Introduction to Teacher Librarianship has greatly expanded my understanding of information literacy and the central role of TLs in Australian school libraries as they evolve and adapt to the digital information landscape.
Understanding how learners relate to information as experience and the ways this experience can be shaped and cultivated through creative and considerate design by TLs has been illuminating. Realising the impact TLs can have on the emotional development of learners by giving visibility to the meta-cognitive process that support effective information literacy has equally impacted my approach towards the role. Likewise, the demonstrable benefits of just how much can be achieved through collaborative approaches to study design and embedding information literacy across the curriculum has broadened my attitudes and perspectives. Certainly, the knowledge and skills I have acquired have instilled a sense of empowerment in my practice and inspired a desire to engage greater in developing information architecture design and advocating and implementing accessibility in Australian schools through the role of TL.
In an early blog post, I discuss the anxieties of navigating an information landscape in constant flux and the substantial responsibility TLs have for guiding students entering into such a chaotic environment. Learning more about methods of phenomenography and the way this can be used to create and cultivate the ways learners experience information inspired my interest to learn more about the intersection of User Experience design (UX) and the practices of TLs. The most significant realisation that I have come to is the complexity of designing learning environments that reflect the substantial diversity in the way learners experience information. Designing learning experiences and environments that are accessible and inclusive to all has become a unifying ethic in my practice as a TL.
It has been revitalising as an educator to realise the role TLs can play in helping learners to access information through higher order thinking while developing critical and creative literacies. In Forum 3.1, I share my enthusiasm at the opportunity to develop in areas of professional practice related to the designing learning sequences that facilitate learners accessing and engaging with information in ways that encourage critical thinking. Understanding the emotional dimensions of Guided Inquiry Design, in particular the focus given on fostering a sense of wonder and curiosity in learners was refreshing and challenged me to work more compassionately.
While engaging with GID, I confront the realities of why this approach to learning has not been implemented equally across Australian schools here. Evident in the process of designing the GID unit was the opportunity to embed formative assessment strategies to inform and respond to the needs of learners in a way that fosters relationships that support learning. I am convinced students facing the largest gaps in literacy and understanding benefit most greatly from such engaged practices. I now believe that TLs can play a transformative role through active promotion of inquiry learning that is necessary in ensuring the egalitarian values of Australian society are upheld in education.
My blog post from May 2 describes my developing understanding of the value that TLs can add to institutional goals and outcomes informed by recent advocacy in the Australian context. After completing the design of an inquiry unit of work, one can fully appreciate the need for collaborative approaches to planning and delivery of effective teaching and learning that allows students access to fully engage in the digital information landscape. To reach this full potential, I can now see the need for TLs to be active and connected in fostering relationships throughout the school community and how this is, in the end, the most student-centred approach. I expressed these sentiments earlier in the 4.2 forum.
In forum post 6.1 I expressed my active interest in developing skills related to information architecture design as path in my development as a TL. I believe it is critical for TLs to support schools as information experts, and the importance of engaging with emerging technologies in the interest of informed practice through data analysis but also in creating and curating the spaces and dimensions where young people are experiencing the formation of their foundational relationships with information.