The Relevance of Libraries in the 21st century

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The Relevance of Libraries in the 21st century

• Leanne Cameron
• Macquarie University
• Leanne.Cameron_at_mq.edu.au

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Consider

• The need for the library as a physical building
  has gone.
• We need multi-functional teachers, not
  specialist support staff. Flexibility is the
  key. We can no longer afford one-trick ponies.

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Is there a future for libraries?

• Some dont think so.

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Macquarie Universitys New Library
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(No Transcript)
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Is there a future for schools?

• Some dont think so.

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Where we are headed today

• What do we know about our current learners and
  how they have changed - introducing the "Net Gen"
• How does effective learning take place now and
  what is the role of learning spaces?
• How might this be applied to the school context?
• Should we reshape our school libraries?
• An e-library perhaps?

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What do we know about how we learn?

• Learning changes the physical structure of the
  brain
• Learning organises and reorganizes the structure
  of the brain

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Marc Prensky(Digital Natives, Digital
Immigrants)

• Todays students think and process information
  fundamentally differently.
• Many of our current teachers are struggling to
  teach a population that speaks an entirely new
  language.
• www.marcprensky.com

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The Net Gen students are used to receiving
information really fast
BA (Google) Graduating to information literacy

• Research involves three steps
• finding relevant information,
• assessing the quality of that information, and
  then
• using appropriate information either to try to
  conclude something, to uncover something, or to
  argue something.
• The Internet is useful for the first step,
  somewhat useful for the second, and not at all
  useful for the third.
• Beth Stafford (1999)

http//www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/cd/docs_dandt/r
esearch/ed/elearning/Lead20papers/BrabazonPDF.pdf
Tara Brabazon
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Your students have a problem

• Too much information,
• It takes too long to find reliable, relevant
  information
• Learn from the success stories
• Amazon.com has made a science of user
  engagement
• Harness your students to annotate YOUR data
• (refer Tim OReilly blog)

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Net Geners parallel process and multi-task
they prefer random access

• Non-linear learning, multi-tasking
• how do teachers cope when this is
  incompatible with current teaching practice.
• Primary versus Secondary schools
• (have a look at the ICT success stories)

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And they function best when networked

• Students want to talk all the time
• F2f, on the mobile, MSN
• often at the same time
• These students dont want to observe,
• they want to participate

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How does effective learning take place
now? Lets talk about it.
http//www.tefma.com/infoservices/papers/2005_Futu
reLearningEnvironments_Workshop_Mar05/KennFisher_T
EFMA_EvolutionOfHybrid_Mar05.pdf Dr Kenn Fisher,
Rubida Research Pty Ltd.
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Back to the Future

• Learning by questioning (Socrates)
• Learning by doing (Piaget, Papert)
• Learning in the company of others (Wenger)
• Learning through dialogue (Vygotsky, Mercer)
• Learning through reflection (Dewey, Jarvis)
• http//www.tefma.com/infoservices/papers/2005_Fut
  ureLearningEnvironments_Workshop_Mar05/KennFisher_
  TEFMA_EvolutionOfHybrid_Mar05.pdf
• Dr Kenn Fisher, Rubida Research Pty Ltd.

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Consciously make the move to learner centred
learning
http//www.tefma.com/infoservices/papers/2005_Futu
reLearningEnvironments_Workshop_Mar05/KennFisher_T
EFMA_EvolutionOfHybrid_Mar05.pdf Dr Kenn
Fisher, Rubida Research Pty Ltd.
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How are universities thinking about learning
spaces?

• A learning space should be able to motivate
  learners and promote learning as an activity,
  support collaborative as well as formal practice,
  provide a personalised and inclusive environment,
  and be flexible in the face of changing needs.
• http//www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/JISClearn
  ingspaces.pdf

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Spaces themselves are agents for change.

• Changed spaces will change practice.

This link sends you off to a website. Click on
the TEAL video link to see the presentation
http//icampus.mit.edu/teal/
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Spaces that facilitate learning in Higher Ed

• Flexible (including furniture) inter-connected
  environments with high tech support
• Facilitates project / team / multi-disciplinary
  work
• Adaptable for change in purpose or usage
• Flexible access everything online
• And space for discussions
• http//www.tefma.com/infoservices/papers/2005_Futu
  reLearningEnvironments_Workshop_Mar05/RMIT_TEFMA_W
  orkshop_Change_Mar05.pdf

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My Learning Space
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(No Transcript)
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Moodle (Open Source)
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.LRN (Open Source)
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Breeze (Video conferencing)
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Assignments
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Lesson Plans
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• Is any of this research relevant to schools?

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Effective classrooms exploit

• Motivation
• Flexibility
• Connectivity
• Interactivity
• Collaboration
• Authentic problems
• Extension opportunities
• Resource production JISC (2004)

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Tools of the trade

• Learning Management Systems
• Webquests
• LAMs
• Blogs and Wikis
• SMS texting
• PDAs / Origami
• Graphics tablets

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How can teacher librarians create effective
learning environments?Should we reshape our
school libraries?
Discussion
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• We need multi-functional teachers, not
  specialist support staff. Flexibility is the
  key.
• We can no longer afford one-trick ponies.

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And remember

• If you dont know where youre going,
• youll probably end up somewhere else
• Quote from Yogi Berra

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References

• For more information about learning spaces
• http//www.cfl.mq.edu.au/led/literature.htm
• BA (Google) Tara Brabazon
• http//www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/cd/docs_dandt/r
  esearch/ed/elearning/Lead20papers/BrabazonPDF.pdf
  
• Marc Prensky
• http//www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp