Transcript Slide 1

Walking the Talk: Stepping
into the Future
Dr Ross J Todd
Director of Research
Center for International Scholarship
in School Libraries
Rutgers, the State University of
New Jersey
[email protected]
cissl.scils.rutgers.edu
scils.rutgers.edu/~rtodd
The Challenge
“You
Begin
Constructing
The Road
By Walking
It”
Your contribution to the
learning landscape of Victoria?
Your contribution to the
learning landscape of Victoria?
“Essential Learnings”
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A clear and effective communicator
A self-directed and lifelong learner
A creative and practical problem solver
A responsible and involved citizen
A collaborative and quality worker
An integrative and informed thinker
Because of your school library
What are your kids able to do?
What have your kids become?
Who have your kids become?
HOW HAS YOUR SCHOOL LIBRARY
HELPED YOUR KIDS LEARN?
From Research to Practice
How do we make it happen?
Spark: a vision for the
future
Light: direction and
guidance
Energy: action and
outcomes
Community: sharing
and celebration
I am a school librarian at x. We are confronting a
serious situation. Because of the financial crisis
in our community, our school board is
addressing a proposed substantial budget cut.
One of the proposed strategies is to drastically
reduce the number of school librarians in the
area claiming that school libraries can be
effectively run by aides to ensure services are
provided and the library remains open. This is
despite the fact that I have hundreds of students
in the library each day, and teach in the
classroom regularly.
I have voiced my
objection, but I am told that such reductions will
not impact on student learning in any way.
Emphasis On Information
Evidence
Number of classes in the library
Number of library items borrowed
Number of students using the library at lunch
times
Number of items purchased annually
Number of web searches
Number of books lost
Students suffering from PFS and LHC
And who can do this?
Emphasis on Knowledge
Evidence
Understanding how school libraries help kids
learn: Learning outcomes in terms of
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Information processes
Information technology
Reading
Knowledge outcomes – mastery of content
Independent learning
Attitudes and values of information, learning
Self concept and personal agency
And who can do this?
Two key dimensions of EBP in
current usage
1. Conscientious, explicit and judicious use of
current best research findings in making
decisions about the performance of the dayto-day role
2. Where day-to-day professional work is
directed towards demonstrating the tangible
impacts and outcomes of sound decision
making and implementation of organizational
goals and objectives.
Local actions, local processes, and local,
immediate outcomes
Librarians and Research
Librarians’ use of research is low (McClure &
Bishop, 1989, Turner, 2002).
To busy to read research.
Applied research that seeks to resolve
operational concerns is most widely used.
Research is not consulted because it is
perceived to inadequately address the real
concerns of practice.
Research not presented in ways that foster
understanding and application.
FROM RESEARCH TO
EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE
Organizational
Level
Instructional Level
Learner
Level
Evidence-Based
Practice (EBP)
Organizational
Level
What is our Voice?
“We are almost at a tipping point …
now we need to understand the
evidence and use it to speak the
language of decision- makers: not
“library, library, library” but “student
achievement, literacy and learning”
Professor Ken Haycock
EBP Organizational Level
School Library Policy and Mission
Statements: Shift in focus from School
Library to Student learning Outcomes
Test criteria:
“Celebrate the Understood, not the Found”
MISSION STATEMENTS
Dottie Tobia
School Librarian, East Brunswick, NJ
Our school library is a collaborative learning environment
fostering respect for individual differences, and tolerance
for differing opinions and points of view. Students are
encouraged to investigate, explore and question in order to
nurture their thinking, problem solving and meaningful
learning. It promotes a spirit of inquiry and the utilization of
individual strengths and interests in the pursuit of
knowledge and understanding.
To reach this goal, our school library provides both print
and digital informational resources in multiple formats, and
instructional experiences to enable students to develop
effective research skills and be responsible and successful
users of information and creators of knowledge.
SCHOOL LIBRARY POLICY /
STANDARDS: Maine
Not called a “library policy”, but “Student Learning
through X School Library”
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Focus on the state’s learning results, which is
described in 6 Guiding Principles:
A clear and effective communicator
A self-directed and lifelong learner
A creative and practical problem solver
A responsible and involved citizen
A collaborative and quality worker
An integrative and informed thinker
STUDENT OUTCOMES
Each student will:
become an integrative and informed thinker, and a
clear and effective thinker ….
engages with diverse ideas to apply knowledge
and skills across the content areas;
communicates knowledge using oral, written,
visual and technological modes of expression
derived and interpreted from multiple sources
In order to achieve these outcomes…
students require access to diverse current
materials in multiple formats and reading levels,
aligned with the curriculum;
students need to use technology and
information tools to acquire, organise, and to
structure their ideas to create information
products that accurately represent their newly
developed understanding;
STUDENT OUTCOMES
In order to achieve these outcomes:
students need to have high levels of reading literacy;
are able to define problems, frame questions, explore
ideas, formulate focus, investigate, analyze and
synthesize ideas to create own views, evaluate
solutions and reflect on new understandings;
are able to communicate ideas using oral, written,
visual and technological modes of expression –
individually or in teams;
are ethical, responsible users of information who
demonstrate concern for quality information and value
different modes of thought
INSTRUCTIONAL INTERVENTION
Essential to the development of these
competencies is instruction centering on:
Mastery of information scaffolds related to reading
and research process
Mastery of the effective and critical use of
information and technology tools to produce and
disseminate knowledge
Understanding of ethical and appropriate use of
information in the creation of knowledge
Information-Learning Specialist
an educational partner-leader who mutually
collaborates, negotiates, and plans with school
administrators, teachers, students and parents to
implement information instruction in the curriculum;
an instructional designer who creates and delivers
information literacy instruction at class, group and
individual levels;
as a school library program administrator who
mutually negotiates, plans and implements a wholeschool library program which articulates the
integration of the informational, transformational and
formational components, tied to curriculum
outcomes and life goals;
Information-Learning Specialist
a partner-leader in the provision of learning-oriented
professional development targeted to whole school
success of learning goals;
a partner-leader capable of engaging all
stakeholders in sustained and action-oriented
discussions in the context of continuous
improvement of the necessary resources,
technology and staffing requirements needed to
maximize the learning opportunities through school
libraries and the instructional interventions.
SOME NOTES
Student Learning Policy, not a Library Policy
Students are the “subject” of the sentences, not
the “school library” OR “Teacher-Librarian”
Focus on outcomes, not infrastructure, but show
clear relationship to information inputs and
infrastructure
Embed a form, inform, and transform interaction
(ie. Student outcomes, learning-teaching
intervention, sufficient resources and
technology)
Focus on role of teacher-librarian as informationlearning specialist
Evidence-Based
Practice (EBP)
Learner Level
EVIDENCE
“Don’t tell me what you
believe. Show me what you
do, and I will tell you where
your priorities are”
Maine School LibrarianClassroom Teacher Partnerships
70 instructional partnerships initiated in an
EBP Symposium
Asked to engage in instructional partnership
with EBP focus, and to document EBP
processes and outcomes
November 2003 – March 2004
Contextualized by Maine’s “Essential
Learnings” Framework
Came together on 4th March for analysis and
reporting
Breakout sessions by elementary,
middle school, secondary level
Include a brief overview of the unit
nature of the collaboration with a focus on Maine
Learning Results (student outcomes in content area
and information literacy)
strategies and processes used to gather support for
evidence-based practice (EBP).
Within each group, discuss and construct a summary
of EBP strategies, learning outcomes, enablers to
EBP, barriers and potential solutions to barriers.
EBP Record – Partnership Level
Grade,
curriculum and
information
literacy objectives
Strategies used
to gather
evidence
Learning
outcomes: what
learning outcomes
are shown here.
Be precise and
clear
Value of the
Partnership
Problems
encountered
Possible
solutions to
these problems
How you might
use the results
Typical EBP Strategies
Knowledge and skills
mapping
Analysis of student
bibliographies
Reflection sheets / self
assessments
Comment Cards
Minute Papers
Rubrics
Checklist of current skills
and acquired skills
Process / search journals
Knowledge tests
Teacher feedback
Video Recording of learning
process (for showing at staff
meeting)
Summaries of evaluations of
presentations and products
Surveys / questionnaires
Informal comments /
anecdotes
Before / after brainstorming
records
Portfolios of work
Photo voice
Exhibitions, displays of
products plus student self
assessments of learning
Motivation Board (staff room
and library)
INTERVENTION MATTERS
Pre- & Post-Mapping of knowledge
“write down what you know”
Changes in knowledge: from simple, often incorrect
descriptions of properties of topics, to complex
structures: reasons, outcomes, causality,
implications
Higher levels of conceptual coherence and structural
centrality of knowing: from scatty to coherent
Ownership of knowledge outcomes: creation, not
replication: less plagiarism
Developing personal positions: prediction, reflection,
understanding personal position in relation to topic:
ownership of knowledge
INTERVENTION MATTERS
“I have learned many things about the
research process after completing this
project. The tracking sheets showed me that
organization is important when researching.
It helped me manage the time and showed
me just how indepth my knowledge became.
Another good thing was that there was
always help available from the teachers and
librarians”
INTERVENTION MATTERS
“This was a very exhausting process, but
none the less, it was all worth it. I finally
learned how to write a proper paper, not only
for research, but any paper in general. I got
to spend quality time with my teacher and
librarian. The three things I enjoyed in
writing and research are reading the books,
making an outline, and LEARNING. I
definitely learned a lot – both about my
interesting topic, and the research to make it
happen”.
INTERVENTION MATTERS
“A six page research paper scared the
bloody crap out of me, but with the help I got
while doing the project, I knew I could do it.
This project opened me to new ideas, and
how to write my own ideas and thoughts
based on them. I enjoyed recording my
thoughts because I like to express how I am
feeling during the process. This allowed my
teachers and librarians to know my thinking
throughout the course and to guide me
better”
Value of EBP
Meaningful time with teachers
Covered more curriculum content in less time
Pooling of expertise
Stronger emphasis on creative and authentic
learning
Focus to instructional planning
Clearer sense of learning outcomes by taking an
evidence approach: feel you are succeeding by
being able to state specific outcomes
More effective judgments about student progress
Clearer feedback to students and to school
community on outcomes
Teachers as advocates
Visibility of school librarian in learning outcomes
Job satisfaction
Enablers of EBP
Belief in a learning-outcomes focus
Will to be involved (commitment to action rather
than advocacy)
Planning and reflection time: scheduled rather than
ad hoc
Knowing what indicators to look for: setting
concrete outcomes – ie. “the students will be able to
…” and knowing what to look for as evidence
Starting small: one case study
Fear of “not changing”
A knowledge-Sharing Community
Summary of projects in School Newsletter to parents
Staff, Curriculum and parent meeting – learning
outcomes focus
Profiling teachers (indirectly profiling library)
Photo and commentary of teaching units on school
web, including student feedback of process and
learning outcomes
Teachers speaking at school librarian meetings
Student morning tea to discuss learning outcomes
with teachers
Community newspaper stories
Focus on national and state themes: eg “No Child
Left Behind” Legislation
Evidence-based practice challenges
Time: “Finding time is always a problem. However, this is
often an excuse for lack of commitment. We pretend we
are busy with other things because we have not made the
commitment to student learning outcomes. We’ve stopped
at information, rather than knowledge. As we grow to value
something, we tend to make time. It really is a matter of
what our priorities are”
Competency: “The more we see and hear about different
approaches to EBP, the more our confidence and
experience is built. EBP should be the focus of our PD in
the next few years” Lack of knowledge and skills to
undertake evidence-based practice
INFLUENCE
IN
THE
WORKPLACE
EVIDENCEBASED
PRACTICE
Revolting Librarians
Rascal attitude: creative, collaborative
naughtiness to show library learning is fun, and
motivate others to be part of it
Encourage students to be intellectually
mischevious: center for intellectual discontent
Don’t have students suffering from LHC and PFS
Celebrate learning achievements
What language do you speak?
Deweydecilibrobabble or a cross-curricular
learning dialect?
Is your library an open invitation for mystery,
intrigue, discovery – where accidental discovery,
as well as planned discovery, is highly likely?
BREAKING THE CYCLE
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Moving from a VICTIM mindset: No one is going to
rescue you, but you!
SEEING is BELIEVING: what does your school see
you doing? Educator? Manager? Curator? Book
Stamper? Dragon at the Door? Shusher?
From LIABILITY to LIBERATION: Making issues
more invisible (censorship, copyright, plagiarism,
rules, regulations, resourcing, technology, staffing
needs) and learning outcomes more visible.
Factors needed for successful
change
Pressure for
change
Clear shared vision
Capacity for
change
Actionable first
steps
Model the way
Reinforce and
solidify change
Evaluate and
improve
Symptoms when factors are
missing
Bottom of the box
A quick start that
flutters
Anxiety and
frustration
Haphazard efforts
and false starts
Cynicism and
distrust
Go back to old
ways
Sceptical and
stagnate
“Are you in earnest?
Seize this very minute.
What you can do, or dream you
can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power,
and magic in it.
Only engage and then the mind
grows heated ….
… Begin and then the work will
be completed”