Transcript Communities of Inquiry: A Shift to Inquiry

Communities of Inquiry:
A Shift to Inquiry-Based Learning
in LIS Education?
Muzhgan Nazarova, Ph.D Student
Ann Peterson Bishop, Associate Professor
Bertram C. Bruce, Professor
Graduate School of Library and Information Science
U. Of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Presentation Overview:
Community Inquiry (CI) track in LIS:
•Why and how it emerged?
•Theoretical background;
•Mechanisms of implementation;
•Perceptions of the students.
“Librarianship and information services
is experiencing a radical redefinition of
the task and nature of both the
profession and preparation for entering
it. Overwhelmed by new waves of
technology and an information
explosion, the profession is almost
drowning in the sea of change.”
Stueart,1989
Core Competencies for Librarians
and Information Professionals
• Technical skills (e.g., knowledge of sources in all
formats, collection management skills,
application of critical thinking skills to library
problems);
• Skills related to communication and human
relations (e.g., conducting reference interviews,
producing reports and presentation, effective
management of group processes).
Lois Buttlar and Rosemary Du Mont, 1996
Core Competencies for Librarians
and Information Professionals
Knowledge of the conduct of research and
of information resources, management,
access, systems and technology, and
policy.
Tenopir, 2000
Core competencies:
What is missing?
• Audiences and communities the librarians
and information specialists work with and
serve;
• Libraries become increasingly serviceoriented;
• Role of a librarian in a collaborative
knowledge construction
Changes in Library Education Needed:
The KALIPER Project
Library education as a vibrant,
dynamic, changing field that is
undertaking an array of initiatives
The KALIPER Report:
Six Trends
1. Broad-based information environments and
information problems.
2. User-centered core;
3. Infusion of information technology into curriculum;
4. Experimenting with specialization;
5. Instruction in different formats with more
flexibility;
6. Offering related degrees at the
undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels.
Communities of Inquiry
Community of Inquiry theory understands
knowledge as communally constructed
and emergent, proceeding through the
interaction of critical and creative thinking
Kennedy, 1996
Community Inquiry Track
391LIA Literacy in the Information Age;
450IBL Inquiry-Based Learning;
450PT Pragmatic Technology;
450SJ Social Justice;
450PAR Participatory Action Research;
450CIS Community Information
Systems.
CI Track
and KALIPER Trends
1. By implementing the CI track, GSLIS addressed
much broader information environments
including different communities and address
their needs;
2. While faculty members working on CI track have
joint appointments and are actively engaged in a
community service and work with diverse
communities, a main focus is on understanding
the users representing different communities
and meeting their needs;
CI Track
and KALIPER Trends
3. Along with increasing infusion of information
technology into the curricula, as a part of a CI
track, a main focus is on communication and
collaboration technologies and how these
technologies can bring communities together;
4. CI as an informal track in GSLIS curriculum has
already passed its experimentation phase. It
attracted the students from the other subject
areas to engage in a dialogue with the
students in LIS join in a community of inquiry;
CI Track
and KALIPER Trends
5. Inquiry-based learning as an innovative
method of instruction in LIS found its place in a
field where dealing with inquiries on a daily
basis is a major part of your work, providing
more flexibility and developing and engaging in
different communities of inquiry with people
from all walks of life;
6. Some Community Inquiry track courses open to
Undergraduates and PHDs
American Pragmatism and Theory
of Inquiry
They all believed that ideas are not “out there”
waiting to be discovered, but are tools - like folks
and knives and microchips-that people devise to
cope with the world in which they find
themselves. They believed that the ideas are
not produced by the individuals - that ideas are
social.
Louis Menand, 2001
American Pragmatism
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William James (1675-1749);
Charles Sanders Pierce (1839-1914);
John Dewey (1859-1952);
Jane Adams (1860-1935).
Charles S. Pierce and Theory of
Inquiry
All inquiry requires a cooperative community of
minds and stresses the fact that notions of such
a community of minds. Such a community is
involved in the philosophic definition of the real.
Goudge, 1950
John Dewey and
Communities of Inquiry
“Inquiry is the life-blood of every science and is
constantly engaged in every art, craft and profession”
(Dewey, 1938).
“Men live in a community in virtue of the things which
they have in common; and communication is the way in
which they come to possess things in common. What
they must have in common in order to form a community
or society are aims, beliefs, aspirations.” (Dewey, 1916).
Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL)
Inquiry-Based Learning is often described
as a cycle or spiral, involving the
formulation of a question, investigation,
creation of an appropriate solution or
answer, discussion and reflection on the
outcome but in practice not all the steps I
this cycle are necessary to be followed in
sequence.
Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL)
The Cycle of Inquiry
Communities of Inquiry
A group (a social setting) of individuals
who use dialogue (interaction among
participants) to search out the problematic
borders of a puzzling concept (inquiry as
philosophical)
Turgeon, 1998
Characteristics of the CIs
• Coming to understand, and to build upon,
a range of different perspectives and
points of view;
• Thinking which is self-correcting, and
thinkers who care for the procedures of
inquiry;
• Developing an environment in which all
ideas are listened to and respected as
potential sources of truth
Online Environment for CI: CILs
Community Inquiry Lab (CIL) is a place
where members of a community come
together to develop a shared capacity and
work on common problems.
Community Inquiry Labs
Community
A collaborative activity and for creating knowledge that is
connected to people’s values, history and lived
experiences.
Inquiry
An open-ended, democratic, participatory engagement.
Laboratory
A space and resources to bring theory and
action together in an experimental and critical manner.
CIL is most importantly a concept….
Community Inquiry Labs
• Web-based suite of Open Source software tools
to support collaboration and communication
(e.g., bulletin board, document uploading,
calendar, inquiry units);
• People create CILs (websites) on their own, to
support their activities within and among groups;
• Inquiry units = lesson plans, action plans,
meeting minutes, research reports, journals,
policy statements, etc.
Community, Content and
Collaboration Management
Systems (C3MS)
C3MS systems are considered a form of
Web portals, gathering a variety of useful
information and communication resources
into a single, “one stop” web page
Looney & Lyman, 2000
Community, Content and
Collaboration Management
Systems (C3MS)
C3MS consist of a collection of objects
called information bricks and services –
operation on these bricks that can be
accessed from a portal.
Community Inquiry Lab
Is based on a C3MS model and consists
of different bricks performing different
functions
CIL Features: Software
• Open software model: (1) users can mix-andmatch bricks, (2) bricks are open source
• A brick maker, which allows non-programmers
to make their own bricks
• Community development; collaborations with a
diverse group of people working in education,
e-government, and other areas
• Inquiry development model (use -> build ->
design): (1) participatory design, (2)
development as research on community inquiry
CIL Features:
Relation to Community
• Open participation: start open and then
create private spaces, vetting, etc as needed;
• Universal design: an emphasis on
accessibility, not only in terms of disabilities,
but in terms of bandwidth, screen size, local
support;
• Community work first: situating the
technology within ongoing communities,
rather than seeing it as a replacement or
complete in itself
Community Inquiry Track
391LIA Literacy in the Information Age;
450IBL Inquiry-Based Learning;
450PT Pragmatic Technology;
450SJ Social Justice;
450PAR Participatory Action Research;
450CIS Community Information
Systems.
Academy
http://inquiry.uiuc.edu/cil/out.php?
cilid=112
SisterNet’s CIL in Action
Taking Action for Water Quality
Pilot Study:
Perceptions of Students
“It seems to me to be more appropriate to
the type of work that LIS represents. It is
also much more responsive to the various
learning styles that people come [bring?]
to LIS. At least it does represent some
form or model of learning upon which LIS
can grow”
Pilot Study:
Perceptions of Students
“…In addition, the CIL allows for distant
people to come together around the
shared interest of a topic. Also, the CIL
encourages the involvement by allowing
for different interpretation of the
information and its evolution by the
members of the CIL”
Pilot Study:
Perceptions of Students
“Learning is not linear, the inquiry cycle
allows me to perfect my work, and allow
others to input”;
“I think the inquiry cycle is in general the
learning cycle for me. To have the
structure lets you feel through the part of
the process you are currently in, and
enable the focus of attention to the part of
the cycle”;
Pilot Study:
Perceptions of Students
“The topics have a strong connection to LIS,
but also have an appeal to other fields of
study. To see that there are strong
connections across disciplines in a
valuable learning opportunity. I also think
the topics in the track are ones that are
often lost between the technical and
traditional branches of LIS”
Pilot Study: Perceptions of
Students
“I think the biggest potential issue might be the
practicality of not recognizing or understanding a
more commercial, corporate, conservative arena
within which we all have to exist and hopefully
thrive in this world. It is wonderful to put forth
social issues, concerns and agendas but doing
that with students and not giving them an
understanding of what real world is can be very
disconcerting for the student once they are out
on their own. “
Conclusion
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CI is
Response to a complex array of
changes in LIS;
Building bridges in LIS knowledge;
Much work to do!
Resources
Contacts