her class blog to share work with the community and other educators. Tolisano meanwhile, saw an opportunity to strengthen school-based classroom engagement as part of the instructional design and went about setting up a Skype meeting with an author whose book had featured as part of the original post from the 4th grade teacher. Another activity was the rewriting of existing poems by Mike Fisher.
From here I noted a highly structured and collaborative approach to conducting the Skype calls. Some formal lessons that took place included the structuring of interview questions, developing interview technique, reflective writing and feedback on this writing. Informally they were also developing their netiquette, body language and articulation of ideas. Different methods of collating the information were used including writing/typing notes, posting tweets and even drawing. There was little discussion about grades and marks.
By incorporating the Skype call into the instructional design, it created a dynamic classroom that appeared busy but active in the technology and collaborative skills being used. It also seemed reasonably simple to set up because all of those connections and tools were at the teacher’s fingertips.
We were asked by our lecturer to provide a critique on our own knowledge network artefact that I had to create and submit for Assignment 2. We were also asked to critique our peers so I have included those here as well.
I have used the rationale and learning opportunities from the Subject Outline to help guide my critique.
Through the creation of the Knowledge Networking Artefact I should have been able to demonstrate:
The life-cycle of information, its history and its future:
I think I did this in a broad way. My artefact was about digital content curation and was aimed at senior students. Creating the video for the students demonstrated that I am aware that the information space online is vast and deep and thus why content curation is an essential skill in managing this.
Be able to locate and evaluate a range of innovative online tools and spaces for creative knowledge production and learner engagement and be able to use a suite of new media tools for information management, content creation, content curation, collaborative work, and connecting social networks and communities of practice within and beyond the school.
I think this was one of the stronger aspects of my artefact. I took guidance from my lecturer as I really wasn’t aware of what was current in this area. I am reasonably confident with webtools so using the various sites such as Powtoon, Vimeo, Pexels, Pixabay, CCMixer, Screencastify etc did not scare me. They certainly frustrated me at times as I was trying to put the video together but it came together in the end. I learnt that I didn’t know everything about the tools and that I needed to ask help earlier. I didn’t love the overall aesthetic that the stock images and sound created but it served its function. I tried to let my perfectionist tendencies go and just try to accept that what I was producing was OK. I’m not sure that it would be the most visually appealing or engaging for my students but I would still put it out there for them to watch and give me feedback on. I think my level of narration was a little general and probably needed to go into a little more depth to really capture an understanding of knowledge networking and content curation.
Be able to describe and critique the interplay between formal and informal learning in physical and digital venues, and approaches such as the flipped classroom.
The artefact was in many ways a resource for the flipped classroom. It was an opportunity to teach a concept in a formal setting and to then have it be referred to informally when the students were at home studying or content curating themselves. It could be used in the physical classroom or only used online. The fact that it crosses classroom boundaries makes it a successful tool.
Be able to build on knowledge networking to strengthen school-based classroom engagement and learning through intentional and reflective online instructional design.
I tried to use Gagne’s 9 steps for instructional design but I’m not sure how successful I was at providing students with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills. I think much of that would come later, after the video had been shown. The first steps of the process were clearly established in the aretfact. I think if I had to make the video again I would refine the second half to have more direction on getting the students to do their own curation. I would include more detailed narration overall as I’m not sure that I effectively captured my understanding of knowledge networking.
Karen’s Knowledge Networking Artefact
Karen’s artefact was also on content curation. She utilised creative commons images and music and a range of tools to convey the concept of content curation to vocational educators. It was clear who her audience was throughout the video. Her narration was quite detailed and I could tell that it evidenced readings from the course. It was well paced and clear. It covered a range of skills required to be an effective curator and showed this through a range of different platforms. The visuals were engaging and dynamic so that I felt compelled to follow along with what she was saying.
Tanya’s Knowledge Networking Artefact
Tanya’s artefact was an introduction to Twitter. It used Powtoon and Screencastify to explain how to use this to an audience. A bit like my own artefact, the audience wasn’t always clear throughout. She explained each step and shared some interesting hashtags that I had not heard of before (#ditchbook). Her narration was clear throughout and was an accessible video for those new to Twitter.
For this blog post I need to address the following questions:
How do McClure and Rheingold’s views on network literacy differ? What do you see as having changed between these authors’ definitions of being ‘network literate’?
How important are networks? For professional educators? For students? For rethinking teaching, learning and assessment?
McClure (1994) defines network literacy as “the ability to identify, access, and use electronic information from the network.” He says that it consists of knowledge and skills. The knowledge required is that of being aware of a range of networked information resources and services, understand the role of this information in problem solving and performing basic life activities as well as an understanding of how information is generated, managed and made available. The skills required include being able to retrieve specific types of information using information discovery tools, manipulate information by combining it with other existing information so as to increase the value of the information for particular situations and analyse and use information to resolve workplace and personal decisions and obtain services that will enhance their overall quality of life.
Rheingold’s views on network literacy are a little bit different. He draws on several researchers to convey his argument. The key points from Lesig that he highlights are that structure matters. Programming codes are created and evolve once created. Governments have power over these structures. Architecture (programming and legal) confers control. He considers whether or not the networks will be centralised or decentralised and therefore what kind of content is being made available to people. This connects with McClure’s definition as he states that being aware of a range of networked information resources and services is important however what quality of information resources and services can be accessed may impact on the ability to make workplace and personal decisions. The key points from Reed that he highlights are: that the value of networks changes with the way that networks are used. Reed refers to Sarnoff, the creator of the Radio Corporation of America, who said that the value of the network is dependent upon the number of receivers. That the few to many principle means it has more significance, that the collective of networks has more value than a network on its own. This then links to creating social capital which Rheingold sees as being the ease at which people can get things done together unlike a more individual approach by McClure’s definition. Rheingold’s definition sees a merging between social networks and technical aspects. It focuses on the collective and how having mutual interests is also key to ensuring that networks grow faster. From this the value and quality of the content changes so then networks are producing better resources.
In thinking about the importance of networks for educators and students it is evident that aspects of understanding and application can only improve when part of a wider collective. By reconsidering the value of networks there is potential for greater connection with others which could change the dynamic of learning and assessment.
I made it through my first semester of study in 15 years in June.
I have just begun this new semester and am planning on taking a similar approach to last semester with the assignments and modules, however I really want to improve on my blogging and reflection.
Last semester I didn’t establish a good habit in which to do this. This was reflected in my results. I think the bigger impact though, was that I could have developed deeper knowledge through my reflections. Consolidated my learning a bit better.
So my new approach is to try to be a little more frequent in my posting. They may not be particularly long and may not always reference a reading. I just want to get into a better habit first and foremost and then I’ll look at developing the quality of my posts.
