Dissertation findings presentation march 2013

ELIS PRACTICES OF SUBURBAN TEENS IN A HIGHLY

TECHNOLOGICAL HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY: A CASE STUDY

March 16, 2013

Lori L. Franklin, Ph.D. Emporia State University School of Library and Information Management (SLIM)

The Problem• Rapid transformations are occurring in the social and

educational worlds inhabited by students today.• Technology impacts the ways students work, learn,

socialize, collaborate, and play.• In order to meet the needs of today’s learners,

educators must develop new pedagogy designed to prepare students and their teachers for interacting with a technologically modern, global society.

The research question:

• “What are the ELIS practices exhibited by upper income students working in a highly technological school library setting?”

The research subquestions:• 1. How do students in a highly technological school library environment use

physical and virtual technologies and other information resources provided by the school library?

• 2. What are the students’ most frequently expressed everyday life information needs topics?

• 3. What people sources do the students consult when seeking information for non-school purposes when seeking everyday life information in the school library?

4. How do student ELIS practices in this upper income setting compare to urban teen ELIS practices?

• 5. How do findings for this study affect implications for school librarians administering best practices for working with students?

Literature review:• Set within the interpretive paradigm.• Relies on constructivism as a guiding theory.• The literature review for this study draw together

selected theory from constructivism, the fields of education and psychology, and from LIS research streams and definitions of today’s learners.

• Past ELIS studies examined and analyzed.

LIS and ELIS research streams

Evolution of ELIS studies• Savolainen (1995, 2008), noted for developing ELIS

theory, was influenced by Dervin’s Sensemaking model.

• He adopted and adapted Bourdieu’s (1984) discussion of habitus and way of life and mastery of life theorizing into a Typology of ELIS model.

• He hypothesized that a combination of social and psychological factors inform information seeking.

• Savolainen, in comparing two divergent groups of workers, found that way of life directs information seeking in a significant way.

The urban teen study

• Conducted by Agosto and Hughes-Hassell (2006a, 2006b).

• Informants: 27 students (25 African-American, 1 Caucasian, 1 Asian) who lived in inner-city neighborhoods, and who either visited or volunteered at two public libraries.

• Researchers attempted to identify the teens’ ELIS behaviors.

Four disturbing disconnects• 1: When there is a lack of access to devices (haves v.

have-nots).• 2: When students’ perceived levels of proficiency

derail their intellectual progress.• 3: When ICTs are prevalent yet ignored in

educational settings.• 4: When practitioners depend on advocacy bids for

professional growth: “A profession without reflective practitioners willing to learn about the advances of research in the field is disconnected from best practice and best thinking” (Todd, 2003).

AASL guiding documents 1• AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner: • Developed by AASL in 2007• Students a) inquire, think critically and gain

knowledge; b) draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge; share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society; and d) pursue personal and aesthetic growth.

AASL guiding documents 2• Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School

Library Media Programs: • Developed by AASL in 2009 as a guiding

document to support the learning standards.• Delineates these school librarian roles:

1. Leader2. Instructional partner3. Information specialist4. Teacher5. Program administrator

Methodology• Purposive sampling: used because of knowledge

of the population and purpose of study; group is chosen because they serve a specific purpose.

• Designed to align with some aspects of the urban teen study.

• Methodology guided by constructivist metatheory (within the interpretive paradigm): goal was to find information representing the perspectives and voices of the participants.

Methods

Study generalizability

• Generalizability is not a goal for this study.• Transferability - Lincoln and Guba (1985)

suggest that inferences about homogeneous populations may be made, and that generalizations are not necessarily the expectation for qualitative studies.

Study credibility

• Glaser & Strauss (1967) recommend researchers conducting qualitative research strive for credibility.

• Creswell (2007) recommends these validation strategies: triangulation, peer-review, clarifying researcher bias, member checking, rich description, all of which were used in this study.

Study triangulation

• Triangulation: is enabled when• multiple and different sources and methods

were used.• observation• school librarian interviews• student focus group sessions• survey data (Edmodo online polls)• print and virtual documentation

Study Limitations

• Does not provide a wide view across several highly technological high school sites.

• Participants represent a homogenous group.• Just two librarian at school (may have

influenced one another – bias).• Did not interview paraprofessional staff.• Another study at this site is not replicable –

students, staffing, and policies have changed.

Analysis: nonparticipant observations: findings

• Savolainen’s described Mastery of Life observed. • Students’ use mobile devices tools as a

structuring structure observed.• Blend of work and play observed. (example:

Monopoly app on smartphone)• Reliance on mobile devices for meeting ELIS

needs before seeking help from other humans observed.

• Need for guidance observed.

Analysis: SL interviews 1

Analysis: SL interviews 2• Core categories help to organize and place school librarian interview

data within the research questions for this study.

• The category of Learning and ELIS is influenced by roles exhibited by school librarians, the very nature of 21st century learners, the culture of the new school (placed within a larger district culture), and familial expectations.

Findings: SL interviews: RQ

• The school librarians embrace mobile device usage in the library, but have not yet developed ways to infuse device usage into instruction, especially in the area of ethical use of information.

• Students at this site demand instructional models.• Students at this site monitor and advocate for educational assessment

and growth.• Students prefer to use their devices in the library so they may blend

work with play.• A rule-bending culture exists for all participants.• Students bypass the district-mandated filtering system through use of

personal mobile devices.

What are the ELIS practices exhibited by upper income students working in a highly technological school library setting?

Findings: SL interviews: SQ 1

• Students primarily visit the school library to print assignments. Locating print books is not a primary reason for visiting the school library.

• Students use the library as a place to relax and use their mobile devices. It is an inviting place.

• Students use the Windows OS desktop computers more often than the Macintosh OS desktop computers.

• Students access librarian-created LibGuides created for assignments.

How do the students in a highly technological school library environment use physical and virtual technologies and other information resources provided by the school library?

Findings: SL interviews: SQ 2• Academics, daily life routine (hours of

operation, meeting times and dates), fashion, college, social activities (sports, clubs, dances), cars, gaming, travel, current events, popular culture, and social/legal norms.

• Topics of cars, travel, and gaming represent new additions to the reported urban teen study ELIS topics.

What are the students’ most frequently expressed everyday life information needs?

Findings: SL interviews: SQ 3• Reliance on mobile devices before consulting

friends and other human sources.• Friends also sought as people sources.• Librarians stated they were approached nearly

always to solve issues relating to technology questions – not ELIS needs.

What people sources do the students consult when seeking information for non-school purposes when seeking everyday life information in the school library?

Findings: SL interviews: SQ 4• Urban teens’ average home computer access: 68 percent.• Suburban teens’ average home computer access: 100 percent• Suburban teens own the latest devices, are strongly motivated to make excellent

grades to help assure entry into top tier colleges and universities. They frequently check their online reporting of grades and argue with teachers if grades appear incorrectly reported.

• Urban teens and suburban teens both seek information about daily life routines, social activities, creative performance, academics, current events, goods and services, friend/peer/romantic relationships, popular culture, fashion, college, job responsibilities, social/legal norms, creative consumption, and school culture.

• Suburban teens did not seek information about familial relationships, emotional health, religious practice, self-image, philosophical concerns, heritage/cultural identity, civic duty, physical safety, and sexual safety

How do student ELIS practices in this upper income setting compare to urban teen ELIS practices?

Findings: SL interviews: SQ 5• School librarians must learn more about

mobile devices and use them collaboratively with students and teachers in ways that encourage learning scenarios that ask students to reach for deeper answers, and to learn how to seek and use information ethically.

• Per AASL (2009) guiding documents, school librarians are charged with helping students to pursue aesthetic and personal growth.

How do findings from this study affect implications for school librarians administering best practices for working with students?

Analysis: SFG sessions 1

Analysis: SFG sessions 2

• Core categories help to organize and place student focus group session data within the research questions for this study.

• Core categories show that 21st century students, at this site, exist within a resource-rich environment surrounding their ELIS practices, and this in turn impacts their work as student learners.

• Students at this study site manage ELIS practices whenever and wherever they desire, as their mobile devices provide (most of) them with unfettered access to information resources.

Findings: SFG: RQ• Suburban teens prefer to use personal mobile devices in lieu

of school-provided computers.• District-mandated filtering is an annoyance for them, but

they quickly bypass this barrier by depending on their private mobile devices and data plans for accessing desired information.

• Some ELIS practices occurring at school are driven by academic assignments (searching for reporting of grades, for example).

• Completing academic work alongside play (through access to mobile devices) affords students opportunities to take “work breaks.”


Findings: SFG: SQ 1


• While at school, suburban teens first use mobile devices (by virtue of school library policy that allows use in the library) and then use school-provided desktop and laptop computers.

• Students use devices other than mobile phones in the library, with the understanding that they may have to connect through the school’s network for (filtered) Internet access.

• Students reported reading newspapers, book, and magazines in the school library.

• One student stated that he obtains club meeting information through viewing of the school broadcast news program.

Findings: SFG: SQ 2• Academics, social activities, creative

consumption (finding images for creating newer, mash-up style projects), gaming, cars, and travel.

• Gaming, cars, and travel are new additions to the urban teen typology.

• Example: student locating best cruise price for family. “I’m the technology.”


Findings: SFG: SQ 3• Suburban teens first seek themselves, using

their mobile devices as a conduit to seek information, as information sources when finding ELIS topics of interest.

• They also reported seeking help from school librarians, and friends.

• One student said he seeks help from parents.• Mention of school librarians may have been a

reactivity effect (aware of study/setting).


Findings: SFG: SQ 4• Urban teens’ average home computer access: 68 percent.• Suburban teens’ average home computer access: 100 percent• Suburban teens have membership in affluent families living in mostly

large homes. Urban teens lived in inner city neighborhoods, and fall within a lower socioeconomic classification.

• Note: suburban teens did not identify themselves as members of an upper-income group.

• Both groups had access to mobile devices; suburban teens owned the latest devices with home-provided data plans that allowed them to send and receive text messages, and to use Internet access for surfing and shopping.

• Suburban teens subvert barriers to information access through use of personal mobile devices.


Findings: SFG: SQ 5

• AASL (2007) Standards require that students be taught ethical use information resources.

• Allowing mobile device use in the library is a first step; librarians need to be forward-thinking about they will incorporate such devices into instruction.

• The school library setting for this study provides a prime example of both availability of and access to mobile devices that would allow for collaborative lesson-planning to occur in ways that accomplish both of these critical instructional requirements.


Surveys: Edmodo online polls 1• Five brief, checklist-style polls were administered in

an online format to students on five separate dates. • Potential pool of 42 student participants affected on

each polling date by varying types of absenteeism.• Poll 1 = 29 students• Poll 2 = 29 students• Poll 3 = 10 students• Poll 4 = 7 students• Poll 5 = 10 students• Total poll respondents = 85

Edmodo online polls: analysis

• Analysis for online survey polls consisted of counting responses and classifying them into categories for comparison.

• Polls were designed to help obtain additional information from student informants.

• Polling results for Poll 4 were removed because of low participation.

Findings: Edmodo polls: RQ• 100 percent computer access at home reported.• Text messaging is a pervasive form of communication.• Music and television are important aspects of their

media lives. • Suburban teens reported using mobile phones,

television, iPod devices, videogaming systems, online television on the previous day.

• Online television viewing and videogaming represent a new addition to the urban teen typology of media sources.


Findings: Edmodo polls: SQ 1

• Students heavily use mobile devices, followed by iPod or other MP3 player devices, and television watching is a part of their daily lives.

• They prefer computer use over laptop use; many reported owning computers at home using more than one operating system.

• Some students indicated they use instructional video to help meet their information needs.


Findings: Edmodo polls: SQ 2• Poll 4 provided answers for this subquestion.

Poll results were removed because of the low number of participants.


Findings: Edmodo polls: SQ 3• Suburban teens ranked friends first, and then

parents, teachers, school librarians, and guidance counselors.


Findings: Edmodo polls: SQ 4• Urban teens’ avg. home computer access: 68 %.• Suburban teens’ avg. home computer access: 100 %.• A proliferation of mobile devices, particularly including

cell phones, smartphones, and MP3 players, are used by suburban teens, while urban teens used more traditional sources of communication and other media, such as telephones, television, books, newspapers, magazines, automated telephones, and school notebooks.


Findings: Edmodo polls: SQ 5• Because the students listed teachers and

guidance counselors as primary people sources, after friends and parents, it would behoove school librarians to include these additional people sources when forming the earlier recommended learning partnerships with students.

• Teachers, coaches, and guidance counselors, and even administrators, must be educated in order to help stakeholders understand the digital world today’s students inhabit.


Print documentation 1

• 16 print documents, including:• State Department of Education report card• District-published materials• Newspaper articles• School materials for students• Print documents examined to help place the

school library within district, neighborhood, and city contexts.

Virtual documentation 1

• The library web page functions as a portal site for gaining quick access to social networking sites hosted by the library, and to the library LibGuides and online subscription resources.

• Web 2.0 presence: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Viddler, Flickr, and Poll Daddy.

Theoretical Model of Urban Teen Development

Suburban teen “selves”• Suburban teen ELIS topics are: academics, social

activities, daily life routine, current events, fashion, college, creative consumption, gaming, goods and services, cars, entertainment, travel, pop culture, and social/legal norms.

• The identified urban teen selves are: cognitive, social, reflective, emotional, physical, creative and sexual.

• For suburban teens, evidence of all selves exists in comparison to the Theoretical Model of Urban Teen Development, except for the “sexual self.”

Evidence of a “playful self”

• Gaming represents a new ELIS topic. Gaming inhabits some of the urban teen selves: social, cognitive, and emotional.

• Other evidence (observation, SL interviews, SFG sessions) points to suburban teens inhabiting a newly discovered “playful self.”

• The playful self modified the existing model and an adapted Theoretical Model of Suburban Teen Development is created.

Theoretical Model of Urban Teen Development

Comparison of urban teens and suburban teens

Conclusions and recommendations

• Themes emerging from this study.• Recommendations for future research.• Recommendations for school librarians

working with 21st-century students.

Theme 6

• As instructional partners, school librarians must form interconnected learning partnerships with students, teachers, and school staff in order to guide student ELIS practices in meaningful ways.

1. Suburban teens demand instructional models.

2. Suburban teens prefer to use personal mobile devices to school-owned hardware for meeting ELIS needs while in the school library.

3. Suburban teens actively manage their educational assessment and growth.

4. Suburban teens first seek information on their own when engaging in personal information quests, and then rely on friends and other people sources.

5. Suburban teens use their mobile devices to blend play with work when completing assignments in the school library.

6. As instructional partners, school librarians must form interconnected learning partnerships with students, teachers, and school staff in order to guide student ELIS practices in meaningful ways.

SL recommendation 1

• School librarians working with suburban teen populations must thoroughly educate themselves about emerging technologies in order to develop instructional opportunities that move beyond using mobile devices and tools and instead promote ethical, productive, and intelligent incorporation of them into lifelong learning.

SL recommendation 2

• School librarians must form interconnected partnerships with the very stakeholders affected by findings from this study: teachers, students, and other school personnel.

SL recommendation 3

• School librarians working with suburban teen populations must develop an action plan that considers research-based findings; such a plan includes development of best practices for administering library programs, and includes ongoing development of collaboration, instruction, and advocacy efforts.

Future research:

• How do adolescents from middle-income families conduct ELIS practices while working in school libraries?

• Are there library programs currently providing collaborative, facilitative learning experiences that incorporate the use of mobile devices in ways that move beyond tool access and usage?

• In what ways to students conduct ELIS practices in school libraries where mandated filtering programs are in place?

• Would a similar study with a wealthy class population provide comparable findings as in the suburban teen study? In examining study themes, what differences might exist between these two groups, especially in areas of cultural expectations and the blending of work and play?

• Is the preference to rely on mobile devices when seeking information of a personal nature, rather than first seeking friends and other humans, an anomaly or does it represent a new information behavior?