Harris discusses how we live in an era of “information saturation” and that “the proliferation of low-quality content is the latest, possibly greatest threat to student researchers” (2011, p.31). This has implications for teachers and teacher librarians (TLs) when guiding students through the research process. Lederman (2016 ) discusses the importance of educating students about the three layers of the web and teaching them how to access the second layer, the deep web, which includes databases and subscriptions to online encyclopedias and reliable research information. I have seen many versions of this image below and like using it with staff and students.
Lederman (2016)
My practice has focussed on directing students to the deep web, with our school subscriptions, and I blogged about this in Physical and digital formats for reference material. I work with staff to try and embed the use of our online encyclopaedias Britannica and Pebble Go and we are currently trialling BrainPop.
Despite this direction, most students (and teachers!) will continue to default to Google when searching and therefore it is very important to teach them how to use google well. This includes teaching them how to use tools to modify the date content was published and to use advanced settings. They need to be taught how to use keywords, how to do advanced searches, how to skim and scan and how to identify bias. This will ensure they are not just using the web superficially. Many will also continue to use Wikipedia as a reference source. I wrote about my shift in thinking regarding this in To Wiki or to not Wiki?
It is also important to introduce staff and students to a web evaluation tool such as the ones I included in the blog, Reading V’s Understanding. Through this subject I also learnt that there is no such thing as the wrong search engine, it just may be that one search engine is better for a particular search.
In ETL501 I have found some interesting tools that I wanted to share here as a record of places to come back to.
Goog A Who is useful to compare results from two different search engines.
Duck Duck Go is a safer search engine without advertising.
Sweet Search is a search engine for students created by librarians.
Finding Dulcinea is a search which only searches and finds high quality and trustworthy websites.
And that is just the very tip of the iceberg!
References
Harris, F.J. (2011). The school librarian as information specialist: A vibrant species. Knowledge Quest, 39(5), 28-32. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lih&AN=61819926&site=ehost-live
Lederman, A. (2016). Google just gets to the tip of the iceberg: How to get to the gems in the deep web. Refer, 32(2), 16-20. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/1803449019?accountid=10344
I have been meaning to blog about this for weeks as I keep looking at Kuhlthau’s model of the Information Search Process (ISP) and how it is aligned with the Guided Inquiry Design Process (GIDP). I first came across it in an article by Lee Fitzgerald, one the subject coordinators for ETL401, Introduction to Teacher Librarianship. (Fitgerald, 2015; Kuhlthau, Maniotes & Caspari, 2012).
It really hit me how important this process is when undertaking new learning and how this model is unique because it incorporates the feelings, thoughts and actions that learners experience when acquiring new information. The last three months have been an explosion of new learning for me as I have commenced this university study and started a role as a teacher librarian (TL) at my school. Every single day I have moved through the feelings, thoughts and actions described in this model. The first few weeks in my new role were full of uncertainty, optimism, frustration and doubt. But I have had an incredibly supportive staff team to work with and I have found so much clarity in working out what kind of TL I want to be in my school and have created departmental goals for the year that I have the confidence to achieve. I feel like all of the children are learning a lot and I am learning with them. The library continues to be a very important part of our school where students come to read, learn, inquire, socialise and importantly, borrow so many books.
Writing my first assignment was a steep learning curve and I moved through the guided inquiry process shown in the diagram above. I was open and I immersed myself in new information as I explored the readings for the topic. I identified what my stance was going to be when I wrote a journal article on the role of a TL. I continued to gather information from a variety of sources and I created the article, moving back and forwards between the steps of explore, identify and gather. After a lot of angst, I was finally ready to share it as I hit submit to the university website, with one whole minute to spare for the deadline! And then I waited, with a lot of trepidation for my feedback. I was delighted with my result and the notes I received were very useful for me to evaluate my learning and apply to the next assignment.
I am busy writing away at present and the topic is to choose an Information Literacy (IL) model to recommend to my school. This has been a very useful topic to research because this is part of our library development plan at school and everything I am learning is going to help me make some recommendations to our school. I have discussed this at length with our infant and senior school librarians, who are familiar with a number of different IL models. I have also networked with other librarians from the International Schools Librarians Network (ISLN) and analysed what they are using in their schools. So much learning is taking place and it is all so relevant to my job and will help the students and teachers in our school to undertake research and inquiry in meaningful ways.
I know that I will continue to experience these feelings of uncertainty as I continue on this learning journey. But using the ISP model, I am reassured that this is a part of new learning and it hopefully means that I will be moving closer towards feelings of satisfaction as I document and process all of the pertinent information that I need.
References
FitzGerald, L. (2015) Opportunity knocks: The Australian Curriculum and Guided Inquiry, Access, 29(2) 4-17
Kuhlthau, C, Maniotes, L & Caspari, A 2012, Guided Inquiry design: A framework for inquiry in your school, Libraries Unlimited, Santa Barbara, California, USA.
