The Role of the Librarian in Supporting Formal and Informal Learning at University

1. The Role of the Librarian in Supporting Formal and Informal Learning at University Associate Professor Rob Phillips Educational Development Unit Murdoch University

2. My Background • 1980s • Research scientist – chemistry and computer science • 1990s • Interactive multimedia designer and project manager • 2000s • Educational designer – helping academics to design better learning environments • 2010s • Policy work – new learning management system • Staff mentoring – awards and grants

3. Book advert

4. Overview • Education for the 21st century • Delivering learning • Contemporary learning environments • The student view • Summary of issues

5. Education for the 21st Century One of the basic requirements for education in the 21st century will be to prepare learners for participation in a networked, knowledge-based economy in which knowledge will be the most critical resource for social and economic development. Students will need new and different knowledge resources, skills, roles, and opportunities.

6. NetGen Student 1: Kate • Recently finished an online course with self-tests and an online exam • Has an iPod, mobile phone and laptop • Does more than 15 hours paid work a week • Has a blog, profile in Second Life and a MySpace page • Used MySpace to track down a musician she likes • Gets regular updates from iTunes • Met her partner on an internet dating site • Talks to her Mum on the phone while microwaving a meal, while the TV is on, while opening the snail mail • Multitasks during lectures, preparing other work on her laptop while taking in the subject of the lecture • Likes working in teams • Finds hands-on activities easier than abstract, theoretical learning • Strong visual learner

7. NetGen Student 2: Alan • Does an average of 15 hours of paid work per week • Is interested in new music and uses a computer for composition • Got together with a group of friends to pool knowledge for a test because he hadn’t been to the lectures • Decided not to attend lectures in another subject because he believed he could learn all he needed from the materials provided • Has an iPod, mobile phone and laptop • Has a wide network of friends • Gets news from others who are travelling in India from their blog • Is a key member of a group blog • Rarely reads newspapers, but uses the internet instead

8. Engaging these Students • The past decade of research in networked learning has demonstrated important benefits • increased access • enhanced opportunities for active student participation in collaborative learning and knowledge building

9. Pedagogical Focus • However, the use of new technology does not by itself guarantee improved educational outcomes • There is a critical need for rethinking education, with especial focus on • the need for new designs for learning • new designs for the technological environments that can support enhanced cognitive as well as socio-affective activities

10. The Sting in the Tail

11. Our NetGen Students Kate Lowe and Alan Lamb Age: 55 plus With thanks to Kate Lowe

13. Discussion Point • What have we learnt in the last 15 years? • Focus on new tools without changing practice • Need to understand practice before we can change it • Educational technology is a tool • How can you use educational technology to support learning?

14. What is Learning? Noun • “knowledge obtained by study” • “the activity of obtaining knowledge” Adjective • Learning outcome or process Learning can be: • Formal • Informal • Implicit

15. What do we know about Learning? • Learning is personal • Learning is social • Learning can be learnt • Learning can be facilitated • People learn through engaging with tasks • Can learning be delivered?

16. Overview • Education for the 21st century • Delivering learning • Contemporary learning environments • The student view • Summary of issues

17. Traditional Undergraduate Teaching Practice • Large lectures (100-1000 students) • Largely summative examinations • Tutorials, practicals and assessment are not so important… – at a policy level

18. Lectures are Useful • They are cost effective • They can engage and motivate students • They connect the lecturer and the student

19. Institutional Beliefs about Teaching at University • Lectures pervade the culture of universities • Units are defined by the number of lectures • Workload allocation is based on teaching hours • Academic titles • la lecture, die Vorlesung, derHörsaal

20. Laurentius_de_Voltolina http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laurentius_de_Voltolina_001.jpg

21. Critique of Lectures Not much learning happens in lectures The traditional lecture approach is “legitimised only by 800 years of tradition” Laurillard (2002: 93) “Lectures can be used to teach information, including the framework of a subject, but an expository approach is unsuitable to stimulate thought or change attitudes.” Bligh (1972: 223)

22. What are the Alternatives? Jones: There are now multiple ways to provide information to students. Lectures should be used to motivate students.

23. The Discourse of Delivery • ‘online delivery’, ‘flexible delivery’, etc. • What is delivered? • We can deliver materials • We can possibly deliver education • We can’t deliver learning!

24. Learning is not a Pizza! • Pizza & learning materials can be delivered • Learningcan’t • The value is not in the materials • The value is in: • the interaction with students and teachers • the assessment http://tlt-swg.blogspot.com/2011/05/course-is-not-pizza.html

25. Summary • The traditional model of university teaching is inappropriate to meet the needs and pressures of the 21st century • It isn’t scalable • It poorly adapts to increasing student diversity and need for flexibility • There are alternatives • We need to take a broader view

26. Overview • Education for the 21st century • Delivering learning • Contemporary learning environments • The student view • Summary of issues

27. ContemporaryLearningEnvironments • A contemporary learning environment needs to • provide an equivalent learning experience for all students • across all campuses • on- or offshore • on- or off-campus • support an international perspective • facilitate work-integrated learning • facilitate development of graduate attributes

28. Contemporary Learning Environments Need to support: • students from diverse academic, socio-economic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds • students • who have priorities other than study • who choose to study at different places and times • who choose to attend or not attend formal classes; • formal and informal learning • a sense of being part of a community

29. Principles of Learning

30. Generic Learning and Teaching Activities

31. Mapping Exercise

32. Overview • Education for the 21st century • Delivering learning • Contemporary learning environments • The student view • Summary of issues

33. WBLT project http://www.cpd.mq.edu.au/teaching/wblt/overview.htm

34. Findings • Students like Lectopia • for convenience and flexibility - it fits with their busy lifestyle • Many students attend lectures and use Lectopia • Students like lectures • but don’t need to attend! • Lectopia is used to engage in learning • e.g. Listen at night and make notes

35. Student views I could learn from Lectopia as well as I can from face-to-face delivery 68.3% Ways that Staff used Lectopia

36. Staff vs Student Views • Mismatch between staff and student perceptions of Lectopia • Students see a blurring between internal and external modes of study • Staff are concerned about falling attendance • Lack of engagement • Delay in listening to lecture recordings

37. Lecture Attendance is Dropping • Challenging to staff • Students seem to make informed decisions not to attend • Staff did not change unit activities • How to design an engaging and nurturing environment for students whether they attend classes or not?

38. 2010 Research • Previous research not designed to explain student behaviours • Examine the unit design as a whole • not just a single technology • How do students study and learn in technology-enhanced tertiary learning environments?

39. Usage Log Analysis

40. Categorisation

41. Study Behaviour:Case A Student A • Systematic • Attended Week 1 lecture but not after that • Listened regularly – went through notes while listening • Studied at home, 9-1 on school days • Highly motivated with high level of commitment to learning • Mature age student • High distinction

42. Study Behaviour:Case B • Crammer? • Listened to all lectures in study week – with notes • Regional campus • Attended all lectures • Lecturer on Lectopia different • Distinction

43. Study Behaviour: Case E • Appeared to be disengaged with Lectopia • Went to most lectures, so did not access Lectopia • Unable to concentrate on Lectopia • Learn individually or with partner • High use of LMS, used discussion forums • Printed all material to read • Bare pass

44. Behaviour Summary • All 15 participants exhibited thoughtful study behaviour • They used Lectopia: • To catch up on missed lectures • To review and add to lecture notes • To prepare for assignments • To revise at end of semester • Beyond the unit of study

45. Overview • Education for the 21st century • Delivering learning • Contemporary learning environments • The student view • Summary of issues

46. Library Implications • Discussion

47. Library Implications • Avoid ‘delivery’ • How to provide a nurturing environment for students who work remotely? • Provide informal learning spaces • Provide a sense of community • Pre-record information and screen-captured movies • Use web-conferencing

48. Laurentius_de_Voltolina http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laurentius_de_Voltolina_001.jpg

49. Medieval Universities “The medieval university was … hardly a paradise for its teachers, especially in Bologna, where the university was a guild of students that hired teachers.” The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, Rashdall (1895), cited in Shulman (1986)

50. Other quotes A scholar was, indeed, obliged … to attend lecture at least three times a week… If he proposed to leave the town, he was required to deposit a sum of money by way of security for his return. By the City-regulations, moreover, for each day on which he failed to secure an audience of five for an ordinary lecture, or three for an extraordinary one, he was treated as absent and incurred the appointed fine accordingly.