Loughborough University Library: Open Journals
Not a member yet
1614 research outputs found
Sort by
Using connectivism to guide information literacy instruction with tablets
Get PDFConnectivism provides a lens for librarians to design meaningful information literacy (IL) instruction because it integrates student learning with the digital age and with the constantly-evolving nature of information. The purpose of this paper is to extend the discussion on connectivism and IL to the use of tablet devices. Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, are popular on college campuses and are gaining ground as an educational tool. However, prior to implementing new technology in the classroom, educators should be able to explain the instructional purpose of the technology and how it will enhance or enable learning. This article presents an overview of connectivist theory, the theory’s relationship to IL, and the use of tablets during instruction. The author provides examples of a connectivist approach to IL instruction that incorporates the use of iPads.
Learning from Students: Reflections from personal magazines in basic design course
Get PDFReflective writing is an efficient way of getting feedback
from students. Paper-based or web-based course
evaluation questionnaires alone may lack of collecting
specific and detailed information, especially for the fields
like design education. This study focuses on reflections
captured from students via two different media – personal
magazine and online questionnaire – in 2012 Spring
Semester conducted in Basic Design II in the Department
of Industrial Product Design at Istanbul Technical University
(ITU), Turkey. Throughout the semester, each student was
encouraged to write a diary weekly and expected to
submit a photocopied page of it to reflect freely their
impressions about the course and their experiences,
written or visual, or both. At the end of the semester,
students were expected to submit their diaries in the form
of personal magazines. This data is valuable to see the
development of the student in terms of design awareness
and perceptions about the course specifically. Moreover, a
specific web-based questionnaire is prepared and
delivered to students in order to see the general
tendencies about the course. Based on these data, we
explore how we can learn and benefit from students’
reflections for Basic Design course mechanism and design
education
Can playing Minecraft improve teenagers’ information literacy?
Get PDFSome research suggests that a significant number of Generation Z teenagers (those born in the late 1990s or early 2000s) display an insufficient level of information literacy (IL) to function effectively in an information-based society. Yet many of them are gamers who succeed at accomplishing game-related tasks that require a number of IL skills such as information seeking, the critical assessment of sources and relevance ranking of information. This paper describes the results of an interpretive case study of the information behaviours of teenage gamers that supports the hypothesis that the online game Minecraft supports the development of such IL skills. The online interactions of 510 participants of a public discussion forum on Minecraft and interviews from eight teenage Minecraft gamers, as well as the game itself, were analysed. This study suggest that some aspects of Minecraft’s design effectively induce players to seek out game-related information in affinity spaces (online informal learning spaces), select appropriate sources, evaluate the information shared by fellow gamers and decide which information best satisfies their needs
Ethnography as pedagogy in library orientations
Get PDFDriven by a need to make their library orientations more meaningful, a group of academic librarians used ethnography as a pedagogy to create a series of exercises based on participant observation and reflection. This article describes the value of ethnographic methodology in information literacy (IL) curriculum design, focusing specifically on a case study in which students completed a mapping and observation exercise in a freshman seminar course as their library tour. This assignment was more successful than a previous, more traditional approach to the freshman seminar in which the librarian pointed out elements of the space and then guided students through a subscription database. The new ethnographic approach gave students the opportunity to be critically reflective about how they interacted with their surroundings and also extrapolate what function certain areas of the library space might serve from their experiences
Are librarians teachers? Investigating academic librarians’ perceptions of their own teaching skills
Get PDFLibrarian roles in the education sector increasingly include teaching responsibilities, therefore librarians need to know more about teaching theory and techniques in order to provide high-quality information literacy (IL) teaching. There has been little published research into how librarians conceive of their teaching, their skills and themselves as teachers. This research, initially conducted for a Masters dissertation in the Information School at the University of Sheffield, investigates the variation in conceptions of their own teaching skills among academic librarians who teach IL in higher education (HE). It was investigated whether participants would describe themselves as teachers, whether they are influenced by teaching theories (and which ones), and whether they are actually teaching or training. Firstly the literature on pedagogy for IL, approaches to teaching IL in HE, and librarians as teachers, was reviewed before the research and its findings are discussed.A phenomenographic approach was used. A purposive sample of six librarians who teach IL in HE institutions in the north of England was chosen, selected to ensure maximum variation between participants and the resulting conceptions. Six interviews were conducted using phenomenographic techniques to encourage participants to talk about their conceptions, and the interviews were then transcribed and analysed.The data gives rise to four categories of description, each of which describes a conception that librarians hold of themselves and their teaching:: teacher-librarian; learning support; librarian who teaches; and trainer. The variation between categories is determined by interviewees’ conceptions of themselves, their teaching, IL, and other teachers.The results suggest that further support and training for librarians and library and information science (LIS) students would be beneficial and more in-depth and larger-scale research is recommended to test these conceptions and understand in greater detail the training experience and needs of librarians who teach.This article is based on a paper presented at LILAC 2015
Miniature Fictions
Get PDFScale design models continue to be made by many professional architects and architectural students. With the miniaturization of digital cameras it is now possible to place the camera inside such a model and take digital photos from the interior looking out. These architectural design models react in the same way to natural sunlight, as do the built buildings they hope to represent, the resulting images can be very revealing for the designer and/or client. In fact, with the removal of scale devices, (such as miniature furniture), the photographic images have the appearance of being true, a verisimilitude. However they are a ‘fiction,’ they remain representations. But these rather compelling renditions can perhaps start to talk to the designer and the client’s imagination, even allowing one to dream about how it might be like to dwell in such spaces, should they go on to be built. This technique was trialled as a case study within Unitec, New Zealand and this paper showcases the results of these experiments. The paper explores the results against the broader historical and theoretical backdrop, citing links within the writings of a wide range of authors and practitioners to contextualise this more sensuous approach to the rendering of architectural spaces
Exploring the lived information-seeking experiences of mature students
Get PDFThe purpose of this exploratory qualitative study is to gain a clearer understanding of the lived information-seeking experiences of mature students. Such a study is relevant to researchers seeking detailed examinations of mature students’ information search experiences, as well as to reference librarians and information literacy instructors who may wish to refine pedagogy or curriculum in order to help mature students more effectively. This study employed a narrative inquiry design to deeply explore the semester-long information search journeys of two mature students at a regional public university in the state of Oklahoma. Narrative analysis utilizing Carol Kuhlthau's (1991; 1993; 2004; Kuhlthau et al 2008) information search process model uncovered key themes of passion for a topic, time management, the influence of other academic and personal factors on students’ search experiences, and willingness to ask formal or informal search mediators for help. These themes have implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to understand and positively transform the information-seeking process of mature students