Guided Inquiry 4: Teaching Retrieving Skills - Assessing

photo by Jeremiah Owyang

There are many sources for summative assessment at the end of the guided inquiry process, as well as some formative assessment. Focus on Inquiry states:

In the context of classroom activities or an inquiry activity, the
teacher provides opportunities for students to:
• create an information pathfinder (step-by-step plan for
gathering resources); see the sample activity on page 57
• complete a list of sources consulted
• hand in notes, webs, note cards or other note-taking
formats
• write/talk about their retrieval strategy and what worked
and did not work
• write/talk about the sources they found most useful and
why.

Notice that the first three tips do not include final product or presentation and the last two tips are aimed at reflective and metacognitive coals for students (and lead into the next post on Thinking and Reflecting on Retrieving Information); bear in mind that we are addressing assesment for the information retrieval process only at this point.

In Manitoba, the Department of Education, Citizenship and Youth included a chapter on Integrated Learning through Inquiry: A Guided Inquiry Planning Model in Independent Together: Supporting the Multilevel Learning Community. Blackline Masters and Sample Masters have also been provided, which is useful for seeing how some educators work on assessment for integrated inquiries, both formative and summative. See Sample 1 here and Sample 2 here.

Guided Inquiry 5: Teaching Retrieving Skills - Thinking About and Reflecting on Retrieving

photo by karpov the wrecked train

In guided inquiry, it is expected that students will reflect on their learning as they construct meaning. Focus on Inquiry tells readers during the retrieving phase we should teach students to ask questions such as:

• Which resources are most useful?
• Where did I find the most useful resources?
• Will my topic focus still work?

These may seem like simple questions, but they require critical thinking, evaluation, judgment, comparisons, and so on - and they may also lead to a major shift in student process if, for example, an individual determines that the answer to the last question is a resounding "No".

In my practice I have seen a shift for some educators to infuse student reflection into learning processes (moreso in early years, middle years and secondary ELA courses). Greatly open-ended reflection questions often do not elicit useful answers for students or teachers, so how do you narrow down reflective pieces to make them more helpful? Ignacio looked this issue in relation to the information search process:

Instructors must make adjustments as the term progresses and continually be attuned to the learner's development. Teaching requires improvisation and flexibility (Schon, 1983). Strategies also need to be differentiated and tailored to each student's particular needs. Yet the help they received was also personalized through feedback on assignments, in-class coaching, and out-of-class conferencing. User-friendly digital library interfaces are not enough; skilled mediation and intervention will always be necessary.

Conferencing is one way that I have found to be particularly helpful; oral reports about successes, frustrations, and how-I-found-this-information are sometimes more illuminating than written forms can provide. Feedback on assingments and in-class coaching seem like obvious tips, but the point I take from Ignacio is that for reflection to be efficient during the retrieval process, teachers and teacher-librarians must provide the guidance necessary to help them find the right track.

In my province, Manitoba, Integrated Learning through Inquiry: A Guided Planning Model suggests these Considerations for Reflection:

• Debrief the process students used in inquiry, and ask students how they
would do things differently next time.
• List the questions students now have about the topic and discuss how
they differ from the questions that prompted the inquiry.
• Identify questions that students would like to pursue in a new inquiry.
• Discuss the importance of this learning to students’ understanding of the
world.

Blackline Masters associated with the same document also
contains tips on both shared/negotiated reflection as well as student-led reflection (in the Applying Inquiry Stage) as well as directing educators in "facilitating students' reflections on their learning to focus their inquiry plans". A template for Group Inquiry reflections is available from CORE Education, but it could easily be adapted for individual use.

One good source for a daily reflection is Laslie Preddy's site, which contains a useful Daily Reflection template from Big 6.


References

Alberta Learning (2004). Focus on inquiry: A teacher’s guide to implementing inquiry-based learning. Edmonton, AB: Alberta Learning. Available at http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/curriculum/bySubject/focusoninquiry.pdf

Ignacio, E. (1997). Teaching reflection: information seeking and evaluation in a digital library environment. In Library Trends, Mar 22. Retrieved from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Teaching+reflection:+information+seeking+and+evaluation+in+a+digital...-a019720301 on October 13, 2009

Guided Inquiry 6: Teaching Retrieving Skills - Gauge Feelings

photo by Casey Serin

Remember the video clip of Sam entering a cold, daunting new environment in the first of these posts? Have you ever displayed the same confused look as Sam as he steps out of the elevator when you were in the midst of research or information retrieval?

Students often feel overwhelmed by what they see as a huge volume of work involved in finding, anlayzing, and synthesizing information. Though Guided Inquiry is intended to be a process which includes educator assistance and intervention during those problematic times, students need to learn that the discomfort connected to working with new information is normal and natural. Kuhlthau has argued that an individual can have a "profound experience of uncertainty in the early stages of the information search process", and that it is necessary to consider "uncertainty as a natural, essential characteristic of information seeking rather than regarding the reduction of uncertainty as the primary objective of information seeking" .

Focus on Inquiry discusses the fact that students "often experience information overload during the Retrieving phase". Why? "[S]tudents’ 'need to know' is often not easily translated into the terminology and structure of the information system, and the information systems—such as the Dewey decimal system,online library catalogues, magazine and newspaper (periodical)indexes, and the World Wide Web—often are not particularly intuitive or user-friendly". We are also told that educators need to:

be alert to the feelings and physical outlets that may characterize information overload — anger, frustration, fatigue, irritability, leg jiggling, lack of focus — and help students to recognize these signs of overload. In addition to helping students understand that it is normal to experience such feelings during the inquiry process, teach students useful coping strategies, such as omission or filtering (ignoring or selecting certain categories of information), generalizing or twigging (broadening or narrowing the topic), or asking for help. Getting a large picture of the topic and its subcategories, by using whole-class or small-group activities, such as concept mapping or deciding what kinds of information might be appropriate for the topic, are helpful strategies for this phase, especially when information overload is, or may be, a problem.

To look at the problem of information a little more deeply and areas where educators can help (zones of intervention), Ignacio has nicely summed up Kuhlthau's 5 C's:

1. Collaborating -- the librarian or peer acts as a collaborator, which also situates the search process in a nonisolating context more typical of real world information seeking tasks.

2. Continuing -- Intervention is a continuous process because information problems are not static.

3. Conversing -- Conversation not only elicits more informed help from the librarian/counselor and feedback from peers but also helps students articulate and understand their information problem and, ultimately, to develop a metacognitive sense of where they are in a process.

4. Charting -- Charting is a system of using visual representations such as conceptual maps to manage and organize large or seemingly vague ideas, to recognize patterns and relationships, and to stimulate a cohesive sense of direction.

5. Composing -- Kuhlthau uses the example of journal writing which, she says, promotes reflection, formulation, and the development of constructs.

So where do teachers and teacher-librarians need to expand their roles in the area of student feelings and the zones of intervention as proposed by Kuhlthau and reiterated by Ignacio? Collaborating with other educators is de rigeur, but collaborating with students may be new to some. Continuing simply means that information problems are ongoing and issues may have to revisited regularly, but that isn't necessarily a big change for educators in the classroom or the library. Conversing in a specific sense to elicit feedback about feelings and reflective meaning may also be new for some. Charting is something I have normally only done in early stages of work, so I myself may have to revisit this "C". Composing, such as journal writing, is again a tool I have used in other manners, not for reflection in information retrieval processes, so again this would be a new use for me (and possibly for some others). How about you?

Guided Inquiry 7: Teaching Retrieving Skills - Conclusion

photo by frerieke

My essential question in my first blog post was:

What are some of the ways the role of a teacher-librarian or teacher change or grow within the context of the information retrieval process of guided inquiry learning?

In the process of creating this presentation, I have found that educators need to:
*become collaborators, not only with other educators, but with students as they use creativity and imagination to construct meaning
*allow sufficient time for exploration, prepare and plan for students to do so much more than a quick search; think of little details in order to sequence teaching searching strategies as well as organizational skills pertaining to searches
*prepare for reflecting pieces along the search process, guide students in metacognitive strategies


My questions for you: what are some of the other key role changes you see for educators embarking on guided inquiry information retrieval processes with students?

What elements of/skills and strategies for retrieving information are are not taught explicitly enough by teachers (or even teacher-librarians!)? Why do you think that is the case?

Winds of Change: Learning for the 21st Century

How will learning for the 21st century look? Here’s a brief introduction/anticipation guide:



To recap, the main elements of my vision are:

Online or distance education will be huge (like the keyboard seen above).

Professional development will be much more individualized and collaborative.

Internet filtering in schools will go the way of the floppy disk.

Libraries and teacher-librarians will lead to major changes in education and technology.


Distance education will take on a great role, with more and more learners using online tools to educate themselves. Universities have been using distance learning for quite some time, many high schools have been offering online learning opportunities, next middle years institutions will begin to see the possibilities for younger learners to work more independently. An educational technology expert in my school division recently indicated he foresees more online and blended learning because it “addresses both the need to differentiate instruction and learning and the cost effectiveness of delivery” (blended learning includes both online and face-to-face instruction).

There is some evidence to support the idea of online learning increasing in our schools. A recent study by the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) called K-12 Online Learning indicated that “the total number of K-12 students taking online or blended courses in 2007-08 in the U.S. was estimated at 1,030,000--up from 700,000 in the earlier study--and two-thirds of respondents said they expect their online enrollments will continue to grow.” The report also says that advanced students are benefiting, but so are those who seek extra help or credit recovery, as well as rural students. Perhaps online or blended learning will help close the rural/urban digital divide.

Although the Sloan Consortium study makes note of the fact that reportedly only 21 percent of those enrolled in fully online courses are kindergarten through fifth-grade students, that seems like a big number to me: were you aware that many young students were learning online? A report released by the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) last year suggests that a “blended approach combines the best elements of online and face-to-face learning. It is likely to emerge as the predominant model of the future--and to become far more common than either one alone."

Online and/or distance learning for and by educators will also be a major force in 21st century learning. One result of this shift is that professional development for educators will become both more individualized and collaborative. As more digital natives join the educational workforce, teaching communities will be swayed to offer more learning options to teachers who are not only web-savvy but also almost instinctively take to web 2.0 applications. When web 3.0 magically appears, educators will be riding the wave, not paddling madly after it or waving from the cold shore.

Jim Vanides reports “interest in online learning has been growing at a rapid pace, especially for professionals who find it inconvenient to attend face-to-face workshops or courses. This is particularly true for educators pursuing in-service professional development, as there is precious little time to be away from their classrooms.” Although those who haven’t taken online courses might not see them as collaborative as learning in bricks-and-mortar spaces, many of us who have done so see the shared opportunities as great.

Vanides writes that “the facilitation of rich and thoughtful discourse between participants becomes my principal endeavor…the freedom to focus on the students, encouraging conversations and questions that lead to better understanding, is in the end what makes teaching so rewarding”.

Other educational technology experts have weighed in on the subject of the collaborative nature of recent technologies, as well as possibilities for individualistic learning. In an article entitled Envisioning thE Future, Mark van ‘tHooft reports that “learning is becoming more personal yet collaborative and networked, portable and situated, ubiquitous and durable”.

Still doubtful of the power of online learning for educators? Vanides concludes that “Online professional development does work….[t]eachers participating in NTEN [National Teacher Enhancement Network]courses give high scores to the value of the experience, and in many cases report that they would not have been able to take such a class if it were face to face. Even teachers who have never participated in a course online before report a high level of satisfaction.”

Although many educators are seeing/will soon see the value of online learning, a bee in the bonnet is the problem of not being able to access many valuable resources at school due to divisional or district filtering policies. I feel strongly that Internet filtering will be all but eliminated in the 21st century. This big move won’t happen all at once. Teachers, teacher-librarians, and administrators will receive unlimited access first. Soon to fall away will be barriers to social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and then blocks to sites that include current key filtering words or phrases such as “games”. In the near future, only those sites containing “adult” scenes will be blocked in Canada – those are going to be blocked for the foreseeable future.

At the same time, some students have been blocked from accessing information about breast cancer because of the disallowed word “breast”, according to Matt Villano, so even those blacklisted keywords need to be reviewed. Villano says Julie Walker reported that in Finland, filtering is almost nonexistent - most students and teachers can access the Internet without valuable resources being blocked will-nilly.

Jerry Swiatek has written a thought-provoking blog post on this issue, giving the example of Google Life images being blocked in some parts of North America. How long until we start giving learners freedom to information?

If anyone is to help lead the foray into new technologies for education in the 21st century, teacher-librarians and educational media specialists if all stripes should be at the forefront. Months ago, I blogged about Joyce Valenza’s “Modest Manifesto” for teacher-librarians, and I think that many of the points she made are even more meaningful to me today. Her manifesto includes numerous statements that I want to direct your attention to, and (surprise!) some of them are directly related to my points above:

“Think outside the box about the concept of “collection.” That collection might include: ebooks, audiobooks, open source software, streaming media, flash sticks, digital video cameras, and much more! You lend this stuff.”

“Model respect for intellectual property in a world of shift and change. You encourage and guide documentation for media in all formats and recognize and lead students and teachers to the growing number of copyright-friendly or copy left portals. You understand Creative Commons licensing and you are spreading this gospel. Example of tool: Copyright Friendly Resources Pathfinder:”

“Organize the Web for learners. You have the skills to create a blog or website or wiki to pull together resources to meet the information needs of your learning community. That presence reflects your personal voice. It includes your advice as well as your links. You make learning an engaging and colorful hybrid experience. You intervene in the research process online while respecting young people’s need for independence.”

“Know this is only the beginning of social networking. Students will get to their MySpace accounts through proxy servers despite any efforts to block them. You plan educationally meaningful ways to incorporate student excitement (and your own) for social networking.”

“Seek out a professional learning network using social networking tools.”

“Continue to consider and revise your own 20/20 vision. Do you look ahead for what is coming down the road? Are you scanning the landscape? As the information and communication landscapes continue to shift, do you know where you are going? Do you plan for change? Not for yourself, not just for the library, but for the building, for your learners. Are you really leading? What does the information professional look like today? Ten years from today? If you do not develop strong vision, your vision will be usurped by the visions of others. You will not be able to lead from the center.”

What’s in the future for 21st century learning? As Valenza says, we need to plan for change and develop our vision. What’s your vision?

Professional Development, Educational Technology and Getting to the Deep End

Photo by Curtis Palmer

Have you ever heard a fellow teacher groan at the mention of an upcoming professional development seminar? I have - many, many times. I think for many teachers, a different approach to professional development is needed. When it comes to educational technology and PD, wouldn’t it make sense to try to get ahead of the curve, so that we are not reacting or responding way after the fact? There is already a sense, for some, that as digital immigrants we are like a huge flock of educators sitting on the edge of the water whole our digital native students are splashing happily away.

So what are we doing? Looking for waterwings? Still trying to find the most flattering swimwear? Or are we almost ready to start leading more swim classes?

Professional development for integrating technology is an absolute necessity if we believe that education can be improved greatly by embracing the positive learning aspects of web 2.0. In my last blog, I wrote about how many teachers have not been able to get out of the shallow end for numerous reasons. Christine R has also written some thought-provoking words about problematic PD, identifying 4 different areas of concern:

-Out of Date Professional Development
-Lack of time to play and plan
-Lack of collaboration
-Lack of differentiated PD

What are some of the roads to improving ed tech PD?

Last year I blogged about how using blogs for/as PD may be one way to individualize and move toward more relevant educator learning. But in a wider sense, what kind of general changes in approach could lead to more constructive PD?

I’ve been thinking about various professional development opportunities I have been involved in over the years. From cavernous rooms with one speaker to smaller spaces with many presenters, most of us have had experiences with occasionally informative gatherings, and downright irrelevant moments. But what about those PD opportunities where you heard some good ideas and suggestions, but weren’t able to continue one-on-one discussions about making the ideas reality in your school? Without time to revisit the PD concepts and create workable versions that fit the situation for you and your colleagues, you may have moved on and put it on the backburner. The problem of “Lack of collaboration” as defined by Christine R above is one I’ve seen many times. How can we fix it?

Camilla Gagliolo wrote a brief-but-good article entitled Help Teachers Mentor One Another, in which she states:

“Powerful learning takes place when teachers teach other teachers in a peer-to-peer network. The creation of a cadre of teacher leaders serving as peer coaches will help power up the professional learning community and provide differentiated professional development offerings.”

I know when I think about PD that I found helpful and continued to use, the times when I learned it on a one-on-one basis come to mind immediately. I felt much more comfortable learning from a colleague that I was friendly with, or even one I was slightly acquainted with, and it makes sense – just as my teaching is more helpful when I know my students, my mentor can skip what he knows I can already do and go right to the essential learning – no need for unnecessary repetition, going off on irrelevant tangents to my learning goals, and so on. Gagliolo goes on to give few suggestions, and here’s one I really like:

“[C]onsider creating a set of laminated “keys” on a key ring containing information on expert mentors/coaches in the learning community. Each key lists the name of an integration tool and the name of the teacher/mentor who is the local expert.”

Cool idea!!!!!! As a teacher who has worked in different schools on terms as short as two weeks to a year for the past three years, I am constantly asking, “Who the local tech guy/gal?”

The idea of creating PD that works for the learner needs to be much more in the forefront of those creating PD opportunities – that’s why I see collaboration and mentorship as offering many more chances for individualization and success. Judi Harris has created a series of articles outlining the need for learner-driven PD under the banner of “One Size Doesn’t Fit All”. In the first article, Harris notes that PD creators need to “know your teacher-students' professional learning needs and preferences”, as well as stating that educators need:

-continued on-site support as they experiment with new tools and techniques in their classrooms to ensure continued and productive use of new tools and ideas.

-30 hours of focused professional development on average to change teachers' professional practice.

In the second article, Harris echoes Gaglio’s suggestion for teacher technology mentoring:

Collaborative learning ETPD also can take the form of mentoring, in which someone knowledgeable in a particular content area or instructional approach works with individuals or small groups of teachers wishing to learn more in the mentor’s area of expertise. Peer coaching, also with either individuals or groups, can similarly occur either face-to-face or online.

And finally, Harris asserts that teacher professional development needs to be teacher-oriented:

“One of the keys to effective ETPD design is to match models to goals and both to participating teachers’ needs, preferences, and characteristics.”

I believe that collaborative learning, especially mentoring, is a great way to help teachers move towards more productive educational technology professional development. I’ll leave the last word to a report from the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory:

“A professional development curriculum that helps teachers use technology for discovery learning, developing students' higher-order thinking skills, and communicating ideas is new and demanding and thus cannot be implemented in isolation (Guhlin, 1996). In addition to working in pairs or teams, teachers need access to follow-up discussion and collegial activities, as required of professionals in other fields (Lockwood, 1999). Teachers also need time to discuss technology use with other teachers, whether face to face, through e-mail, or by videoconferencing (David, 1996). A networked computer on every teacher's desk can allow for greater interaction between educators. The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (1996) suggests that school districts find creative ways to build teacher networks so that teachers have additional opportunities to discuss the new instructional methods that technology promotes.”

More technology, less support: teaching and learning are not benefitting from the great techno-push

photo by Katie Lips

Educational technology has not improved teaching or learning in general because teachers are not able to explore, experience, and be trained in relevant uses. A great amount of teachers want to help students become technologically literate, but finding the time to work with new technology and incorporate it into meaningful lessons is a huge challenge - and it’s not getting any easier. As Oppenheimer (2003) has noted, “…teacher training takes serious doses of time, money and effort” (p. 306). He has also suggested that “as far as technology is concerned…the panopoly of demands on America’s teaching force is substantial, and rising.” (p.311). I think we can apply that last quote to Canada’s educators as well. In my division, teachers coach and head other school clubs, plan educational trips, work on numerous school committees, incessantly work on keeping up-to-date on resources and teaching methods, and in the last few years have continuously been working on changing assessment practices.

Other educators such as Larry Cuban (2001)have echoed these issues, citing a “lack of time available for teachers to find relevant software, judge its worth, and try out the products in classrooms” and saying that “training in relevant software and applications was seldom offered at the times that they needed them” (p. 97)

Kalkowski has attempted to figure out why teachers have not been able to integrate technology to the desired levels. One of the important findings was that teacher training needs to be more extensive and start earlier – in fact, when teachers are learning their profession.

“It has been shown that teachers teach how they were taught. (Norton & Gonzales, 1998). So, for beginning teachers, the teacher education faculty members must model effective use of technologies in their own classrooms (Cooper & Bull, 1997). Ropp (1999) conducted a longitudinal study during a preservice teacher education course that included hands-on technology training and classroom discussion of technology and found that students made significant improvements in technology proficiency, computer self-efficacy and computer coping strategies from the beginning to the end of the course. When Topp (1996) studied recent teacher graduates, he found that a computer-specific course was essential, especially one on computer integration, but that the technology education pre-service teachers felt they received was inadequate.”


Think about how you were taught to use technology in when you were attaining your education degree. Do you believe it was substantive and focused on integration in the classroom, or was it superficial and ineffective? My Teacher and Technology course involved creating a website, a PowerPoint presentation, and learning about computers themselves. In one of my courses students had the opportunity to create a short film. In essence, teacher candidates received a brief introduction to educational technology. Is that good enough?

One force in education that may have been able to assist teachers in technology integration is teacher-librarians. Unfortunately, education budgets across many parts of North America have not allowed for extensive teacher-librarian or library budgets. Froese-Germain (2001) suggests that the whole system is backward: “Paradoxically, while schools go about acquiring more information and communications technology, teacher librarian positions are being eliminated as a result of funding cutbacks” (p.3).

But is Froese-Germain’s position supported by evidence? Here’s a few more voices on the issue:

“The government, teachers, and the public agree that literacy is essential. Research
evidence supports the value of libraries to improving literacy. However, the drastic
cuts in resources are hitting school libraries particularly hard. Teacher-librarian time
is reduced or eliminated in many schools making library services less available to
students.” British Columbia Teachers’ Federation

“In 2005 Statistics Canada released a study documenting the dramatic decline of school libraries over the years. It found the median expenditure on the physical collection of libraries (including books and magazines) was a mere $2,000. Even more revealing was the finding that few schools had a full-time
teacher-librarian. Those most affected by this sad state of affairs are families unable to supplement their child’s learning with books and other resources in the home.” - Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives

From 2001–02 to 2007–08, the number of library specialist teachers in B.C. schools declined by 21 percent. – Pieta Wooley

So even though there has been a strong, clear push for overworked teachers to use more technology, the support has not been equally strong. There should be more and more teacher-librarians in schools – why isn’t that occurring?

Works Cited

Cuban, L. (2001). Oversold & underused: computers in the classroom. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Froese-Germain, B. (2001). A critical approach to technology - an anti-technology approach: putting education & technology in context. In But it’s only a tool! The politics of technology and education reform (pp.1-11). Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Oppenheimer, T. (2003). The flickering mind: the false promise of technology in the classroom and how learning can be saved. New York: Random House.


photo by Kevin Dooley