Monthly Archives: July 2019

ETL401 Module 2.5

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One of the main roles of the teacher librarian is to help students and colleagues learn to safely, efficiently and ethically navigate the information landscape. TLs need to know about the state and evolution of the landscape in order to keep abreast of the developments that will inevitably affect the ways in which it is used.

In her webinar, Information, change and issues, Dr Combes refers to the myth of the ‘digital native’. Certainly, experience in NSW DET Primary schools in recent years would tend to support her view that, while teachers may hold the view that students know how to use computer technology safely, efficiently and ethically, this is a learned skill that many students are still developing. Many students learn to use the applications and peripherals quickly; it is the critical evaluation, ethical understandings and digital citizenship that must be a particular focus of instruction. The actual applications and devices the students use do, and will continue to, change rapidly so it is the underlying understandings that teachers must convey.  Being able to identify the difference between information, misinformation, malinformation and commentary will be vital skills for students to learn.

References

Combes, B (Producer) accessed 25.07.2019. Information, change and issues [Webinar] retrieved from https://connect.csu.edu.au/p46nev0a746/

Are Teacher Librarians an Endangered Species?

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Karen Bonanno (Australian School Library Association, 2011) argues that teacher librarians are more valuable than ever, yet they are somewhat invisible. She argues that TLs need to differentiate themselves in the school community. They must identify what it is that they can do or offer that others don’t. Make it visible, necessary. Follow a focus area through until successful. Establish relationships with students, staff and leadership. Show how the work of the TL enhances and develops the general capabilities. In her follow up article, A profession at the tipping point (revisited) (Bonanno 2015) Bonanno adds that TLs must keep abreast of developments in curriculum and pedagogy to ensure that the curriculum is effectively and efficiently resourced, and they can share their knowledge, advocacy and solutions with their colleagues.

References

Australian School Library Association (ASLA) (2011). A profession at the tipping point: Time to change the game plan. Keynote presentation, Karen Bonanno. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/31003940

Bonanno , K. (2015). A profession at the tipping point (revisited). Access, March, 14-21

ETL401 Module 3.1

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The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers describes the tasks and activities undertaken by teachers that ensure they are providing a quality service to their school communities. The Australian School Library Association (2015)  and ALIA Schools (2014) provide correlated standards for use by Teacher Librarians to ensure they are also engaged in quality service provision. Teacher Librarians can use the standards and the evidence guide in their practice to ensure that they are operating using expert-endorsed methodology and pedagogy. Many of the types of evidence suggested are documents that many TLs would be producing and referencing frequently in their every-day practice and so should not be overly burdensome to collate. It is important for Teacher Librarians to have access to such professional standards and documents in order to assist in improving practice and maintaining high quality services to the school community. They serve as a guide to the sorts of things teacher librarians should be doing. If a teacher librarian should identify and area of their practice they would like to improve, the Standards can provide a good starting point, describing what high quality practice looks like.

References

The Australian School Library Association (2015) Evidence guide for teacher librarians in the proficient career stage : Australian professional standards for teachers retrieved from https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/AITSL%20Standards%20for%20teacher%20librarian%20practice%202014.pdf

ALIA Schools (2014) AITSL Standards for teacher librarian practice retrieved from http://www.asla.org.au/policy/standards.aspx

ETL401 Module 2.4

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In this module, the authors (Combes, Fitzgerald and O’Connell, 2019) describe the requirements of copyright, censorship and freedom of information. Australia does not have explicit laws relating to the universal right of access to information, however, these rights are implied in the Constitution and Australia’s endorsement of various resolutions of the United Nations. Australia has censorship laws, requiring that certain types of information is not made available to certain groups of people (eg those under the age of 18). The Australian Government does have provision for Freedom Of Information, whereby people may request to see documentation pertaining to themselves and to correct any inaccuracies. The Copyright Act of 1968 sets out the responsibilities inherent in using the intellectual property of others. It is the job of the Teacher Librarian to bring these responsibilities to the attention of the school community. Australia does not have a ‘fair use’ provision for intellectual property however, certain exemptions are made for educational institutions and libraries. In practice, this means that up to 10% of a work may be copied without the author or publisher’s permission for educational purposes. The Department of Education in NSW claims ownership of intellectual property created by teachers employed by them, even when that material is produced in the teacher’s own time and using their own resources (retrieved 20/07/2019. https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/code-of-conduct-policy).

References

Combes, B., Fitzgerald, L. and O’Connell, J. (2019). The Information Environment. In ETL401: Introduction to Teacher Librarianship. Retrieved from  https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_42381_1&content_id=_2899453_1 

ETL401 Module 2.3

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This Module discusses what is meant by the ‘Information Society’. Combes, Fitzgerald & O’Connell (2019) suggest that the term is used to refer to the information landscape, the people who inhabit it and the ways in which they behave and operate within it. Evans (1979) and Naisbit (1984) are quoted in the module as predicting that the rapid change in technology would have a fundamental impact on the information society, equivalent to the industrial revolution.

So who or what is driving the technological change? New technologies are developed in response to consumer needs and new consumer needs are developed in response to the emerging technologies. The driving force behind the change must be the leading class of people who make decisions about what and how to research new developments. Often, government-backed entities and departments, such as DARPA have been at the spearhead of technological development. The commercialisation of their developments allows society as a whole to begin to use and hopefully benefit from those developments. As artificial intelligence improves, it may be possible that, in the future, we may see technology actually developing itself, however, I do not believe we are not at that point yet.

Combes et al (2019) describe information industries as those whose central activities involve information production, processing and dissemination. Where do libraries fall under this definition? Are libraries managers, creators, and distributors of information, or data processors? Certainly, libraries are managers and distributors of information. One could argue that the information that is available in a library must be organised in order for users to find what they are looking for, so in that sense, they do process information to some degree. The purpose of the library, though, is to hold and make available information to those who seek it, allowing them to process the information in whatever way suits their purpose. The creation of some information products may be undertaken in order to offer curation and encourage exploration of the collection. These products might include pathfinders, reviews, signage, catalogue resources. etc.

Thinking about social media and the rise of celebrity and the local or home-grown expert, how important is being a qualified professional in society today? In this era of self-taught, unqualified “experts” passing comment and judgement very publicly on every subject imaginable, it is more important than ever to always return to the work of qualified professionals. An Arabian Proverb explains:

There are four kinds of people, three of which are to be avoided and the fourth cultivated:
those who don’t know that they don’t know;
those who know that they don’t know;
those who don’t know that they know;
and those who know that they know.
Anon. Rendering of the Arab Proverb. (retrieved from https://www.bartleby.com/78/459.html)

Too often, celebrities are believed by virtue of their celebrity. Too often, those with strong conviction, however short of evidence, are believed. Their assertions may be correct. But they may not. Holding a recognised qualification in the discipline one works in allows one to be sure that they know: they know that they know. They have studied all aspects and points of view on a subject and speak from a position of knowledge and deep understanding. Others without qualification, however talented, have not studied all aspects of their discipline. They may arrive at their conclusions based on personal experience, intuition or luck. However, being in full possession of the facts and experiences of experts in the field allows one to make decisions based on evidence and best practice.

Are your ideas developing about the information society?

  • What do you think this term means?
  • Why is it important for the teacher librarian to have an understanding of the information landscape?

Combes, Fitzgerald & O’Connell (2019) suggest that the term information society is used to refer to the information landscape, the people who inhabit it and the ways in which they behave and operate within it. The information landscape is so crowded with information, misinformation, malinformation and commentary. An effective filter is vital when attempting to navigate it. Teacher Librarians are tasked with assisting members of the school community to develop their filter, to determine whether a source is reliable. It is therefore necessary to have a thorough understanding of the landscape if we are to help others navigate it.

References

Combes, B., Fitzgerald, L. and O’Connell, J. (2019). The Information Environment. In ETL401: Introduction to Teacher Librarianship. Retrieved from  https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_42381_1&content_id=_2899453_1 

Artificial Intelligence and the Information Landscape

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Artificial intelligence refers to a computer system that is able to learn from experiences and perform tasks that would otherwise require human intelligence (Copeland, 2019). In our everyday lives we see this used in self driving cars, virtual assistants such as Siri, Alexa and Cortana, but, perhaps the most relevant is in the way subscription services such as Netflix, YouTube and iTunes offer suggestions for users based on their previous use of the platform. These services detect which files the user has accessed or rated in the past and supplies other files with similar or related content or format. This can be quite helpful if we are looking for the same sorts of information as we have previously accessed – more of the same. However, it does tend to make it more difficult to access files of a different sort that those we have enjoyed previously. Using the suggestions of the algorithm can make finding some types of information easier and quicker. However it also makes access to other types of information more difficult. Popular search engines can and do use a similar algorithm to limit the sorts of results it displays in an internet search. This means that users need to ask the right questions to access information that might be available more freely to users who seek that information more frequently. It is not inconceivable that an entity that wished to disguise or obfuscate particular information would be able to influence AI algorithms to make it unlikely that a user would be able to access that information, and instead point the user towards more favourable information.

References

Copeland, B. J. (2019). Artificial Intelligence. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/technology/artificial-intelligence.

ETL401 Module 2.2

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The role of the teacher librarian is to act as a conduit between the outside information world and the inhabitants of the school.

Case looks for a universal definition of ‘information’ but finds that there isn’t one. He argues that there doesn’t need to be one; that the generic, everyday understanding will do in most cases. He goes on to say that the various specific needs of particular disciplines has led to each discipline creating their own more rigorous definition as befits their needs.

Floridi describes the radically changing information environment and predicts what the landscape may look like in the future. Many of his predictions have been accurate. The world is more and more “connected” and the introduction of smart devices and online economies is increasing. We relate to people more often through our use of devices than by other means of communication. We have more information available than at any time in the past, but many of us struggle to know what to do with it. It is as if we are spending our ‘offline’ time working to support our ‘online’ time rather than the other way around. Virtual assistants such as Siri and Alexa seem to be examples of what Floridi was writing about.

Deep web – the deep web refers to that information that is held online but is not accessible to the general public. This could include online banking information, media content available with a login, journals and databases that require a password to access. It is different to the Dark web – an area of the internet held on specialised servers that allow users total anonymity in the information they post and in the information they seek. The content of these websites are untraceable and not available using a regular search engine or browser. Content held there can be innocuous but it can also be illegal or disturbing.  https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-how-to-how-can-i-access-the-deep-web.html

Internet2 – an international network used by educational and research institutions to provide high bandwidth support for accessing and collaborating on advanced internet based data and tools. https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24955/internet2

 

I am coming to understand the information landscape to mean the vast array of sources of information available. This includes information in many forms including digital, print, film, images, artefacts, magnetic forms etc. It would include information communicated in various modes or in multiple modes. Whether information must be deliberately communicated and whether it must be received and understood is still under discussion. My initial thought is that it must be able to be received and understood even if it so far has not been. I do not believe at this early stage that information must be deliberately communicated. This implies that natural phenomena could not be analysed to give information about upcoming changes to an environment. On the question of whether the information must be useful, I think that is a very subjective judgement to make. Information that is not at all useful to one recipient might be very valuable to another, depending upon their particular area of inquiry. The information landscape is constantly changing and growing. Developing technologies allow information to be gathered, organised, communicated, stored and used in new and innovative ways. It is accessible freely at any time of the day or night which, while it has the advantage of being at our finger tips at all times, it has the disadvantage of meaning that it is becoming increasingly difficult to disconnect from our all-consuming connected lives. Expecting people to be responsive at all hours of the day and night means that they are constantly “on call” and this is not conducive to a healthy work-life balance. Mosbergen (2016) refers to the desire to legislate down time for employees. While this would indeed assist with maintaining a healthy work-life balance, it might be less helpful to employees looking for more flexible work environments and structures. If a company dictates that no emails can be sent after a certain time in the evening, then workers who seek to complete some of their work from home in the evening in order to work around family or other commitments would be restricted in their ability to do this. Perhaps, then, it would be better to encourage businesses to change the culture of their organisation in other ways. Positive leadership in demonstrating work-life balance, setting expectations at reasonable levels achievable within the expected working hours might be more effective. This would be difficult to legislate, however.

References

Case, D. (2006). The concept of information. In Looking for information: A survey of research on information seeking, needs and behaviour, pp. 40-65. 2nd ed. Burlingham: Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. ebook, CSU Library.

 

Floridi, L. (2007). A look into the future impact of ICT on our lives. The Information Society, 23, 59-64. CSU Library.

 

Mosbergen, D. (2016). French legislation suggests employees deserve the right to disconnect. The Huffington Post. Retrieved July 2016.

ETL401 Module 2.1

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This module discusses the nature and definition of information. It describes the classic definition (a collection of ‘bits’ of information recorded in agreed symbols) and the semantic definition (the content of a message). The data-knowledge continuum positions the message between chaos, data, information, knowledge and wisdom, moving along the continuum as comprehension increases.

Increasingly, information is a trade-able commodity. Yet it is different to other trade-able goods in a number of ways.

  • information is inconsumable – that is, even when you use it, you still have it. Other goods, eg chocolate, disappear once they have been used. They are consumed by use.
  • information is untransferable – that is, even if you give it to someone else, you still have it. If you give chocolate to someone else, they have it and you don’t.
  • information is indivisible – that is, you can’t use only part of it without changing it. It is possible (however unlikely) that you might use only part of the chocolate. In that case, a smaller part remains, as delicious as ever. You have divided the chocolate into parts. If you divide information into parts, the meaning is changed and so the original information is lost or becomes new or misinformation.
  • information is accumulative – that is no matter how often you use it, it still remains with you, building up over time. If you get more information, it adds to the collection but can never be consumed by use (only by deleting and even then other versions often exist especially with digital information). Chocolate, on the other hand, can only be used once. Once eaten, it is gone. It does not remain to be accumulated once it is used.
    (Combes, Fitzgerald & O’Connell, 2019)

This has implications for the work of educators everywhere. We need to develop knowledge and understanding in students in a well-thought out order, such that each skill or piece of information builds upon the last and we need to make clear where the new information sits with the current schema. We need to make sure students are taught how to think about the information they are presented with and learn to critically evaluate it, adding it to the appropriate schema or rejecting it as misinformation. It also has implications for how librarians organise information. Related pieces of information should lead the learner from one to another. Currently all I can think of is positioning related topics close by each other and using catalogue software that might suggest to users the topics related to each other. I am convinced that there are a great many other strategies librarians use.  I am keen to learn more about them.

When we want to communicate information, we want the receivers to understand and be able to use that information as easily as possible. We therefore need to encode it into a format they can easily decode (choose the relevant language and format) transfer it as a whole package or in a series of sequenced, related packages and make clear to them where this new information sits within their current knowledge and understanding of the topic.

References

Combes, B., Fitzgerald, L. and O’Connell, J. (2019). The Information Environment. In ETL401: Introduction to Teacher Librarianship. Retrieved from  https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_42381_1&content_id=_2899453_1 

Assessment Item 1 ETL401

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The Role of the Teacher Librarian

The role of the teacher librarian is multifaceted. They are, at their heart, teachers. Collaborating with teachers to teach information literacy and digital citizenship forms a large part of their role. Teacher Librarians are responsible for fostering a love of reading and learning: guiding users to literature and resources that inspire them to go further than they might have otherwise. They must be experts in the organisation of resources: library operation, budgeting, training and supervising support staff. They are responsible for collection development: sourcing, curating, and managing resources that meet the needs of the school community and presenting those resources in an accessible, inviting way.

Before beginning my Masters journey I had had the privilege of working in four school libraries, if only in a short-term relieving capacity. My job was merely to replicate the lesson structure and management techniques of the Teacher Librarians I was relieving. I did, though, have the advantage of seeing at least the public side of the role more clearly than I might otherwise have done. I came to see that the goal of each Teacher Librarian I relieved appeared to be similar. They were all concerned with the development of what they called “information literacy” in their students. Exactly what that is, I am not certain. I hope that this will form a large part of my studies in the years to come. My initial impression is that is has to do with the ways in which learners obtain, analyse and use information. I say ‘learners’ as opposed to ‘students’ because students who learn to be information literate will be able to apply this skill in a myriad of circumstances and challenges through out their lives, not just while at school. (Zervas, Stavrou, & Kounoudes, 2019)

Teacher Librarians foster a love of reading and learning (Robins & Stephenson, 2018; Valenza & Jones, 2012). Previously, I had thought that the role of the teacher librarian was simply to organise and check out books that students might like to read. This is indeed one goal. An abundance of literature exists to show that students who read regularly for recreation are better able to comprehend texts than those who choose other pastimes (Adkins & Brendler, 2015; Block & Mangieri, 2002; Castles, Rastle & Nation, 2018; Guthrie & Klauda, 2015; McGeown et al, 2015; Merga, 2015). Willingham (2017) argues that wide and varied reading is the most important activity that will help students develop into expert readers. Building a culture of reading within the school, then, is vital. The teacher librarian is uniquely placed to develop in students a love of reading for pleasure as well as for learning and to provide universal access to quality texts that might otherwise not be readily available. The organisation and presentation of those resources in an attractive, easily accessible way is a key skill that the Teacher Librarian brings to collaboration with classroom teachers.

The organisation and presentation of resources can have a clear impact on a student’s ability to locate and access the information they require. Gregory (2019) discusses the importance of determining the needs of the clientele and then guiding them towards the resources and services available. The Teacher Librarian has the responsibility of making those resources attractive and organised such that students and staff can easily access and use them. This may entail training of staff, managing budgets, curating resources and designing functional, attractive learning spaces for the resources to be used and enjoyed.

The role of the Teacher Librarian is complex but at the heart of everything is the students’ learning. They are responsible for resource provision, curation and presentation, collaboration with class teachers in the teaching of information literacy and building a culture of reading within the school.

References

Adkins, D., & Brendler, B. M. (2015). Libraries and reading motivation: A review of the Programme for International Student Assessment reading results. IFLA journal, 41(2), 129-139.

 

Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the reading wars: Reading acquisition from novice to expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19, 5–51. doi:10.1177/1529100618772271

 

Block, C., & Mangieri, J. (2002). Recreational Reading: 20 Years Later. The Reading Teacher, 55(6), 572-580. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20205099

 

Gregory, V. L. (2019). Collection development and management for 21st century library collections: an introduction: American Library Association.

 

Guthrie, J. T. and S. L. Klauda (2015). “Engagement and motivational processes in reading.” Handbook of individual differences in reading: Reader, text and context: 41-53.

 

McGeown, S. P., et al. (2015). “The relationship between young children’s enjoyment of learning to read, reading attitudes, confidence and attainment.” Educational Research 57(4): 389-402.

 

Merga, M. K. (2015). “She knows what I like”: Student-generated best-practice statements for encouraging recreational book reading in adolescents. Australian Journal of Education, 59(1), 35-50.

 

Robins, D. and S. Stephenson (2018). “What’s So Great About School Libraries.” The Book Chook. from https://www.thebookchook.com/2018/10/whats-so-great-about-school-libraries.html.

 

Valenza, J. and G. Jones (2012, May-June 2019). “What Do TLs Teach?”. from https://www.abc-clio.com/uploadedFiles/Content/promo/Linworth_and_LMC_Files/LMC_MayJune12_WhatDoTLsTeach_Corrected_Poster.pdf.

 

Willingham, D. T. (2017). The reading mind: A cognitive approach to understanding how the mind reads. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass in Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the reading wars: Reading acquisition from novice to expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19, 5–51. doi:10.1177/1529100618772271

 

Zervas, M., Stavrou, C., & Kounoudes, A. (2019). The Important Role of School Libraries in the Development of Students Information Literacy Skills. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries, 113-133.

Creative Commons

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Creative Commons is a way of letting others know how and when they may use or reproduce your original work. Creative Commons provides copyright licences covering the areas of attribution, modification, commercial use and derivation. By placing the relevant notice on an original piece of work, creators and authors can encourage others to use and build upon their work by letting them know exactly how it may be used. I have placed the relevant licence on this page to let users know that they may use my work for non-comercial applications as long as they include due credit for the original ideas.

 

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