RIVER WIDE, RIVER DEEP: LIBRARIES, LEARNERS, AND TRANSFORMATIVE LITERACY

Sean Cordes

Associate Professor

Western Illinois University United States

Teaching students to draw distinctions sets the stage for creating new categories, being open to new information, and being aware of different perspectives.

Distinctions reveal that the material is situated in a context and imply that other contexts may be considered.

Ellen Langer

A STARTING POINT

Students today think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors, as a result of being surrounded by new technology (Prensky, 2001).

The actual situation is far from clear. A more measured and disinterested approach is now required to investigate ‘digital natives’ and their implications for education (Bennett, Maton, & Kervin, 2008).

Quest of inquiry and authority is often open, unresolved, critical, personal, professional, social, and strives for meaning and structure

Research is iterative Focus on open, unresolved problems Problems can be personal or academic Evidence can be formal or informal Often includes differing perspectives

across time, groups, and disciplines Builds on existing knowledge, leads to

greater ability, understanding and skill

RESEARCH AND THE SPIRAL OF INQUIRY

Ask

Investigate

CreateDiscuss

Reflect

SIGNS AND PORTENTS When building web sites students had

challenges using both traditional and web based search tools, especially social networks (Delicious, YouTube, Flickr) (Cordes, 2013).

Comparing the library catalog, database, and search engine students felt the database more useful for performing academic tasks than the catalog or Google, but found Google easier to use overall (Cordes, 2014).

In a collaborative decision task, teams using a discussion process that supported member interdependence made better decisions and had more positive feelings about the work climate and procedures (Cordes, 2014).

A BROAD SPECTRUM OF INVESTIGATION

More meaningful ways for finding, filtering and engaging information to meet variety of needs and topics are emerging…

Rich, broad, timely, dynamic

Deep, vetted, built on fundamentals

Specific, focused, validated by peers, innovative, builds case, extendable

Timely, informal, informative, conversational

One in every 40 scholars is on Twitter, on

average tweeting about five times per week,

but the majority of their tweets are unrelated

to their scholarly work.

Priem, J., Costello, K., & Dzuba, T. (2011). 

What is the relationship between need and authority? Authority and context?

Who/what is an authority? How does format fit? What sources should be examined? How closely? How good is good enough? How does perspective differ between sources? How does perspective change over time? What is our responsibility toward the truth?

AUTHORITY IS CONTEXTUAL AND CONSTRUCTED

CONTEXT IS (NOW) KING

[Context]is a key to understanding how students operationalize and prioritize their course-related and everyday life research activities… students consistently referred to “finding context,” in one form or another, as the most laborious, yet requisite, part of the research process (Head & Eisenberg, 2009)

Nearly all students intentionally make use of a small compass for traversing the ever-widening and complex information landscape they inhabit, whether they are finding information for course work or for use in their daily lives (Head & Eisenberg, 2010)

A study of 33 graduates in 23 companies found that new workers used traditional college information skills, but workers and employers both felt the need for them to adapt to business research practices, especially working with a variety of sources, including traditional sources and collaborative settings (Head, et al., 2013)

STEPPING THROUGH THE LENS OF INQUIRY

Web Dictionaries and Encyclopedias Broadcast News

Books and Journals

Blog CommentaryGovernment Web Sites

Tracking the Goat Sucker

NEW (?) APPROACH TO CRITICALITY

“Every man should have a built-in automatic crap detector operating inside him.”Ernest Hemingway

“You have to think like a detective.” John McManus

“Triangulation is what detectives do – try to find three different ways to test a source’s credibility. ”Howard Rheingold

Some (new) tools to build authority…• Verify credentials (Google/Scholar)• Check for web ownership on WhoIs.com• Use the Scholarly Productivity Index• Check for bookmarks on Diigo or Delicious• Verify content using FactCheck.org

MARKHAM NOLAN-CONTEXTUAL DETECTIVE

Found 2 people with that name in two states.

Only rain in one state that day. Florida.

Found YouTube Video of thunderstorm for potential story. Is it credible?

Used Google Maps to verify location by cross referencing clues

Search username with free people search tool

TEDSalon 2012, http://goo.gl/4udioq

CONSTRUCTING MEANING THROUGH COLLABORATION

To clarify the details, someone posted a link to the live Police Scanner to Facebook!

Citizens reported first and help narrow down the location…

Police provided a warning with their own Facebook post.

From this information, Google maps helped us plot the danger path

The next day the press (briefly) reported the event.

TASKS AND TASKS FOR TRANSFORMATION

Constructing Collaboratively with Diigo Teams contribute content to a

shared library Peers review contributions of

others for credibility, quality, fit Members integrate their findings

in a mutual space Teams negotiate meaning

through comparison with peer commentary

Diigo is a multi-tool for personal knowledge managementdramatically improve your workflow and productivity

5 THINGS I WANT MY KIDS (AND COLLEAGUES) TO KNOW

Build future skills on the knowledge of the past There is often more than one way to skin a cat The truth can come in many colors Skeptical is safe (if there is such a thing) All information has value, depending on what your

buying

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Cs-cordes@wiu.edu