Scholarship As Conversation

What is meant by Scholarship as Conversation?

As a student or working professional, it is no secret that research is a crucial part of our academic and professional journeys. It is through research that new ideas are "formulated, debated and weighted" against each other to negotiate meaning. Much like the saying "there's always two sides to a story", concepts and queries generate varying opinions formulated from varying perspectives. Thus, it is essential for experts to seek out and consider these varying responses, raise questions and provide their own opinions, giving everyone a choice and a "voice", before making a final decision...thus scholarly conversation is born!

Information Creation

Like a never-ending story, information literate students recognise that the process of information creation is an ongoing journey rather than a final destination. They are also able to identify and acknowledge contributions made by others, and critically evaluate these contributions by identify barriers and gaps, highlighting and summarising changes in opinions and differences in perspective, and make meaningful contributions for further development.

Do we as students engage in scholarly conversation?

Absolutely! With the amount of research that we have to do for our academic careers, we are faced with information on a daily basis. With new developments occurring all the time, it is important to keep abreast with these changes. This is most commonly found when doing research for proposals or assignments that need to be completed. When researching a topic, you already know that there are different angles you can approach and you have to consider various expert opinions and highlight any contradictions that are noted. We also have an opportunity t make our own voices heard as we are required to draw conclusions and give our own interpretation of people's views and use them to strengthen our own arguments and opinions.

How can this concept be enhanced?

Students can be divided into several groups and given a particular article to read or topic to cover. They will then be questioned on the article and everyone interprets things differently, thus you will get a variety of viewpoints which may be totally different from what you as the instructor/facilitator imagined. This can be done in a classroom setting or tutorial group.

Much like scaffolding speaks about building up knowledge, information creation involves having a "conversation" with all the researchers which includes critically evaluating their contributions to the pool of knowledge, examining existing evidence supporting these theories or opinions, and also identifying differences, gaps and opportunities for new development. Understanding the vital role each voice plays, including our own, could lead to a transformation of how we view information and how we do research!

Crossing the THRESHOLD to New CONCEPTS

Like stepping out of darkness into the light, threshold concepts have been understood as
passing through a gateway toward a new level of learning. These concepts were introduced to the world of teaching and learning by British educationists, Meyer & Land, who considered these challenging "portal gateways" a must for students to cross if they were ever to become field experts and develop a professional identity. They further believed that this learning was not a once-off revelation or transformation, but a journey whereby there is a constant development of understanding and acquiring of knowledge - a series of steps along the way.

"A suspended state of learning"

Threshold concepts are what moves learners from being stuck in what Meyer & Land describes as a liminal space, which is challenging and unsettling, to enlightenment. Understanding where and why learners get stuck can help educators and librarians use their disciplinary expertise to guide, suggest, devise or implement helpful methods which assist learners with transcending the learning threshold.

Examples of Threshold Concepts in Disciplines

Geology: the scale of geological time
Writing/rhetoric studies: audience, purpose, situated practice, genre
Accounting: depreciation
Economics: opportunity costs
Biology: photosynthesis

Features of Threshold Concepts:

Transformative: explains a conceptual or mental shift that is characterised by a new way of thinking whereby the learner begins to think the way the professional does and not just as a student.

Example: Trainee chef learning about temperature control.

Integrative: refers to mastering a threshold concept allows learners to relate or make meaningful connections between different disciplines and their own which is referred to as "T" shaped learning. This helps learners make their own transformations within their own discipline by blending what they learn from other disciplines with what they know about their own.

Irreversible: simply put, once something is understood or learned, it cannot be forgotten or unlearned. 

Example: Adam and Eve. Once they ate the forbidden fruit and gained knowledge of good and evil, they could not simply undo this knowledge. 

Bounded: defines the boundaries of a particular discipline and trim the parameters of a curriculum. Concepts are considered unique to only that one discipline.

Example: Cultural studies would need to understand the barriers between high and low cultures, where as in English, there are no such concepts in English Literature. 

Troublesome: refers to difficulties encountered that cause learners to hit a "roadblock" in their learning.
Example: Learning statistics, students are taught techniques and formulas which they memorise in order to pass, however they fail to grasp the statistical lens which allows this world to make sense, so even if they manage to pass, they still don't understand the basic principles that separate statistics from mathematics.

Learning Theories

We all have our own theories. Theories of life, of love, ethics, etc. etc. But how would you explain what a theory is? In simple terms, a theory is a model used to explain something in order to clarify and assist with understanding, with particular reference to general principles. Though there are many different types of theories, we will be focusing on some of the most common learning theories.

What are learning theories?

learning provides insight into complex processes and factors that influence learning and provide information that will produce results. Understanding this is a key factor in helping one understand how people understand and learn things, so that you would know how to effectively communicate or convey information to others. This is the very heart of information literacy. 

Classical Theories and Renowned Theorists

Also see BF Skinner

Behaviourism

Ivan Pavlov, was a Russian psycholgist most well-known for his famous "dog experiment". In this experiment, Pavlov noticed that dogs were "hard-wired" to salivate whenever they saw food. He then decided to ring a bell (neutral stimulus) every time he gave the dogs food (unconditioned stimulus). This was repeated over a period of time. over the course of  the experiment, Pavlov would only ring the bell without presenting food and the dogs still salivated to the sound of the bell, because it associated the sound of the bell with food. Behaviourism suggests that learning is prompted through consequence which can be positive, negative or punishment.  (Read more...) 

Also see Vygotsky's Theory

Cognitivism

Jean Piaget, was a Swiss clinical psychologist renowned for his work in child development. His theory explained how children are active participants in their learning by constructing a mental model of the world. Piaget argued that intelligence is not a fixed trait, but a process which occurs through biological maturation and interaction with the environment. Piaget described his work as genetic epistemology, which means "the origins of thinking". Epistemology is concerned with the framework or structural properties of intelligence. (Read more...)

Also see John Dewey

Constructivism

Jerome Bruner was an American psychologist who greatly contributed to human cognitive psychology and learning theory in educational psychology. Through the constructivist lens, learners are regarded as active agents who reshape and transform information to create meaning. This theory is considered a blend between behaviourism and cognitivism. Bruner stated that the intelligent mind creates "generic coding systems" that allows one to go beyond data to new predictions, and as children grow, they are able to acquire ways of representing recurring regularities within their environment. Constructivism also suggests coins the term "zone of proximal development" which is the cognitive level at children begin problem-solving. (Read more...)

Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura was a Canadian psychologist most well-known for his work in social learning theory. He agrees with both branches of behavioural psychology, namely classical and operant conditioning. Bandura's social learning theory states that people cannot learn on their own (socio-cultural) because they learn through observation, imitation and modeling one another. The social learning theory is often perceived as a bridge between behavioural and cognitive theories because it encompasses attention, memory as well as motvation. (Read more...)

Bloom's Hierarchy (Taxonomy)

For audio-visual learners, also check out the following video...

From Past to Present

With the amazing technological advances and breakthroughs that have hit the scene, gaining access to information has never been easier!...or has it?

Information literacy is understood as a set of abilities that require one to recognise when information is needed, how information can be located, evaluated, and used effectively (ALA). Considering the countless ways in which information can now be sought, and the vast amount of information that can be found, there is an ever-present need to find relevant and reliable information.

Information literacy does not stop with graduates, but lies at the core of life long learning, where people from all walks of life are empowered to find and use information  to create new knowledge to achieve educational goals.

Role of Librarians

librarians are typically seen as the "go-to" for all your information needs, and for years this opinion has held true. However, the role of the librarian is now being challenged whereby librarians are now being considered as more than just "information guides" but as parallel to teachers. As a result, there is a growing need for instructional programmes which include that which is being taught and researched by academic institutions. These institutes are also relying more on libraries providing resources that support and supplement the curricula. Users are required to acquire skills that will help them identify various information resources and understand ways in which information can be evaluated and used in an ethically correct manner.

Information literacy Model

Questions to consider...

1. What is the difference between bibliographic instruction and information literacy?

Bibliographic Instruction – user education whereby the goal is to teach users how to search, evaluate and use information.

Information Literacy – a set of skills which involves recognising when information is needed, where and how to locate information, accurately evaluating information, and effectively using information to create new knowledge.

2. What factors have led to evolution of teaching librarians?

The role of librarians should constantly be evolving to accommodate for the ever changing times we are living in. One of those changes is the need for co-operation between academic faculties and librarianship. In the late 1970's, teaching libraries became part of a number of academic institutes with the idea of promoting life-long learning that would be of a benefit beyond life at an academic institute. Lbraries also became centres for teaching and learning whereby librarians began evaluating students for their instructional programmes and created spaces for information and collaborative learning. With the availability of digital material, the need for providing IT support became pertinent, whereby librarians would assist users to quickly and easily acquire  the information they require.