Part B: Critical Reflection

In terms of the role of the school library as an information centre, I suggested the creation of a makerspace in a primary school library for my assessment 1: Library Services Design Proposal. The assessment gave me a chance to think about how library services are able to meet the needs of the school community challenged by the developments and changes of information technology. In addition to it, assessment 2: Library Research Guide and Reflective gave me a more practical way to create a pathfinder and reflect on what I have learned from this subject.

The pathfinder I created was for the Year 3 classes looking at Rainforests as part of a Science subject. While I was selecting websites to include them in the pathfinder, I realised that Schrock’s website evaluation of 5W’s (who, what, when, where and why) was very practical and informative. It is important for teacher librarians to teach students how to evaluate websites with ‘the 5W’s of web site evaluation’ created by Schrock (2018) to find relevant and appropriate digital resources.

A pathfinder is ‘a path guiding students as they navigate the complex world of the information age” and it “helps students to develop their information-seeking strategies”. (Kuntz, 2003, p.1-2) The information technology is utilised to create pathfinders which contain print and digital resources/formats to support resource-based, independent learning by students. The roles of teacher librarians are to support students “by guiding them through the gridlock of the information highway” and to assist them “in the development of effective search strategies”. (Kuntz, 2003, p.3)

In terms of Web 2.0 impact on education in today’s schools, Daniel Murphy (2020), in his forum post, states that the 21^st century skills of problem solving, creativity, collaboration and communication can be enhanced and developed in the digital space using Web 2.0 tools. Daniel Murphy (2020) also states that teacher librarians cannot afford to ignore Web 2.0 tools because ignoring Web 2.0 tools means ignoring part of the Curriculum and ICT Capability. We can see the impact of digital learning environment using Web 2.0 tools in today’s schools.

For the development of students’ information literacy in the digital learning environment, students as 21^st century learners are required to develop essential skills which identify appropriate resources, locate relevant information and curate the information, construct their knowledge and create high quality products. (Australian Library and Information Association, 2016, p.1-2) One of the information literacy models is Guided Inquiry Design Process (GIDP) created by Kuhlthan, Maniotes, and Caspari (2012). In my blog post, The roles of the TL in Guided Inquiry (ETL 401, 2019), I described that the three main roles of the TL in Guided Inquiry are ‘resource specialist, information literacy teacher and collaboration gatekeeper’. (Kuhlthan, Maniotes, and Caspari, 2007, p.57)

To become a 21^st century TL, I will need to be a resource specialist and information literacy teacher. Creating a pathfinder for the Year 3 classes gave me extended knowledge and understanding of the use of pathfinders to teach students curriculum subjects. I will create and use pathfinders with relevant and current resources to support students’ learning and teachers’ teaching the curriculum subjects through information resources. (IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2015, p.35)

References

Australian Library and Information Association. (2016). Statement on information literacy.  Retrieved from https://www.asla.org.au/policy/information-literacy.aspx

Daniel Murphy (2020, August 21). Forum 4:4.1 Web 2.0 impact and opportunity [online discussion comment]. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website: https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_47579_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_94201_1&forum_id=_202390_1&message_id=_3199630_1

Eun Hee Kim (2019, May 11). The roles of the TL in Guided Inquiry [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/eunhee/2019/05/11/the-roles-of-the-tl-in-guided-inquiry/

The IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee. (2015). IFLA School Library Guidelines. (2nd ed). USA: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.

Kuhlthau, C.C., Maniotes, K.L., &Caspari, K.A. (2007). Guided learning: Learning in the 21^st century. London: Libraries Unlimited.

Kuntz, K. (2003). Pathfinders: Helping students find paths to information. Multimedia & Internet @ Schools, 10(3). Retrieved from https://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/may03/kuntz.shtml

Schrock, K. (2018). The 5W’s of web site evaluation. Retrieved from https://www.schrockguide.net/critical-evaluation.html

The definition of a learning object (LO) is “an item, digital or non-digital, that may be used for learning. An LO is often described as being reusable”. (Bales, 2020) It is important fot the TL to provide a range of LOs to meet the curriculum requirements for students’ learning and teachers’ teaching. To do so, I would like to update my knowledge of new LOs by attending PD, sharing information with other librarians and researching LOs.

Reference

Bales, J. (2020). Learning objects. In Learning resources [ETL 501_202060 Module 5: Learning resources]. Retrieved from  Charles Sturt University website: https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_47579_1&content_id=_3640394_1

Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) products such as i-phones and personal computers enable students to access class content at home and be prepared to answer questions at school and it helps teachers to have more time to work with students individually. (Teaching in Education, 2017, June 20) This flipped learning could influence teachers and teacher librarians to be equipped with good skills in curating resources and using technology to deliver class content and library research investigations. Good impacts of flipped learning are that students are better prepared to apply what they have already learned at home to class discussion, collaborative and independent learning and extension activities at school. (Earp, 2016, February 3)

References

Earp, J. (2016, February 3). Homework culture key to flipped learning success. Teacher. https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/articles/homework-culture-key-to-flipped-learning-success

Teachings in Education. (2017, June 20). Flipped classroom model: Why, how and overview [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/BCIxikOq73Q

When I become a TL in the future, I would like to use a blog to share the school library news with staff, students and the school community. Whenever they visit a school library news blog, they will be informed of library times, upcoming events, book fairs and so on. The advantages of blogging are that it makes posting, updating online news and promoting events easy, but it requires blogs to be updated frequently and regularly. (Farkas, 2007, p.30)

Reference

Farkas, M. G. (2007). Social software in libraries: Building collaboration, communication, and community online. USA: Information Today, Inc.

It is not easy to choose between print and electronic formats because each format has its own strengths and weaknesses. Stewart (2000) states that selection criteria can help a selector to compare both information formats and make decisions to choose and purchase which format. (p.96) The traditional selection criteria are to evaluate “the content of the material; its coverage, intended audience and quality, including the reliability, accuracy and currency of the information; the authority of the author and publisher, the cost of the resource” and “the format or features that add value to the title”. (Stewart, 2000, p.83)

According to Stewart (2000), “the complexity of electronic resources” raises additional selection issues including “technology in the library, desired access method, overlap between indexed publications and the library’s collection, service implications, archival concerns” and “availability of information about new products”. (p.87) I do not work as a teacher librarian at the moment, but I would like to apply the traditional selection criteria and additional selection issues suggested by Stewart (2000) when choosing which information format to purchase. I learned that it is important to choose information resources according to their contents, not their formats. (Stewart, 2000, p.95)

Reference

Stewart, L. A. (2000). Choosing between print and electronic resources. The Reference Librarian, 34(71), 79-97.  https://doi.org/10.1300/J120v34n71_07

Website Evaluation Criteria

 References

Bales, J. (2020). Critical evaluation for Teacher Librarians. In Print versus digital information resources. [S-ETL501_202060 module2]. Retrieved from Charles Sturt University website: https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_47579_1&content_id=_3640379_1

McLachlan, K. (2002). Cyberguide Ratings. Retrieved from: http://cuberbee.com/content.pdf

The types of reference sources are encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs and yearbooks, atlases, handbooks and manuals, biographical sources, and guides to other sources (indexes, abstracts, bibliographies and concordances). (Farmer, 2014, p.54-61) Farmer (2014) recommends middle school libraries to have a class set of almanacs to “teach data analysis skills”. (p.57) Also, he insists that high school students should be taught “how to use indexes, abstracts, bibliographies, and concordances” because these tools help to use other reference sources. (Farmer, 2014, p.60)

Although it is convenient to use online maps, school libraries are encouraged to keep a class set of a student atlas version “to teach map-reading skills”. (Farmer, 2014, p.58) The factors influencing the decision on which format (physical or digital or both) to choose are access vs ownership, degree of access, ease of use, features, need for supporting equipment and staff, need for timeliness, stability and archiving requirements, special needs and cost. (Farmer, 2014, p.67) Reference users can use any type of print and digital reference sources based on their needs as long as they can have answers for their searches.

Reference

Chapter 4: Developing resource collections, in
Farmer, L. S. J. (2014). Introduction to reference and information services in today’s school library. Rowman & Littlefield.

ETL501 | Module 1: Teaching & Learning

Bloom’s Questioning and Resourcing

My thoughts on Bloom’s questioning and resourcing

Based on the Taxonomy of Bloom (Knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation), Kathy Schrock (2017) assembled many different kinds of online tools to support Bloom’s revised Taxonomy. (Creating, Evaluating, Analysing, Applying, Understanding and Remembering) Our teacher librarians could use Web 2.0 tools to support students’ learning and teachers’ teaching.

Reference

Schrock, K. (2017). Bloomin’ apps. Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything. Retrieved from https://www.schrockguide.net/bloomin-apps.html