Library Think Tank

I recently watched a video of Daniel Pink discussing his book, Drive, with a group at my school to discuss its implications for education, which, of course, led me to think about its implications for student research.  As Pink explains, studies indicate that extrinsic rewards only work if the task is above “rudimentary cognitive skills” — “for simple, straightforward tasks…tasks that are algorithmic, a set of rules where you have to just follow along and get a right answer.”  We all know that true research or inquiry is the polar opposite of this type of task.  No matter how many processes we create to explain the process of inquiry (Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process, Eisenberg and Berkowitz’s Big6, Stripling’s Model of Inquiry and many more) even those frameworks acknowledge that it is not a linear process; it’s messy and murky and a perfect example of the type of task that Pink describes as needing “conceptual, creative thinking.”  Yet, even with the incredible opportunity that an inquiry project provides; I still hear students say that they’ve done this before “tons of times.”  They describe it as a hurdle…something they have to get through for the class.  These descriptions definitely don’t scream intrinsic motivation, but I believe we can change that.  

Firstly, there might be some issue with the tasks we assign and how we label them.  When I was still teaching English, I realized that I was using the term research for both smaller reporting projects and an extended inquiry project when they are quite different tasks and involve far different skills.  As Carol Gordon explains,

The research assignment acts as a reporting exercise when student involvement is limited to information gathering, which is usually demonstrated by reading, taking notes, and writing a summary. Reporting has masqueraded as researching for so long that the terms are used interchangeably.

For example, when students were doing brief reports on historical aspects of a novel to help their understanding before reading it, I called that research.  When I was expecting them to do in-depth inquiry that required skills such as the development of their own topic and questions, the synthesizing of multiple sources, and the creation of an original argument, I still called it research.  Though this might seem like a small distinction, it shouldn’t surprise me that students began working on the in-depth research project in the same way as the report – building lists of facts from a source and moving on.  They didn’t realize that the in-depth research project required skills extending far beyond those of reporting until we did some explicit lessons and scaffolding assignments geared toward breaking out of “reporting mode.”  However, this is just one thing we can learn from Drive; next time, we’ll look closely at the factors Pink describes as leading “to the better performance, not to mention personal satisfaction” and how those can relate to research. 

Gordon, Carol. “Students As Authentic Researchers: A New Prescription for the High School Research Assignment.” American Association of School Librarians. American Library Association, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013.

Pink, Daniel. “RSA Animate – Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us.” RSA Animate. N.p., 8 Apr. 2010. Web. 29 Apr. 2013.

Cross-posted on Flying Off the Shelf

The librarians are showing off their alumni spirit.   Yesterday, Janelle Hagen sported her favorite Pitt t-shirt.   Today I decided to demonstrate my Wisconsin pride by donning my beloved library school hat.   If Rutgers had a seat at the table this year, I have no doubt that Heather Hersey would have gotten in on the action.   It’s March Madness at the Pigott Library!

During the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, we set up computers and a big screen TV to show all of the games.   The idea was spearheaded by Julie Johnson, our media specialist, a number of years ago.   The games build community on a number of levels.   It is fun to see students and faculty members cheering on their favorite teams during free periods.   The student newspaper runs an ESPN bracket competition.   Anyone in the Lakeside community who wants to play is welcome.  March Madness gives our faculty, staff, students and administration a common language for banter and a light-hearted reason for camaraderie.

Rapport with students is a high priority for our team.   Due to the fact that the Pigott Library is one of the few public spaces one campus where students are held to a consistent level of behavioral expectations, there is definitely an ebb and flow to the library team’s approval rating with students.    The goodwill and fun atmosphere created during the tournament helps to rebuild our hero status, even if it is only for a few days.   The countless thank yous are appreciated.

“Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.”

– Francis Bacon “Of Studies”

Francis Bacon knew what he was talking about!  He realized that reading and writing were simply not enough.  Conferring was the step that he put at the middle like a bridge between taking in ideas and creating our own.  But what has happened to that bridge in schools?  Sometimes it is misperceived as cheating among students or providing too much assistance if the conference is with a faculty member, but even in schools that encourage it, conferring is sometimes overlooked as an important research process tool.

This is my second year doing research conferences with our junior US History/American Studies students.  One of the main goals of the conference is modeling how to attack a difficult research task.  As you would expect, each research conference is different because they come to us at different parts of the process and with different skills.  It involves a lot of deep questioning and investigating on our end…kind of like a doctor’s visit.  Students often have tunnel vision when it comes to research, so we model approaches to various research skills that students may not traditionally take.  We may focus on strategies for narrowing topics, finding varied levels of sources, or connecting ideas.  The result is an email of the sources we found together and discussions we had so the teacher can see where the student is.  It also allows us to clarify some of the comments we make about their citations.

Initially, I thought the conferences would be all about sources and search strategies, but as I do more of them, I see that several students need scaffolding for how to approach the assignment.  I find myself asking more (and hopefully better) questions of the teachers regarding the assignment itself, so I can help direct students.

This time we asked students to send us the following in an email beforehand and then used their response to prep for the meeting.  This brief email also served as a way to gage their progress so far.

Tell me about your topic, including how it has developed/changed since you wrote your proposal.  Then tell me a bit about the information you have found so far, which sources have been most helpful, and what types of information you still need to look for or have been unable to find.

I have to admit that I really let myself go astray several times during this round of conferences.  I got caught up with being a “source superhero” instead of ensuring that the conferences were just as much about skills and strategies that can transfer to other projects.  I became too focused on speedily providing cool sources and content.  The tension between giving students great sources for a project and providing them with skills and strategies for the current project and the next is a dilemma we will always have, especially with our time-stretched teens.  However, next time, I am committed to making sure students do the majority of the searching, keeping my question-asking stance, and focusing on skills and strategies that they can use on any future research task.

The excitement and buzz around Maker Spaces is being compared to that of the early days of personal computers.  A Maker Space is defined as “collaborative workshops where young people gain practical hands-on experience with new technologies and innovative processes to design and build projects…a flexible environment where learning is made physical by applying science, technology, math, and creativity to solve problems and build things” (makerspace.org).

“The first step to being able to do something is to understand your own accomplishments,” MAKE Magazine founder Dale Dougherty recently said at this months’ American Library Association Mid-Winter conference in Seattle Washington.  He added, “We are not going to create a generation of kids who are interested in science and technology by having them read textbooks.”  Dougherty has been a driving force in encouraging libraries to redefine “tools” and expand their ideas of programming.   Making can include anything from creating homemade holiday cards to designing solutions for providing clean drinking water to rural areas.  The ability to prototype and physically design abstract ideas is not only something that is plausible, but also possible- due to technological innovations, crowdsourcing and access to inexpensive materials.

Innovation and creativity is in our blood, and there is something very human about the process of making.  Steve Jobs is quoted as saying, “everything around you that you call life was made up by people who were no smarter than you.”  This program would encourage this innovation and creativity among all students, faculty and staff.  It is an opportunity to allow students to create even if they are not enrolled in an art or computer science course.  It will allow for leadership opportunities and apprenticeships with existing programs and provide doorways to other disciplines.  The program will encourage networking, peer collaboration and community involvement.  By allowing students to use their creativity and imagination, we predict personal growth, invention, connected learning and entrepreneurship.

The Educational Enrichment Fund would allow for partnerships in the community with organizations like Metrix CreateSpace, Microsoft Garage, and the University of Washington Engineering and Information Schools.  Many resources exist to help Maker Spaces get off the ground, including Make Magazine, the American Library Association, and Makerspace.org.

The program would include DIY, crafts, instruction, hands on experience, art projects, wearables, bookmaking, and working with Arduino electronic prototyping technology.   It will also include: guest teachers, opportunities for student apprenticeships; procedures and demonstrations, collaboration with community members and hobbyists, networking, literacy, entrepreneurship, research and invention.

We are still in the “Beta” stage of developing our plan for “Taking on Making”.  However, we would like to start this March with a partnership at the Middle School where we will have several DIY workshops and gain an interest and following among students.  The next phase will be an on-going series called “Maker Mondays” (to replace Movie Mondays) and would be a weekly afterschool led program in the Upper School Think Tank.  Our ultimate goal is to work cross-departmently and create a permanent Maker Space for our students to work.

Every January our team spends the month preparing for the department review.   This involves a combination of gathering usage statistics from our databases and catalog, surveying students, creating individual reflections and gathering readings that support our vision to share with the admin team.

Our goal in gathering data is to notice patterns or trends.   As I looked at our database statistics, I was reminded of a dilemma that I have been shelving for a while now.   Despite the fact that virtually all of our database usage statistics have gone up, Safari Montage has gone down significantly over the past three years.  Safari Montage is our streaming video database.   I was drawn to the company based on the quality of their content.   What other company has publishers like BBC, NASA, National Geographic and PBS?  Unfortunately when it comes to playing the videos on individual laptops, we’ve had inconsistent results.   There are a variety of reasons for this.   Lakeside’s philosophy of not having a single, locked down image for student and faculty laptops is likely the top culprit.   Regardless of the reasons, if teachers can’t rely on a product working on demand in their classroom, they won’t use it.   If they can’t ensure that students will be able to do their assignments in a flipped classroom model, they won’t assign them.

When trying to solve this problem, there are a number of key questions to consider:

• How will teachers who have invested a tremendous amount of time and effort into creating playlists for their classes feel about switching to another system?   How can we alleviate growing pains during the transition?
• Are we at the point that there are enough videos freely available online (YouTube, Vimeo, TED Talks) and through open courseware (Khan Academy, Coursera, EdX) and that we no longer need to subscribe to a video database?
• Have any new products come on the scene in the last few years that rival Safari Montage’s content?

After a bit of research, I stumbled on Facts On File Curriculum Video On Demand.   I was thrilled to see that they offer engaging content from Films Media Group.    We have a preview for the next month and I am looking forward to the comparison.  Do any librarians out there have any feedback on this product?

The question of video database platforms reminds me of why I love being a school librarian.  The information landscape is constantly evolving and we truly need to be life-long learners in order to stay current.    Heather Hersey’s last post highlights why watching videos rather than simply reading can boost content retention.    It is a good reminder of why we need to find a solution to our video database issues.  What’s best for students is at the core of our decision making process.

Recently, a group of my colleagues and I read Brain Rules by John Medina.  It was a fascinating book filled with practical implications.  This year, thanks to my colleague, Janelle Hagen, I also learned how to use Camtasia and combine it with animation tools like GoAnimate.  Inspired by the flipped classroom movement, the library team decided to focus on creating tutorial videos.  I was excited by the fact that teachers could assign a video for homework, have students take our quiz, and instantly get feedback on how much support they need for this topic.  However, after reading Brain Rules, the use of videos in the library curriculum encourages me for a different reason.

In the chapter titled “Sensory Integration (Rule #9),” Medina urges educators to “stimulate more of the senses.”  He refers to the work of cognitive psychologist, Richard Mayer, which shows that students learn better when information is given through two modes (i.e. sight and hearing) versus one.  Not only did students have better recall but it also lasted longer (208). Two of Mayer’s other findings made me feel like we were on the right track with our videos.  According to Medina, Mayer’s work has shown that

“Students learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.”

“Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation and on-screen text”  (210).

Though I have a long way to go in my video creation skills, this research has strengthened my resolve to make quality videos with engaging animations and narrations that students can then watch and re-watch if necessary.  This can also free up time for the library team to meet with students more frequently to focus on the process of research rather than the features of it (e.g. in-text citations, how to find preformatted citations).  They can also serve as a precursor to concepts that require more critical thinking, such as paraphrasing and evaluating sources.   Videos and their accompanying quizzes can provide an overview of basic content and check for understanding, so librarians will know where students are and what to cover during our precious time in class with students.

Though they take a long time to create, the promise of library videos to improve student learning makes them worth it.  Too see our current collection of videos both created by us and by the companies of the products we use, see our LibGuide.  You can also see all of our “homemade” videos on our Vimeo channel.

“Can you help me find a book?”

It’s that moment we’ve been trained for.  We’re ready for this. We have scoured the latest book lists, we read library journals, we make a point of reading as much as possible… we are librarians!  So why is this so hard to do?

Reader’s advisory causes the most anxiety for most librarians I know.  Reading is such a personal thing.  Recommending a television show or even music is one thing.  If you don’t like it, you change the channel… but books are a whole different animal.  One person’s favorite may not line up with another.  You may find a book that is absolutely fabulous but may challenge the values of the person you are recommending it for.  There are so many fine lines.

“Tell me about a book that you liked.”  This is the question Librarian extraordinaire Nancy Pearl suggests starting with.  Not, “What was the last thing you read?”, or “What authors do you like?”  These questions cause people to freeze up and feel like they are being tested, which is not the point.  Our job is to find a book that they are going to enjoy.  One that enriches their lives a little bit and one where they come back with a smile on their face, or at least a point of reference whether we were on the right track or not. It is a hard job but there are a lot of people who have created tools and resources to help us out.  Some of the tools I use regularly are:

GoodReads

Young Adult Library Association

NoveList (Accessed through SPL)

Library Thing

During a TedTalk-style professional development day a few years ago, a colleague from the high school spoke about alternatives to the almighty powerpoint presentation. He suggested that a more robust alternative, an infographic would be the next best thing.  Infographics are visual representations of complex information presented in a concise and clear manner. The tools required in the creation of infographics were not readily available to everyone, but not anymore. Recently, there has been a proliferation of web apps that make the creation of an infographic easier. Take a look here for some great resources to get you started and read library-guru Joyce Valenza’s article, Infographics as an Infolit Product. (Check out her blog, NeverEndingSearch in School Library Journal for more on how she uses infographics at her school.) Wouldn’t this be a wonderful way for students to synthesize information and assess their knowledge or understanding of a research project? I intend to spend some time playing with many of these. Stay tuned!