Information Literacy 707

Reflection on lecture of 22 August 2017

Threshold Concepts and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education

I really enjoyed this lecture. It was so informative. We covered the following concepts and frameworks in class:

Threshold Concept

Learning is a steady progression. It is impossible to predict how any individual will learn concepts and new information. We can test their learning abilities yes, but not know with accuracy how students understand new information.

Learning as a "stepped" pattern.

Here questions are asked concerning the learners:

How is learning acquired?
What is the learner experiencing?

Students will now understand better, and try to remember and revise.

Learning as a series of slopes and steps:

Learning is like trying to climb a hill. Learner sees the top of the hill, but on the way there he/she experience struggles. Eventually when they reach the top, they discover there are other hills to climb. So what are these struggles in the Threshold Concept? These struggles are understanding new concepts. At first you don't understand and you feel anxious, because you are confused as a student, but the more you hear these concepts, the more you understand them. It is a process. You learn bits and pieces at a time. Not all students learn the same way. Meyer and Land came up with the Threshold Concept theory, which is "premised on the notion that, in all disciplines, there are certain concepts, or certain learning experiences, which are akin to passing through a portal, permitting the learner to enter new conceptual territory in which things formerly not perceived are brought into view. These learning thresholds are often the points at which students experience difficulty." In other words, students are reaching enlightenment at the end of the portal or tunnel. The Threshold Concept is based on work emanating. It is a portal or gateway gaining a new view of a subject. It is a "liminal", place where anxiety is experienced. Student find him/herself in space which is challenging, unsettling, where the student may become "stuck".

Learner progression:
Learner got a "Basic Understanding" of a concept.
Progression toward  more sophisticated understanding.

Traversing the threshold.
Over the threshold through continued exposure. You form your way of understanding once you over the threshold. Your behaviour & disposition will eventually change. When your thinking changes you start to think like a professional.

Threshold Concepts:
Geology - the scale of geolic time
Economics - oportunity cost
Accounting - depreciation
Biology - photosynthesis
Rhetoric Studies - Genres

According to Meyer and Land there is no easy method of learning. It is a messy journey where you move back and forth all the time.

Characteristics of Threshold:

Transformative: Once you understand it, a transformation takes place. You will have a new way of thinking. New perspective. Now you will start to think and behave like a professional does. Once the student has  internalised the concept that scholarship is a conversation, she/he will understand a scholarly article, and that it is not a stand-alone document in a database. It is not just one voice, but a conversation among experts.

Integrative: Exposes the hidden interrelatedness of a phenomenon. It allows you to integrate other disciplines into the threshold concept to create a better understanding. The aim is to get the learner to become a T-shape student.

Irreversible: Once understood, the learner is unlikely to forget it, and it cannot be unlearned. Once grasped, it cannot be ungrasped in other words.

Bounded: It is unique to a discipline, beyond reasonable doubt. Define academic territories. Certain terms are bound to certain disciplines.

Troublesome: When the student struggle to understand the concept. It is like you hit a road block in your learning. Student is not familiar with certain concepts. It is still very new to him/her. As a result, the student will feel anxious and find concepts difficult.

Liminal (transitional) space: The learner is between understanding the information, and a state of achievement and self doubt.

After the lecture we wrote a test just to check if we understood what we learnt thus far.

Information Literacy 707

Reflection on lecture of 15 August 2017

This weeks class was very interesting. I learnt alot.  The lecturer basically covered the following questions, and more. I will now briefly discuss:

What is theory?
It is a model to clarify understanding based on years of observation and experimentation.

What is a model?
Model is a theoretical construct. It was experimented and designed. It is a mental picture that helps one understand something that cannot easily be observed or experienced directly.

Types of  learning theories?
Behaviourism (Skinner, Pavlov)
Cognitism
Socialism learning
Constructivism

We also learnt about scaffolding. Lecturer mentioned that scaffolding is very important. Scaffolding is basically when  we are building on content. For example when an educator can teach, he/she can reflect on his/her own approach. Teacher can later check how students grasped the information. In other words the educator check for understanding. Sometimes the educator would need to assist or intervene to submit a better end product.
We went over the following in detail.

Behaviourism:
This theory is based on a stimulus-response. If you pass a test, the student will be rewarded with a lolipop. In this theory we don't need to go into the mental functioning. Learner is seen as an empty vessel. Here the learner passively absorbs the information.

Positive reinforcement:
This involves stimulus that increases the likelihood of a particular response such as receiving a gold star for doing homework in class.

Negative reinforcement:
Increases the probability of the desired response. It can stop something that is a undesirable stimulus. It will lead to a positive outcome.

Punishment:
This is often confused with negative reinforcement, however punishment is used to erase undesirable behaviours by presenting a distressing stimulus when the behaviour occurs. For example (Paying a fine)

Cognitism:
This theory is teacher centered. It focus on cognition. Example: How the learner is thinking or absorbs the information. This theory revolves around: Analyzing, constructing and applying of information. Lecturer mentioned that this is important, because we will use it when we construct our own learning outcomes.This theory is intrinsically motivated. You have alot of knowledge already, which you have learnt outside school. You basically add to previously learnt information. The student is not clueless.

Vygotsky:
According to Vygotsky, children learn best in zone of proximal development. In that area they learn with the support and guidance of educator or teacher. Students learn quicker this way. This is a cognitive level where the childs problem solving ability develops.

Bloom's
The most comprehensive analysis of learning.
Levels 4-6 are considered higher level thinking skills. Here students are expected to apply knowledge to solve problems, and to create new knowledge.

The lecturer briefly mentioned:
Blooms taxonomy. Lower order thinking:
Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analysing, Evaluating and Creating.

Social Learning:
This has nothing to do with skills, but belief. You learn from seeing what others do in a social context. Learning through observing/modelling what others do. Self efficacy: When individuals believe they are capable of performing learned behaviours.

Constructivism:
This theory is all about interaction. You cannot learn by sitting passively. Learning is an active agent, internalizing, reshaping or transforming information, and constructing meaning or understanding. Using constructivism utilises interactive teaching strategies to create meaningful context. Example: Role play, debating, allowing students to engage in real world activities like internships. Learning as experience- Problem Based Learning, scaffolding, inquiry and discovery learning. Knowledge is constructed based on personal eperiences. Learner is not a blank slate, but brings past experiences and cultural factors to a situation.

This covers in a nutshell what we covered in class. There is more, but we did not focus on that too much.

Lbs 707.

Reflection on lecture of 8 August 2017:

Mrs. Mohamed introduced the class to Information Literacy LBS 707. She made very clear what to expect at the end of the course.

Mohamed briefly spoke about the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy. She informed us that we will be using this framework a lot. We will also compare the older framework to the new one.

I was informed that we will be required to do weekly assessments, weekly BLOGS as well as weekly group activities.

Lecturer told us that at the end of the course we should be able to:

• Define information literacy
• Understand the historical evolution of the academic teaching library.
• Be able to apply the ACRL standards in our own lives when doing research.
• Determine the extent of information needed.
• Access the needed information effectively and efficiently.
• Evaluate information and its sources critically.

Mrs Mohamed briefly explained the evolution of the academic teaching library.