Categories Education
332 posts
Peter Morville writes: In fact, the LMS is ground zero for the future of the academic library. If these libraries hope to remain relevant, they must provide information and services at the point of need. Embedding librarians and LibGuides is a good start, but what’s most critical is an embeddable search widget. Students must have a quick, easy way to search the literature that’s relevant to their subject. So far, libraries have failed to meet this challenge. Discovery tools such as Summon and EDS come close, but coverage is spotty, and they lack support for local customization. Getting this right is not just important for libraries. A universal […]
In my Library Journal column “Office Hours,” I explored the concept of learning everywhere. Here’s a snip: This semester, I’m teaching a new class based on Mezirow’s concepts of transformative learning, the work of Char Booth in the arena of user instruction, and the Learning 2.0 model…. We’re working with consultant Polly-Alida Farrington, who teamed up three groups of my students with two libraries and a school library consortium in New York State. Over the course of our 15-week semester, each group is adapting, designing, and running a “mini-23 Things” for its assigned organization. It’s been a fun, chaotic, and messy experience. In our weekly group […]
Over the past few weeks I’ve been reflecting on the connections I make in a digital world. The main purpose for the reflection was to fulfil a MIS assessment on Online Personal Learning Networks [OPLN] in Dr. Michael Stephens Fall 2012 Transformative Learning & Technology Literacies class. I think that Richardson and Mancabelli’s description of an OPLN as a unique learning environment where ‘we learn what we want or need to learn using the vast resources and people online’ is fitting (2011, p.3). This method of informal learning complements traditional learning and helps us to function better in all aspects of […]
Learning Everywhere Reprinted with permission from the Australian School Library Association Inc. (ASLA) ACCESS, Vol. 26, No. 4, November 2012. A lot has changed in the years since I visited Australia and spoke at the ASLA conference in 2009. Rapid technological advances continue to change the way we communicate, share and learn. The landscape can be defined in these terms: participatory, connected, pervasive. In A New culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown, the authors discuss the impact of technology on education and on society. The authors argue that […]
When I finished library school around the year 2000, the shift from print to online was well underway. OPACs were common place, CD towers had already migrated to online databases, and teaching search strategies to students was seen (by librarians and faculty member alike) as an essential piece to teaching the research paper. Yet, even as the changes were happening around us, the mental models used by our students were not moving as quickly. The essential information literacy problem we faced was that students tended to believe almost anything they found on the web, especially if a website had a […]
My new column is up at LJ: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/11/opinion/michael-stephens/an-evolving-lis-core-office-hours/ User studies—research concerning patterns of information use in our everyday lives, in times of crisis, and as members of certain populations (students, the aging, etc.)—define the first part of this core. Appreciating the diversity of cultures in relation to library service should come early, as our grads will be citizens of the world. Second, the core would include an emphasis on the ever-changing technological landscape. This might include coding, hardware, and all those things once deemed the realm of the IT department but would also include understanding the architecture of participation and […]
StephensCV2012 Just updated my CV for my 2nd year retention, tenure & promotion dossier. Curious about the dossier? I made a video!
Aaron Schmidt and I have combined our columns this month for a double length examination of the site visit assignment in LIS schools: The most responsive libraries would aim to make a change based on the suggestion of the student. The reports and other data would be shared with the staff and the recommendations for improvements evaluated and implemented. The findings might also be shared externally or with the library’s governing body to promote not only transparency but the positive aspects of the library partnering with a library school. These partnerships should be encouraged and leveraged as much as possible. […]