Discussion for April 2021 - Lizard People in the Library

I am delighted you like the Google lesson. They seem to have done so much work on it that could be useful to both older primary and early secondary. A transition project sounds perfect!

I don't think there is a conflict either and am happy to say that my first reading of this article made me see how closely information literacy and inquiry work together. My own understanding of the article was clouded by others comment made to me outside of this discussion. I certainly don't think FOSIL is falling into that trap either 😊.

It is so good to read your thoughts @Ruth Maloney and would have to agree with you about the conflict. When I first read this article I could also see many similarities between the two camps. However, I was thrown by a conversation recently where I was promoting our session around Barbara Striplings Empowering Students to Inquiry in a Digital Environment learning through inquiry and was told that I was wrong and that some argument in Barbara Fister's article should question our practice, that we should be considering a wider body of academics such as Barbara Fister to guide our understanding.

Funnily enough, I had already chosen Barbara Fister's article before I realised that we would have the opportunity to talk to Barbara Striping so in that context I had been reading more widely before it was suggested. I have to say that their comments clouded my judgement of this article and I began looking for something that maybe wasn't there.

'information agency' is such an important area and you are right that as school librarians we need to understand how this all works in order to become the experts that our schools need. But how do we do this? I came across a great video from Google (so a little biased) explaining how their search works. It is great for older students but also helps our own understanding too. You can find it here https://www.elizabethahutchinson.com/inquiry-resources. There is also a really interesting year 6 project currently being talked about on the FOSIL Group forum Does Google know everything? leading back to helping students understand how information on the internet is being accessed. This is why inquiry is so important as it links students to what they are learning within the curriculum and is no longer a peripheral skill.

I do think that teaching through inquiry is a good way to teach media and information literacy along with many other skills in order to guide students through the process to become independent learners. We are not saying go and find this out for yourself we are trying to create the support network that will eventually enable them to do it themselves. A slow but steady process and one I agree needs a lot more thought and reflection.

@PHS_Librarian it makes my head hurt too 😂. All I can say is that in working with FOSIL I have been able to support the process of learning more clearly and also teach media and information literacy in line with the curriculum. I am happy to chat to you about FOSIL if you want to know more or check out their forum which can be found here https://fosil.org.uk/forums/forum/inquiry-and-resource-design/

@Elizabeth I found this very interesting and there are so many important points to consider. I do think where Barbara Fister says "It’s everywhere, and nowhere. It’s everyone’s job, but nobody’s responsibility. In many cases, the people who care about it the most have had their jobs felled by the austerity axe." is much of the problem. Librarians can teach IL as much as they want, but it needs to be taught in context in conjunction with subject teachers and constantly reinforcing by everyone. Throughout a school career. Otherwise students won't take it in.

The comment about "which messages to promote and how those choices intersect with political messaging and the social engineering of interest groups." is very true. When I look at my Twitter feed I can see my own views reflected back at me. Whereas Facebook which I tend to stay away from, but do have a couple of people actually very well known to me, so not just FB 'friends' use a lot and their opposing views feature more prominently. It's almost like having two personalities. So Jacob Bronowski's quotation “There is no way of exchanging information that does not involve an act of judgement.” rang true.

I will reread and take in more of these useful points thank you Elizabeth.

@dawnwoods2000 I think this is all very true, Dawn. I think social media has the potential to be an 'echo chamber'. The people we follow, the filters we use, all restrict the variety of opinions expressed. For example, on Twitter, I mostly follow others related to my career in some fashion so almost everything that appears on my feed is linked to that. Like lots of other people, I will click 'show more' or 'show less' to alter what gets on to the feed. Because you have to filter or drown in the sheer amount of posts. But I'm aware that in so doing I'm reducing the points of view shown to me.

I have friends who use various kinds of social media who have said things to me like: I have hidden such and such because I'm tired of topic X turning up in my feed all the time. The more feelings are running high when it comes to whatever topic X is, the greater the odds (in my experience) of people doing exactly that. It's understandable, especially when certain things seem to be everywhere, to say enough, but it does obviously restrict what does subsequently appear on their social media feeds and it will mean people aren't being exposed to a variety of different opinions.

I use social media in this example because I feel that a lot of the case studies referred to in the article are spread primarily through social media and other online forums. And, whilst more conventional media sources - print, television and so on - may have something in their charters about putting both sides of a debate, social media is not set up that way. Any and all opinions are treated as if they have equal weight and its up to the reader to decide whether to believe them or not.

@Stephanie @dawnwoods2000 I think social media is a tricky one. It certainly involves the potential to stay in your bubble and takes real skill to not do this. I can't say that I have managed it myself and often steer clear of difficult conversations. I would rather keep my head below the parapet than engage in some of the edutwitter discussions. Many of whom seem to get very heated.

We do however as school librarians need to engage in how our students are finding information through social media. Just the other day I was hearing about students finding out from TikTok that the story of Helen Keller was a myth and the librarian was struggling to engage the students in the true story. It is things like this that we have to learn how to teach and engage with. We should not be frightened of new technology or tools we need to engage and become confident. We need to be one step ahead of our students. A big ask but important, I feel.