Workshop

What is a workshop?
It is the come together of a group of people with a specific interest. They gather to discus and brainstorm a new idea or concept. It might be a new idea or concept that the organisation want to implement in the work place e.g. embedding information literacy frames into the curriculum. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

a usually brief intensive educational program for relatively small group of people that focuses especially on techniques and skills in a particular field

Why would you give a workshop?
The participants can have consultations on how they are going to implement the new idea or concept into their working environment. It might be that if they sit around the table and exchange ideas, talk what they are doing, that they might find the new idea suitable for them. They might also find that they already use the some of the concepts but did not put it e.g in an information literacy frame.

When would you want to conduct a workshop?
The workshop must be conducted during the time that is suitable for most of the participants. It will be good to start early in the morning with a workshop.
How do you conduct a workshop?
Before the workshop:
Formulate and define themes or subject of the event
Agree and set dates
Ensure support within your organisation
Recruit assistants
During the workshop:
Meet the audience, Announce the interaction nature, Finish on time, Ask for feedback

References
Barnett, Marva. A. 2010. How to conduct an interactive workshop.Virginia:University of Virginia.
http://faculty.virginia.edu/marva/Teaching%20Workshops/conduct_workshop.htm

Jolles, Robert.J. 2005. How to run Seminars and Workshops: presentation skills for consultants, trainers and teachers. Canada:Wiley.

Workshop. n.d. . Retrieved September 12, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/workshop

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/minimize-lecture-workshop-model.shtml

Activity 2 Homework

Teaching Scenario

1. Authority is constructed and contextual


2. Learning Outcomes/ Knowledge practices:

2.1. Students should be able to define different types of authority such as subject expertise( Scholarship), society position (public office or title), or special experience (participating in an historical event)

2.2. Use makers of authority, to determine the credibility of sources

2.3. Recognize that authoritative content may be packaged formally or informally and may include audio, visual an non-print sources.

3. Material Needed

3.1. Journal articles or popular magazine article

3.2. Blog and Facebook pages

3.3. Youtube video or vimeo recordings

4. Activities

4.1. Students should look up articles in peer reviewed journals e.g. Journal of Information Literacy. Students can go to the Homeopathic and interview them. Students should also look up in formation in a popular magazine e.g. You Magazine. Students can also go into the community to look for the elderly people who are well aware of the use of alternative medicine.

Students who are beginners can identify the authority of the article by the author and the full citation that is given at the end of the article.
The advance student will look at the theories and concepts that are used in the text.

4.2. Students needs to find information on a blog  or Facebook page about alternative medicine. Students have to look at the blogs because there are blogs that are been put up by subject specialist e.g Wilson for Sense and Reference. Students can also look at the slide shares to look at the PowerPoint that the people put on theses slide-share power point anybody can put up power points.

4.3. Students can find Youtube - or vimeo videos about alternative medicine and the use of it. Student can also look at podcast that lecturers compiled at other universities about the topic of alternative medicine.

5. Show how each activity relates to the Knowledge Practice or Learning Outcomes

5.1. Students should be able to define different types of authority such as subject expertise

Student must be able to differentiate between primary and secondary sources, and also between popular magazine articles and scholarly articles.

5.2. Use makers of authority, to determine the credibility of sources

Students who are beginners can identify the authority of the article by the author and the full citation that is given at the end of the article.
The advance student will look at the theories and concepts that are used in the text.

5.3. Recognize that authoritative content may be packaged formally or informally and may include audio, visual an non-print sources.

By the use of YouTube the student that authoritative content can be package formally or informally e.g. Fisher who talk about copyright in his YouTube videos. He is a law academic at Harvard. On the other hand you can the man on the street who make a youtube video.

Research as Inquiry

License: Public Domain
Source: Wikimedia Commons


This the asking of simple to complex questions. New questions will come up as the user engage with the content in the field. The answers that comes from the questions will develop new questions.



Task
Choose a research topic for your students from the list provided
Racism between first year students

Learning outcomes
Formulate questions for research based on information gaps.
Use a variety of research methods.
Determine an appropriate scope of investigation
Limiting the scope of investigation

Activities
The phrase given to them must be developed into a proper research question.
E.g. The impact of racism between first year students using the Self Learning Zone at the library of the University of the Western Cape during the first three month of orientation.
Students are ask to compile questionnaires and interview first year student.
Students have to be involve in a problem solving learning activity.

Knowledge Practice
Students formulate a question
Students are asked to formulate a research question. They have to write the research question on a blog post and the other students must comment on the research question. Student to student review of the question. Each student have to review at least two questions on the blog.

Use a variety of research methods.
Each student have to compile a questionnaire, and hand it to the other students to complete.(quantitative research method)
Students must at least interview three students in the self learning zone. They have to draft the interview question.(qualitative research)

Problem solving learning activity
Students have to find information from different sources to answer the question. Students must use books (print), databases, blogs

Scholarship as conversation

Discuss the information seeking behavior of the postgraduate international student at the University of the Western Cape Library


1 Draft three learning outcomes

1.1. Contribute to scholarly conversation at an appropriate level, such as online communication.
1.2. Critically evaluate contributions by others.
1.3. Identify the contribution particular articles

2. Design three activities

2.1. Student must create a power point, present the findings and make a podcast.
2.2. Students must create a blog
2.3 Students must comment to two blogs of other students.

3. Knowledge practice

Power point and podcast: Create the power point, present the findings and create a podcast and published the podcast online.

Create a blob: Contribute to scholarly conversation at an appropriate level such as online communities.

Evaluate contribution by others.

Threshold concepts in information literacy

https://youtu.be/E6DRPcwiLq8

The above video serve as extrinsic motivational education aid.

Threshold concept
 The term was coined by Meyer and Land. According to Meyer and Land (2003) threshold concepts are  “portal(s), opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something. (representing) a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something without which the learner cannot progress.

The picture want to show that the student have to go through the opening. On the other side of the window are many possibilities. The sky is the limit.
Meye and Land also give characteristics to the threshold concepts and they are:
transformative,
irreversible,
integrative,
bounded, 
troublesome and
none- or even counter-intuitive

Information Literacy frames

The six Frames are:
1. Authority is constructed and contextual,
2. Information creation as a process,
3. Information has value,
4. Research as inquiry,
5. Scholarship as conversation
6. Searching as strategic exploration
These are just the headings of the information literacy frames they still need to be unpac. Each frame has its knowledge practices and dispositions.

Learning theories

This lecture was very theoretical. The distinction between a theory and a model was defined at the beginning of the lesson. The four learning theories: behaviorism, cognitivism, social learning and constructivism was pointed out and explained.

In a learning situation all these theories are important because people are not the same. If a lesson is design the instructor must take into account that people differ. In the information literacy class will be people with different learning abilities. There will be those people in the information literacy class who needs extrinsic motivation and that is where the behaviorist theory comes in. There are also the people who learn best in social context or from their peers. There are those people who are intrinsically motivated and that is where the cognitivist theory comes in. This is the motivation who comes from the inner person. This person does not need motivation form outside. It is here where the Bloom's taxonomy comes to play. The constructivist theory is the active participating of the learner in the learning activity. The person who get instruction is actively busy in the learning process.

Self-reflection on the progress in the course
After the class the theories make sense. The understanding how to design an information literacy lesson which will include more than one theory. The activities that will be design must make provision for the different participants in the lesson to take part in the lesson. 

External Links
http://bit.ly/1D1MSAZ

These courses will help the instruction designer with useful tips on how to design the courses. This the information literacy instructor will need.

The first class for information literacy:
The class was informative. It was good to start with an overview of the history of the subject. The concepts was conveyed in an easy terms. I like the term sunset for information literacy standards.The difference between information literacy standards and information literacy frames was high lighted in the first class. The difference between bibliographic instruction and information literacy was also introduced. After the class the difference between the two concepts was clear.

Interesting links:
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework


Feeling about participating in the course:
I am feeling excited.

My relationship with my colleagues in the class is very good, because we will inform each other about the work. If we see that one next to you has a problem one of the class colleagues will offer some assistance.