21st century learners : AASL

If you haven't seen it already, check out the AASL's Standards for the 21st Century Learner
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/AASL_Learning_Standards_2007.pdf

This concise, accessible document is structured around some common beliefs, and four key learning areas with expanded standards statements for each around skills, dispositions in action, responsibilities, and self-assessment strategies...

Common beliefs

• Reading is a window to the world.
• Inquiry provides a framework for learning.
• Ethical behavior in the use of information must be taught.
• Technology skills are crucial for future employment needs.
• Equitable access is a key component for education.
• The definition of information literacy has become more complex as resources and technologies have changed.
• The continuing expansion of information demands that all individuals acquire the thinking skills that will enable them to learn on their own.
• Learning has a social context.
• School libraries are essential to the development of learning skills.

Learners use skills, resources, & tools to:

1. Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.
2. Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge.
3. Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.
4. Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.

Growing knowledge: The evolution of research

Shared by Maria Nagelkerke from The Scout Report, 5 November 2010

How will research change and evolve in the 21st century? It's a broad question, and the British Library has created this website http://www.growingknowledge.bl.uk/ to offer insight into the world of innovative research tools.
First-time visitors will want to watch the video on the homepage that features commentary by various scholars and professionals on "The Modern Library", "Information Overload", and "Digital Research".
All of the offerings on the website complement an existing in situ exhibit that includes multimedia research stations and a "collaborative zone". In the "Start Researching" area of the site, visitors can look at standout examples of recent collaborative digital projects that push the contemporary boundaries of research.
Further along, visitors shouldn't miss the "Tools" area which brings together high-quality online tools that can make the research process much easier and streamlined.
Finally, the site is rounded out by a range of social media tools that users can use to stay on top of the latest posts and materials added to this site. http://www.growingknowledge.bl.uk/

How College Students Evaluate and Use Information in the Digital Age

A new report published

Truth be Told : How College Students Evaluate and Use Information in the Digital Age

http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_Fall2010_Survey_FullReport1.pdf

BY ALISON J. HEAD, PH.D. AND MICHAEL B. EISENBERG, PH.D.
PROJECT INFORMATION LITERACY PROGRESS REPORT NOVEMBER 1, 2010
THE INFORMATION SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
RESEARCH SPONSORED BY MACARTHUR FOUNDATION

Abstract

• A report about college students and their information-seeking strategies and research difficulties, including findings from 8,353 survey respondents from college students on 25 campuses distributed across the U.S. in spring of 2010, as part of Project Information Literacy.
• Respondents reported taking little at face value and were frequent evaluators of Web and library sources used for course work, and to a lesser extent, of Web content for personal use.
• Most respondents turned to friends and family when asking for help with evaluating information for personal use and instructors when evaluating information for course research.
• Respondents reported using a repertoire of research techniques—mostly for writing papers—for completing one research assignment to the next, though few respondents reported using Web 2.0 applications for collaborating on assignments.
  
• Even though most respondents considered themselves adept at finding and evaluating information, especially when it was retrieved from the Web, students reported difficulties getting started with research assignments and determining the nature and scope of what was required of them.
  
• Overall, the findings suggest students use an information-seeking and research strategy driven by efficiency and predictability for managing and controlling all of the information available to them on college campuses, though conducting comprehensive research and learning something new is important to most, along with passing the course and the grade received.
  
• Recommendations are included for how campus-wide stakeholders—faculty, librarians, and higher education administrators—can work together to help inform pedagogies for a new century.
  

Bloom's taxonomy in the 21st century

A post on the Australian list serv by Barbara Braxton, re posted on the NZ school library list serv by Carol Gardiner, provides a link to a rich resource on Bloom's taxonomy revised for a 21st century learning environment with connections to web 2.0 tools and resources. This has been developed by Andrew Churches (Curriculum Manager Computer Studies & TLT (Teaching and Learning Technologies) Trainer at Kristin School, Auckland). The wiki has a range of other resources too...
Andrew Churches - Bloom's Digital Taxonomy http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Bloom%27s+Digital+Taxonomy and http://www.usi.edu/distance/bdt.htm

Previewing non-fiction - THIEVES

This approach may be useful in giving students strategies for using non-fiction...

Developing Literacy & Numeracy Skills : Strategy for Previewing Textbooks (Manz 2002)

Manz, S.L. (2002). A strategy for previewing textbooks: Teaching readers to become THIEVES. The Reading Teacher, 55, 434–435.

Manz (2002) outlines a strategy for previewing textbooks called THIEVES, which is used to identify the elements of a text that need to be thoroughly surveyed and previewed in advance of actual reading. This method should enhance the use of prior knowledge, help provide a purpose for reading and stimulate metacognitive processing. The following steps are suggested :

• T - Title
  What do I really know about the topic? What does it have to do with the preceding chapter?
• H - Headings
  What do they let me know about what I will be reading? How can I turn each heading into a question?
• I - Introduction
  Does the first paragraph introduce the chapter? Do I know anything about this already?
• E - Every first sentence in a paragraph
  These are often the topic sentences and may help to decide whether this portion of the text is relevant.
• V - Visuals and vocabulary
  Are there photographs, drawings, maps, charts? What can I learn from them? Vocabulary may help identify the meaning of a chapter. Highlighted words may be keys to important concepts. Is there a key list of vocabulary terms? Do I know what they mean?
• E - End of chapter questions
  These study questions may flag important points and concepts. Questions that ask `why’ may be particularly informative. What do the questions ask? What information do I learn from the questions?
• S - Summary
  Encourage students to read the entire summary as part of the review, as it provides a frame of reference for the content of the chapter.

There is also a site with a lesson plan: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/using-thieves-preview-nonfiction-112.html

Thanks to Gail Cochrane for sharing this.

Seven essentials for project-based learning

From the Curriculum Leadership electronic journal "for leaders in education":
http://cmslive.curriculum.edu.au/leader/default.asp?id=58&issueID=12255

Seven essentials for project-based learning

Educational Leadership Volume 68 Number 1, September 2010; Pages 34–37

John Larmer, John R Mergendoller

Abstract :
Unless projects are meaningful, engaging and challenging for students they may become just another form of 'busy work'. Good quality project work displays seven features.

1. Firstly it inspires students with a need to know about the topic. Interest can be stimulated through an 'entry event' such as a video, lively discussion or field trip. In contrast, students tend not to be motivated by exhortations of the value of the topic to their future studies, careers or test papers.
   
2. Secondly, a driving question encapsulates the projects' purpose in a clear and compelling way. The question may be abstract, eg 'when is war justified?', or concrete.
   
3. The third element is to give students voice and choice, ie options on how to how to pursue the project. The level of choice should be tailored to the particular group of students as well as to the teacher's style. A wide degree of freedom would allow students to decide on the products they create, the resources they need, how they organise their time and even the topic itself.
   
4. Fourthly, the project should call on students to apply 21st century skills of collaboration, communication and critical thinking, perhaps with supports such as rubrics to measure their group's progress in these skills, and through training in public speaking, perhaps through the development of podcasts or videos.
   
5. Fifthly, real inquiry and innovation should be required. Rather than reproducing knowledge from books and websites students should have to develop their own questions, search for resources to answer them, test ideas and pose further questions and draw their own conclusions.
   
6. The sixth component is feedback and revision. Students come to learn that these are typically required for high quality work. Feedback from external experts is particularly valuable. They also learn to critique each other's work.
   
7. The seventh element is public presentation of the completed work. Presentation to a real audience underlines the work's importance to the student.

View full article free online...

S.O.S. for Information Literacy

"A dynamic web-based multimedia resource that includes peer-reviewed lesson plans, handouts, presentations, videos and other resources to enhance the teaching of information literacy (K-16)" http://www.informationliteracy.org/

Voted one of the TOP 25 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning by AASL 2009

A note on the name, S.O.S. - save our souls maybe, but also :
The S.O.S in the title of the project does represent a call to action to enhance information literacy instruction. It also refers to the job that IL instructors must accomplish in preparing IL instruction. That is, they must consider the specific Situation (e.g., grade level, curricula area for integrating IL instruction, etc.), the desired Outcome(s) (e.g., information skill(s) to be learned), and what Strategies (e.g., teaching ideas or specific techniques and methods) they need to include in their instruction in order to achieve the desired outcome.

Free e-book : From the Creative Minds of 21st Century Librarians

Related to the previous post with Joyce Valenza's example - and challenge - of 21st century school librarianship, here is a quote from another interesting resource :

"The challenge for teacher librarians is to figure out how to empower students to be 21st-century learners through our school library programs. Our best path to meet that challenge can be framed from the wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” We must become 21st –century learners and teachers ourselves first."

From the Creative Minds of 21st Century Librarians is a freely downloadable e-book (licenced under Creative Commons) from the US Centre for Digital Literacy at Syracuse University, School of Information Studies.

http://digital-literacy.syr.edu/projects/view/83

This compilation offers 60 freely available, high quality lesson plans, each of which addresses at least one of the 2008 AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner, including skills, dispositions, responsibilities and self-assessment strategies. Each lesson plan is organized within an attractive, color-coded, easy-to-follow template that provides a consistent format for succinct yet sufficiently detailed lesson plans, including links to all support materials.

ipl2 - research and writing guide

ipl2 is the result of a merger of the Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Librarians' Internet Index (LII).

It provides an A+ Research and Writing pathfinder for teens - taking students through a step by step approach to planning, preparing, researching and writing... http://www.ipl.org/div/aplus/toc.htm

For the "panic stricken" who need something urgently, there is a quick starter guide with just the essentials http://www.ipl.org/div/aplus/quick.htm

and for the thorough students there is a detailed view http://www.ipl.org/div/aplus/tocdetail.htm

Here is the "home page" for teens at ipl2 http://www.ipl.org/div/teen/

Online referencing generator

This useful and user-friendly resource was shared on the school library list serv - developed by the School Library Association of South Australia, this online referencing generator helps students understand the process and elements of citing sources correctly. There are three levels, for Junior, Middle and Senior school.

http://www.slasa.asn.au/org/

Learning about the library

Primary / intermediate school teachers and librarians might find these library lesson plans useful as a starting point for planning some focus activities during library visits :
http://hanover.k12.va.us/instruction/media/LessonPlanBook.htm

Learning about the library and its resources is always more effective when taught in the context of authentic, current research needs rather than working through a set of arbitrary lessons on particular aspects, but these outlines might be helpful in structuring activities or suggesting resources / approaches...

OWL - Online Writing Lab, Purdue University

Senior students or teachers might be interested in this resource from Purdue University (Indiana, USA) http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/



From the website :
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects. Teachers and trainers may use this material for in-class and out-of-class instruction.

The Pre-writing section explains the invention stage of the composing process and gives various strategies and questions to help students organise their thoughts and begin to write...
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/673/01/

Joyce Valenza & Springfield Township HS Virtual Library

The amazing, indefatigable Joyce Valenza runs the library at Springfield Township High School - here is the link - http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/ - do go and explore... It is a busy place !




Scroll down to check out the list of links listed below the illustration
eg Looking for a good read which will take you to a wiki http://bookleads.wikispaces.com/ with author websites, YA author blogs, podcasts, e-bo0k portals, reading resources... and that is just one link !

21st century skills in 13 words : Jamie McKenzie

From Jamie McKenzie's website From Now On http://fno.org :

21st Century Skills Bookmark: A Dozen I-words Trump the 4 Rs
During the previous century, there was often talk of the 4Rs: Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic and Reasoning. It was a user friendly way to focus on the basics.
With all the talk now of 21st Century Skills, we need a model that is equally user friendly - just the right number of prime thinking competencies to fit on a handy bookmark or poster to remind all teachers and students about core values...
My bookmark offers thirteen competencies, all beginning with the letter "I" - a baker's dozen http://fno.org/Jan2010/bookmark.html

Jamie McKenzie, ©2010, all rights reserved.

Information literacy model : Simple 4

From LM-NET, February 2010 :

We have developed a fairly simple and straightforward research model for South Carolina. It's called The Simple Four - only four steps : Plan Act Organize Reflect

All information about The Simple Four is available online at http://martha.alewine.googlepages.com/thesimplefour

We have had very positive feedback from teacher librarians and others who have used this model in their libraries and classrooms. If you like The Simple Four, feel free to use any of the supporting documents there. You do not need to ask permission.

Oregon School Library Information System - research resources website

You may be interested in checking out this website I came across from the Oregon School Library Information System
http://elementary.oslis.org/learn-to-research

It is designed to help students plan, research, create and present information, and looks looks user-friendly and useful, with links to many other resources from the web.

Citing sources

Here is some information on citing soures (shared on the list serv by Janet McFadden from the Wellington EdLib group), as well as a couple of other websites which may be of interest...

• Catherine Doughty of Whitireia Community Polytechnic has shared information about citing of sources and the approach they use to teach this (contact Jeannie.skinner@natlib.govt.nz if you would like to be sent a pdf copy of this.)
• This guide (thanks to Barbara Garriock) comes from MIT, and Sue Roylance who developed them is happy to share them.
  http://library.manukau.ac.nz/pdfs/apa2008.pdf (this is the long version) http://library.manukau.ac.nz/pdfs/miniapa2008.pdf (the brief version)
• This guide is from the University of Auckland - it seems very clear and uses a student-friendly approach http://cite.auckland.ac.nz/

• http://librarymedia.northandoverpublicschools.com/bibliographic-format.html

• http://www.tekmom.com/cite/index.html

• Check out the Tool Box on various EPIC databases eg Discovering collection, where there is information on using information including citing sources....
  

Information Literacy framework - Scotland

Check out Scotland’s information literacy website http://www.caledonian.ac.uk/ils/index.html
The Scottish Information Literacy Project: working with partners to create an information literate Scotland. The draft National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland) includes identified skills at mid - upper primary and secondary levels. Page 20 is Level A, 8 years old and on from there…