Blog Post 3: Reflections and Readings
Last week we continued exploring some of the foundational questions in learning. Some of the ideas that stuck with me:
"Investigate threshold concepts in your discipline and gain an understanding of the approach used in the Framework as it applies to the discipline you know.
— What are the specialized information skills in your discipline that students should develop, such as using primary sources (history) or accessing and managing large data sets (science)?"(13)
I think librarians can work more explicitly with faculty to identify these specialized information literacies -- for my own work, I'm especially interested in specialized data literacies, such as working with discipline-specific data sets and analytical tools, and exploring the specific contribution that librarians can make to those data literacies.
I think that in some cases, this does involve data or tool-specific knowledge -- for example, how to interpret census data, or what types of insight spatial analysis with GIS tools can provide. In other instances, it would be counterproductive to focus too much on a targeted literacy -- and this is where I think the concept of metaliteracies can be extremely helpful for data literacy-oriented librarianship.
However, I think there is a balancing act at work in terms of identifying when we are best served emphasizing adaptability versus teaching enduring skills and literacies. I think as librarians we have many opportunities to get swept into the narrative of "information is constantly changing, let's just be the accessible always-adaptable guide and sell our worth that way!" Giant datasets certainly provoke new demands and require new methods from our learners, but they don't necessarily require us to throw out everything we've learned from data literacy over the decades, as the rhetoric sometimes seems to imply. (I don't mean this as a direct critique of metaliteracies so much as a cautionary reaction to an argument I can see extending from the concept.)
- Nicco talked about the importance of staying a novice and approaching problems with a beginner mindset each time. I really really appreciate this perspective -- I've been thinking lately about how easy it is to become comfortable with my current knowledge about things, and to give up the habit of interrogating assumptions and seeking out new perspectives. Maybe this is part of getting older, but I think to be an effective educator and librarian and person in the future, I want to continue contesting this trend and staying open and receptive to new knowledge that might contrast with what I think I know about things!
- Along those lines, we had a lovely conversation about how to think about the structure and sequencing of knowledge from the perspective of learners. There is both a prescriptive application of this in the designing of curricula and conceptualizing of learning schema, and also perhaps a more experiential way to learn from learners and to adjust lessons and activities as you go to leverage the existing experiences and funds of knowledge that learners bring to the classroom.
- How do we affirm effort and curiosity without falling into the pattern of over-praising? We approached this in a number of ways. Zoë and Sarah asked some great questions about what concretely it looks like to praise effort -- it helped me to hear this spelled out in a clear way, as I think the practicalities of things like feedback will be very relevant going forward.
- Re feedback, I loved learning about formative versus summative feedback! I had never heard of that before and feel motivated to seek out as many formative feedback opportunities possible (both as an educator and a learner).
"Investigate threshold concepts in your discipline and gain an understanding of the approach used in the Framework as it applies to the discipline you know.
— What are the specialized information skills in your discipline that students should develop, such as using primary sources (history) or accessing and managing large data sets (science)?"(13)
I think librarians can work more explicitly with faculty to identify these specialized information literacies -- for my own work, I'm especially interested in specialized data literacies, such as working with discipline-specific data sets and analytical tools, and exploring the specific contribution that librarians can make to those data literacies.
I think that in some cases, this does involve data or tool-specific knowledge -- for example, how to interpret census data, or what types of insight spatial analysis with GIS tools can provide. In other instances, it would be counterproductive to focus too much on a targeted literacy -- and this is where I think the concept of metaliteracies can be extremely helpful for data literacy-oriented librarianship.
However, I think there is a balancing act at work in terms of identifying when we are best served emphasizing adaptability versus teaching enduring skills and literacies. I think as librarians we have many opportunities to get swept into the narrative of "information is constantly changing, let's just be the accessible always-adaptable guide and sell our worth that way!" Giant datasets certainly provoke new demands and require new methods from our learners, but they don't necessarily require us to throw out everything we've learned from data literacy over the decades, as the rhetoric sometimes seems to imply. (I don't mean this as a direct critique of metaliteracies so much as a cautionary reaction to an argument I can see extending from the concept.)
Nice catch on the idea of threshold concepts (portals!), that didn't grab me when I looked over those standards the first time through, but your discussion of it here makes me want to revisit it. Good points as well on the perils of chameleon-like/voguish adaptability to 'the new info normal' by librarians, couldn't agree more that we lose some valuable long-view consistency there.
ReplyDeleteI also really liked Nicco's point about keeping your mind in "learning mode". I have never really given this thought, perhaps because I've never been in a position to teach someone while I wasn't simultaneously a student, but now I'm wondering what impact this has on how I think and interact with people who I'm instructing. It probably does cause me to feel more empathetic because I don't have to "recall" what it's like being a student and stressed about assignments and learning how to do research, since I'm currently there too. I have always thought that we should keep educating ourselves past graduation, and always be trying and learning new things (maybe just in a less stressful & expensive way), but I now see double the reason to do so.
ReplyDeleteI really identified with the overpraising conversation we had in this class because that really shaped my educational experience as a child both in school and at home. When you're consistently praised for one thing but fail at something else, you put your blinders on to all things that fall outside your known and accomplished experiences. It has taken me a long time to unlearn that and not be afraid of failing at a new skill, because learning from those mistakes is essential to the learning process.
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