Since last week we looked at how students are learning via online courses and screencasts, this week I decided to look at how librarians --specifically school librarians -- are communicating with student patrons. One of the articles I looked at was 'What's my email address anyway, miss?': communicating with the Facebook generation by Nicola McNee, published The School Librarian, volume 58, issue 2 (2010). This article would have fit in well with last week's readings about online learning. McNee, as a school librarian has come to realize that today's generation is most comfortable with navigating the world wide web, and using the internet as the source for endless information and answers to the greatest mysteries.
She has found that it has become a challenge to communicate with students via email, as the students rarely take the time to check their inboxes, instead relying on facebook messages, and instant messages or text messages. She decided to utilize iGoogle to keep information up-to-date and keep the students in the loop as to what was going on in the library. She set out to show students that they could successfully integrate social media with learning.
I feel that this is a very important aspect of the library environment today that we all, as future and present librarians, should be aware of. We have remember to come up with ways of learning and teaching that will be interesting to those we are trying to teach and inform. We can't expect kids today to learn in the same way we learned when we were younger students. I feel like I said a similar thing in my post last week, and here I am saying it again. This just proves that it is a very important issue for me, we must be able to take into account the changes to research and learning that are happening around us. We then have to utilize those changes into a productive way of teaching the present and future generations.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Week 2 -- Online Learning
I found this week's readings about online learning, tutorials, screencasts and screenshots to be quite interesting and informative. I feel that this kids of this generation are just constantly connected to a computer, taking in technology at an amazing rate. My five year old nephew knows how to work computers, iPads, and tvs better than I do! Sometimes when I get "confused" and ask for his help, he just looks at me and says, "Kim! don't you know anything? I mean, it's not THAT hard to figure out!" It's quite cute to watch.
Because this generation has grown up in the computer and internet environment, it would be reasonable to assume that they may be comfortable in the online learning setting. In the readings this week, I found that I enjoyed the Johnston article the most. The reason for this is because I took a number of online classes at my undergrad. During the course of these classes, I because quite comfortable with the online module that was used, Blackboard. I will say that Blackboard is much easier to navigate than the c-tools site, but maybe that's because I used it for three years, and I've only been using c-tools for a semester. Perhaps I will get used to the clunkiness of c-tools soon.
Anyway...in this article Johnson explains how surveys and studies were done to find out how well the students were able to learn and retain information through Blackboard, and how they felt about navigating the module. According to the findings, many of the students felt that the flexibility of the online learning environment worked well with their daily routines and was beneficial. There were some students who did feel that some face-to-face instruction was more helpful than just the online, and so there was a sort of blending course put in place, where some of the course work was done in person, and some was done via Blackboard.
Each student has different was of learning and best retaining the information presented to him/her. As instructors/librarians we must be able to account for each students learning curve and be able to adjust. In today's learning environment, online learning is more prevalent, and will most likely continue to become more and more important. As this trend continues, we must be able to keep up, and stay attuned to the changes so that we may best help students and patrons.
Because this generation has grown up in the computer and internet environment, it would be reasonable to assume that they may be comfortable in the online learning setting. In the readings this week, I found that I enjoyed the Johnston article the most. The reason for this is because I took a number of online classes at my undergrad. During the course of these classes, I because quite comfortable with the online module that was used, Blackboard. I will say that Blackboard is much easier to navigate than the c-tools site, but maybe that's because I used it for three years, and I've only been using c-tools for a semester. Perhaps I will get used to the clunkiness of c-tools soon.
Anyway...in this article Johnson explains how surveys and studies were done to find out how well the students were able to learn and retain information through Blackboard, and how they felt about navigating the module. According to the findings, many of the students felt that the flexibility of the online learning environment worked well with their daily routines and was beneficial. There were some students who did feel that some face-to-face instruction was more helpful than just the online, and so there was a sort of blending course put in place, where some of the course work was done in person, and some was done via Blackboard.
Each student has different was of learning and best retaining the information presented to him/her. As instructors/librarians we must be able to account for each students learning curve and be able to adjust. In today's learning environment, online learning is more prevalent, and will most likely continue to become more and more important. As this trend continues, we must be able to keep up, and stay attuned to the changes so that we may best help students and patrons.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Reflections and Hopes
Ever since I was 17, I knew that I would someday attend the University of Michigan's School of Information to become an ALA certified librarian. I have always loved to read, and during my junior year in high school, I started volunteering at a small academic library. The president of the seminary had donated his own personal library to the school. He had created his own handwritten cataloging system, and the part-time librarian was looking for some volunteer help to convert the cataloging system to the Library of Congress system. What started out as volunteering turned into paying job, and sparked my desire to work as a librarian for my occupation.
Because I have experience working in an academic library, it would be presumed that I will continue working in an academic library when I am finished at the School of Information. However, I do have an interest in working with preservation and conservation, and interests in Youth and Young Adult librarianship. As a child, I loved to read, devouring series after series of books. I read the Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Babysitter's Club, The Saddle Club, and hundreds of other books. I parents would have to pry me away from my fourth book of the day to force me to get some fresh air. I want to be able to encourage children to explore the world of literature, to love the classics, and get lost in the fantasies that are hidden within book covers.
While reading through the competencies of Youth librarians, there was one in particular that struck me: "Instructs children in the use of library tools & resources, empowering them to choose materials & resources on their own." I feel that this is very important to stress to children from early on in their lives. By letting children choose their own materials to read, we can let them learn of their own interests. True, we may point them in a direction that we believe would interest them, but in the end, the choice is up to the patron, no matter his/her age.
As I stated above, another interest of mine is preservation and working with special/rare collections. The academic library where I work has a special collection or works published in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. I have had a lot of experience working with these books, and working to preserve them to be enjoyed and used for research by people around the world. The longer these materials can be preserved, digitally and in print, the longer patrons can benefit from the information they hold.
Our textbook How People Learn seems as though it will be a very helpful resource during the course of this class. Every individual person has a different way of learning new things. In chapter one, it is said that teachers/professors cannot just give an informational lecture and expect the student to remember what was said. The student will retain the information better if it can be experienced hands on, or associated with something that is already known. When learning new things, preconceived and prior knowledge must be kept in mind. A learner has a better chance of remembering something if it can be built on or associated with an already known fact. Also, when prior knowledge may not be correct, and teacher must know what knowledge the student possesses in order to best correct that way of thinking.
I believe that this textbook will be quite useful to me personally to understand how I myself am able to learn to information and how others learn. The more I know about how the human being learns, the more effective I can be in my future career. I look forward to working through the course this semester, and taking what I learn to help others learn also.
Because I have experience working in an academic library, it would be presumed that I will continue working in an academic library when I am finished at the School of Information. However, I do have an interest in working with preservation and conservation, and interests in Youth and Young Adult librarianship. As a child, I loved to read, devouring series after series of books. I read the Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Babysitter's Club, The Saddle Club, and hundreds of other books. I parents would have to pry me away from my fourth book of the day to force me to get some fresh air. I want to be able to encourage children to explore the world of literature, to love the classics, and get lost in the fantasies that are hidden within book covers.
While reading through the competencies of Youth librarians, there was one in particular that struck me: "Instructs children in the use of library tools & resources, empowering them to choose materials & resources on their own." I feel that this is very important to stress to children from early on in their lives. By letting children choose their own materials to read, we can let them learn of their own interests. True, we may point them in a direction that we believe would interest them, but in the end, the choice is up to the patron, no matter his/her age.
As I stated above, another interest of mine is preservation and working with special/rare collections. The academic library where I work has a special collection or works published in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. I have had a lot of experience working with these books, and working to preserve them to be enjoyed and used for research by people around the world. The longer these materials can be preserved, digitally and in print, the longer patrons can benefit from the information they hold.
Our textbook How People Learn seems as though it will be a very helpful resource during the course of this class. Every individual person has a different way of learning new things. In chapter one, it is said that teachers/professors cannot just give an informational lecture and expect the student to remember what was said. The student will retain the information better if it can be experienced hands on, or associated with something that is already known. When learning new things, preconceived and prior knowledge must be kept in mind. A learner has a better chance of remembering something if it can be built on or associated with an already known fact. Also, when prior knowledge may not be correct, and teacher must know what knowledge the student possesses in order to best correct that way of thinking.
I believe that this textbook will be quite useful to me personally to understand how I myself am able to learn to information and how others learn. The more I know about how the human being learns, the more effective I can be in my future career. I look forward to working through the course this semester, and taking what I learn to help others learn also.
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