Information Literacy

I started looking at assignment 2 today and realised I hadn't done my topic 4 readings yet so after listening to the podcast and doing the essential readings I have felt rather bamboozled at the plethora of definitions and outlines of what IL is actually about. I've found some good videos from a variety of sources in order to help me define what IL is all about. I'm pleased to say that these readings will be of use in assignment 2 that is looming ever closer!As of yet, I don't really have a clear definition of IL, but I have determined that it is in relation to the metagocnition about learning and the skills used to get to the final product rather than the product itself, something I need to work on myself! From what I have seen, there are 3 different models regarding IL, the NSW one, Herring's PLUS model and the Big 6 developed my Mike Eisenberg - his video is interesting because it provides a deeper insight to what it's all about.

On closer inspection, I don't know how to post youtube vids yet, but I will work it out and post them then...



ABCCLIOLive

i'm back from the dead

It's been about 18 months, but I'm back from the dead and returned from my leave of absence at uni to continue with my masters. I know it's almost half way through the semester and have only just started posting, but hey, better late then never I guess.

So the last assignment was a little difficult to say the least, I have already completed second semester subjects, I thought that first semester would be as hard -oh how wrong I was!! Just getting my head around the questions was hard enough, the forum was aghast with people pleading for help and others providing their own interpretation of help and in some cases it was wrong - bother!! We went away for a wedding in Brisbane the week the assignment was due in, I tried so hard to have it done before I left and the bit I did I found out was COMPLETELY WRONG so lets start all over again and then realised that I had the wrong reading, needless to say a few choice words came out of my mouth - oops! So at 11:48pm I submitted it - a whopping 11 minutes early and then return to school the next day But its in and let's just wait and see the results, I am just hoping for a pass, please let it be a pass, I will be elated with 51!

So in amongst our time in Brisbane for a week and the assignment due in the day after we returned I didn't submit my forum discussions, so I did it today for topic 3 instead. and here it is, I had a bit of a rant in the end, but it's another thing done!

The learning and teaching environment has changed from when I was a student and from what I have read in the forum it has for the vast majority of us. I grew up with the 'chalk and talk' approach and my education does not appear to be effected too badly, however I was taught the whole word approach with very little phonics and osmosis from posters around the room would help us improve our learning, as a result, my spelling is atrocious - thank goodness for spell check!! In today's learning environment, teachers are changing and adapting to the role of facilitator. This couldn't be truer in the role of TL as we all learnt in our first assignment. Inquiry based learning has become more prevalent with the ever increasing amount of technology being introduced into schools. As the teacher becomes the facilitator, students are beginning to work at their own pace and level individually rather than as a whole class. This is evident at my school with the introduction of Mathletics, the upper primary teachers rave about it and it has been suggested, on several occasions that we, the Kindergarten teachers, use it too. Sorry, no! I believe there is a need for the change in teaching pedagogy at times, as we were taught at uni and new teaching frameworks try to instil in us but there is still a need for the hands on approach, especially in Maths this entails the teacher being the teacher and not a facilitator. The Quality Teaching Framework is a classic example of this, every teacher instils the values into their students without the metalanguage that James Ladwig suggests we use to what point, if it is taught and taught to a high level, is there any need to use the terminology in the Framework, that is until the next person creates a new framework or pedagogy that is taught by in universities and told that this is the only way to do it.