Metacognitive Journal Post

I think I could summarize my growth and learning in this class by just looking at the first word in title of this blog post, Metacognitive. My spell check in Microsoft word says that word doesn’t exist, or I spelled it wrong. Well, I now know what metacogntive means. What? You want me to explain it to you? How about you go research it yourself, and then you will know what this class was like for me. I do not mean that in a negative sense, this class was an incredible experience for me, but it didn’t come naturally.

From day one we explored things in this class that I, right or wrong, never made strong connections to. The concept of media and literacy were in many ways foreign to me as it has been quite some time since I engaged in the formal learning process in a different way than how we engage our students in the Agricultural Engineering Technology program at SUNY Cobleskill. Our classes all seem to follow a similar structure. You come to class, sit in a seat, take notes for an hour, read the textbook, go to lab, read the instructions to take things apart, follow the instructions to put them together, write a report about what you did, repeat for next topic. My intentions from the entire MALET program is to change that and engage in more effective dynamic learning opportunities with my students. So how did this class contribute to the cause? I could go on and on in a length that none of you have time to read, it’s Christmas and a lot of you still have shopping to do. Nevertheless I will provide a couple highlights.

For me it was important to get past the point that literacy meant more than just reading and writing. For me, it means everything involved in using information, in print or digital or in alternative media formats, to develop and communicate one’s knowledge. From this perspective I was able to then start making sense out of how students learn and why certain techniques tend to work and others do not. One of the biggest insights that I have gained through this course is that digital technology, smartphones, participatory environments, networked publics; they are not just new tools that we can use to enhance our learning activities, they are part of our culture. They are as much a part of our culture as our language, our books, and our social connections to our community. Some would argue that in many ways these new technologies are replacing those elements of our culture. It is hard to counter that argument. What I have learned though is that it does not make sense to wage a war against this cultural shift or creating a bunch of rules with the intent of “reversing” the migration of our youth towards digital worlds, but it makes more sense to embrace it for its positive value yet recognize the negative consequences and implement ways of rectifying them. Whether you believe we have a problem with Cyberbullying, diminishing beauty of the written word within our language, sacrificing our privacy, lack of focus with too many distractions, increasing mandates on our public education system, increasing levels of non-credible information being absorbed, polarizing politics, etc.; as educators we all have the responsibility to face these challenges and make an attempt to use our creative techniques to overcome them. However, banning the use of the technology and not embracing it into your curriculum is not the answer.

I want to thank professor Forbes and all of my classmates for a wonderful experience and growing opportunity. I learned from all of you as much as I learned from myself in my research activities. I hope that my contributions to the class were valuable for all of you as well. I look forward to working with all of you in future MALET classes and seeing the projects that you all accomplish. I wish everyone a safe, happy, and healthy new year and will see many of you (virtually) in a few weeks.

Information Literacy Guide

If you are a college student then you know how important it is to find quality information for use in your class assignments. However, it is important to realize that an important part of your college career is not only passing your classes to get your degree, but also to develop the skills you need to be an effective lifelong learner. While you are in college, you have numerous resources available to you that can assist you in finding the information you need without worrying too much about its credibility, such as your professors and librarians. After graduation this will change, and you will need to rely on your own skills to find, critically analyze, and apply various forms of information to your professional work, personal life, or both. In addition, as technology continues to evolve, you will find information presented to you in more ways than you can imagine. While this may appear to make information finding a much easier task, being able to critically evaluate the information will be more important as much of this information will be produced from biased sources or will not be credible at all. In fact, you don’t have to wait until after graduation to see this, it is happening as we speak. You may be inclined to use these new sources of information seeking to perform your academic assignments. The following is a guide to help you become more information literate whether you seek information through traditional means or through new media venues. This guide is based on the information literacy skills outlined by the Association of College and Research Libraries Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.

Step 1 - Determine the extent of information needed

This involves having a clear vision of what the research project or assignment is about and what the expectations are from your professor. Once you know this then you need to consider what the end product will look like, possibly in the form of a thesis, and what sources of information will help you get to that point. It is possible that the best sources of information to support your position may not be immediately available in digital format through the Internet. Be sure to consult with your librarians who may be able to point you to better sources and can often times get you access to something in a relatively short period of time. As you begin this initial research as to what sources of information are available, you may find that there is not enough information to support your position and may need to re-evaluate your overall project.

REFERENCE - Arizona State University Libraries. (n.d.). Skill 1: Determines the nature and extent of the information required for a specific purpose. Retrieved from https://lib.asu.edu/node/3149

Step 2 - Access the needed information effectively and efficiently

This is related somewhat to step #1 above, but has more to do with your actual in-depth research as opposed to just skimming to see what is out there. Once you commit to a position or a strategy for your research assignment, you must then secure the specific sources of information. This involves selecting the most effective, not necessarily the most convenient, tools for searching and finding information. In some cases this may include several different methods which may result in several different sources, which is usually a good thing. Yes, you may find something doing a Google search, but as we will discuss shortly, you will need to evaluate its quality. It is recommended to consult with a librarian when possible, keeping in mind that they have similar digital search engines they can use like Google, but  usually end up with more substantial and credible resources. You may also want to consider subscribing to a listserv or discussion group, especially if the research project is a long term project over the course of the semester. As things change or others with similar interests find information they will often share, giving you an opportunity to expand your information sources.

REFERENCE - The University of Auckland. (2013, April 10). Information literacy standards. Retrieved from https://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/instruct/il/standards.htm

Step 3 - Evaluate information and its sources critically

This is an extremely important step and needs to be further broken down into sub-steps.

1)      Evaluate the authority – This involves asking questions about who the author is, what their credentials are, who are they associated with, and what is their reputation among their peers? This also involves questioning the publisher and what their objectives are.

2)      Evaluate the objectivity of the information – what is it the author is attempting to do with the information? Is the information biased and is it supported by factual evidence?

3)      Evaluating the quality – Consider how well organized the information is including everything some spelling and grammar to clear articulation of pictures, images, charts, diagrams, etc.

4)      Evaluating the currency – Is your topic time sensitive? In other words, is it likely that information on the topic published today might be different than information published a decade ago? If so, you need to consider how current the information is you are viewing.

5)      Evaluating the relevancy – Is this information relevant for your project and does it support your thesis? Try to avoid using a resource for one small part or statement within the information that may support your argument when the overall work is not really related.

REFERENCE - University of Oregon. (2013, July). Critical evaluation of information sources. Retrieved from https://library.uoregon.edu/guides/findarticles/credibility.html

Step 4 - Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base

This involves organizing the information that you have found and evaluated to be a good quality source of information into a manner that supports your position. To do this you will need to consider what the mechanism is for you to present your research findings. In many cases this will be a standard research paper report, but in some cases it may be an oral presentation or a visual presentation, such as a PowerPoint. In the case of a written paper, you should try to paraphrase the information into your own words as much as possible. This helps you to truly grasp the knowledge intended by the project. In some cases it will make more sense to simply quote the author, but even then it is important to put your own interpretation of the quote into the paper or write your own description linking the quote to your position. This also helps with oral presentations as well because you will likely be asked questions and if you haven’t taken the time to synthesize the information into your own understanding, you will not be able to answer the questions. In the case of a visual presentation, it is often suggested to include more images and diagrams and less text. If you use images and diagrams from your information sources, be sure you understand what they are showing and can relate it to your position.

REFERENCE - University of Maryland University college. (2013). Umuc information literacy faq for faculty. Retrieved from http://www.umuc.edu/library/libhow/informationliteracy.cfm

Step 5 - Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose

Now that you have absorbed the information, developed your knowledge of the subject, and organized your thoughts, not it is time to get it into your presentation mode. If you are writing a paper, you need to have the paper organized. Just because you have it organized in your head does not mean it will be organized well in writing. It is suggested that you start by writing a simple outline of the project without all of the word for word details and then evaluate the outline to see if it makes sense. Then after you write the details in the paper following your outline, you should ask for someone to review it for you. Sometimes your professor is willing to do this, but often times your college will have an academic support service with writing tutors that are happy to read these for you and offer suggestions on things that were not clear to them. It is easy for somebody with considerable topic knowledge to take certain things for granted as common knowledge and omit it from the paper. However, someone with little subject knowledge will be better able to make that decision for you. Finally, make sure everything flows nicely and that, even though the information may be clear and understandable, it doesn’t jump around or include quotations in awkward points in the paper. Similar strategies should be applied for presentations in oral or visual formats. Outline the topic, put it together, present it to a reviewer first, and be sure it flows smoothly.

REFERENCE - Neumann University. (n.d.). Information literacy toolbox for faculty . Retrieved from http://libguides.neumann.edu/content.php?pid=280768&sid=4028213

Step 6 - Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally

This is the part that can get you into trouble if you are not careful. Anytime you are entering a research environment, either in print or electronic, you need to be careful about your own security and privacy. You also need to be conscious of the fact that many scholarly sources of information, like the ones you may find most useful to your research project, are not free. You may have to pay a fee to access them, or in many cases your library has already paid the fee so you can have access. It is also important to have an understanding of issues such as censorship, freedom of speech, intellectual property, copyright, and fair use. Most professors will require one of two formats to follow when writing a research report, either APA or MLS. Be sure you know which one as it will affect the proper format for citing your resources. Of course, you need to be aware of when it is necessary to cite something and when it is not. Generally speaking, anytime you include a quote or image that you did not say or create yourself, it needs to be cited. In fact, even your own paraphrased description of a fact or concept that you essentially derived from someone else, in other words it was not your own previous knowledge or work that determined the information, you need to cite it. Again, this is something that most librarians are quite knowledgeable about and can provide tremendous guidance for you if you simply ask.

REFERENCE - Old Dominion University. (n.d.). Information literacy standards of the acrl . Retrieved from http://www.lib.odu.edu/genedinfolit/standard5.htm