Pedagogical Considerations in Developing an Online Tutorial in Information Literacy

Pedagogical Considerations in Developing an Online Tutorial in IL

Journal Club Discussion MeetingLoreena Sandalwood

a.k.a. Eleni ZazaniInfolit ischool, Wed 23 Feb 2011

“Didactic” defined

As:

Having the character or manner of a teacher or instructor; characterised by giving instruction; having the giving of instruction as its aim or object; instructive, preceptive.

Pronunciation:  /dɪˈdæktɪk/

Etymology:  modern < Greek διδακτικ-ός apt at teaching, < διδάσκειν to teach.

Source: didactic, adj. and n. Second edition, 1989; online version November 2010. <http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.lib.bbk.ac.uk/Entry/52341>; accessed 15 February 2011. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1895.

Learning Conditions

Settings

Learning GoalsContent

Learning Process

Assessment

Didactic Conditions:

Learning Conditions

Settings

Learning Goals

Content

Learning Process

Assessment

The Didactic Relationship Model

The Didactical Relationship Model (Hiim & Hippe, 1998)

Learning Conditions

Settings

Learning Goals

Assessment

Learning Process

Content

The “Search and Write” Didactic ConditionsDistance Education Students Relate their studies to their

Previous experiences

Student-centred

Process-centred

National Program For Digital Literacy 2004-2008 (Norway)

Undergraduate Level

Postgraduate LevelInformation-Literate &Digitally-Literate Students

Basic

AdvancedLearning Objects (LOs)

Learning-by-doingLearning-by-reflecting

Based on Social-constructivisttheories

Encourages Interaction,Dialogue and Collaboration among peers

Product

Process

Online Feedback is Integrated in the VLE.

Educators initiateProcess-based Assessment

The final presentation will incorporate your input from the discussion anonymously and be made available at http://www.slideshare.net/e_zazani

Discussion

Participants formed an International Discussion Group...

• ...with a multicultural perspective, from:– Australia– Poland– UK– USA

The term “Didactic”

• Both in the UK and the USA, the term brings transmissive connotations.

• It tends to coincide with the action “to teach” but in a more “teacherly way”

Are you involved in creating online tutorials/learning Objects?

• The majority of the participants are designing and developing online tutorials and LOs– for HE and FE students– for On and Off campus usage– to be used by a wide range

of disciplines

The Didactic Relation Model ...

• Was seen as– useful not only for

planning online tutorials but also for planning teaching in general

– Logical– Flexible; different

institutions could adapt it to their individual circumstances

Image available under the Creative Commons Licence at http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/3915514724/in/photostream/

Are there any Information Literacy barriers?

• Some aspects of Information Literacy seem more suited to tutorial format than others

• Student-centred approaches for designing tutorials may fail as it is difficult for many students to recognise their information gap

• “Recognising the information need“ is very difficult to teach in a tutorial!

Image: Information skills model available at http://www.sconul.ac.uk/groups/information_literacy/papers/Seven_pillars.html

Are there any Information Literacy barriers?

• "Google Generation" searchers are more likely to cut and paste the words they are given while web-searching

Are there any Information Literacy barriers?

Other standards (IL or pedagogies), used for planning tutorials

• ADDIE approach – Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and

Evaluate (ADDIE) process – The Dick and the Carey Systems Approach

Model for Designing Instruction

Focus on Learners’ needs and contexts

Other Didactic conditions of factors to be considered while creating online Tutorials

• Time needed– for the tutorial to be

completed (length) by the students;

– for the instructor/ lecturer to go through a process-centred assessment

We liked this paper because ...(1)

• It addressed the situation & planning of the online tutorial – (not often seen in articles about tutorials)

• Proposes a “Process-centred assessment”– A very useful approach. Getting students to

talk and reflect about the process through blogs reveals whether or not they have learnt. It can also provide a more holistic assessment rather than focusing on competencies and learning outcomes.

“Process-centred assessment” vs. Quizzes

• Quizzes are difficult to design

• Following links can be seen as a race rather than a learning experience

• Quizzes as a formative self-assessment exercises have proved more effective rather than as a summative assessment.

• Students are not engaged with quizzes if they are not marked.Image: Geek quiz, available under the Creative Commons License at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bernissimo/920761824/

We liked this paper because ...(2)

• It points up how impossible it is to create one tutorial for "everybody"

Image: 3d boxes, available under the Creative Commons License at http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/3915512282/in/photostream/

What we would like to have seenin this paper....(1)

• How the designers work with different academic staff and disciplines to embed the tutorials within courses

• Whether they run a separate course or module on IL

• How faculty in different disciplines use the tutorials differently

Image: 3D Character and Question Mark, available under the Creative Commons License athttp://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/3914729343/

What we would like to have seenin this paper....(2)

• Whether instructors are able to put emphasis on different aspects, while “Search & Write” are being used on face-to-face teaching.

• Evaluation of the project and whether distance education students found it useful and easy to follow.

• Any difficulties in finding partners and initiate discussions with students.

Thank you for coming along!

• Pictures from the meeting and other events I have attended at http://www.flickr.com/photos/45598251@N05/

• I am sending tweets @EleniZazani

• Feel free to download the presentation from my Slideshare profile

Click on the “play” button to see a short video created by Sheila Webber

Alternatively follow this link: http://screenr.com/Nbv

Join us at the next Journal Club Meeting ...

Wed 23 March It will feature Yazdan Mansourian, the Iranian researcher, talking

about his information visibility model