Lecture 4: Frame 1 - Scholarship as conversation

Lecture 4 dealt with the specific Frame "Scholarship as conversation" of the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.

We learnt that what differentiates a Frame from a Threshold concept is that a Frame is made up of the main idea + knowledge practices + dispositions.

The following Youtube link summarizes the most salient points you would need to understand this Frame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGia3gNyHDM

Shehaamah then requested us to do a task and put it on our blogs. The task required us to design a teaching scenario for the Frame. This is my attempt...

Topic:

Conduct a simple user study to investigate the catalogue usage at an academic library. Write a research report in which you discuss your findings and make recommendations.

Your report should investigate:

-          Are students able to use the catalogue

-          Students attitudes and perceptions about the catalogue

-          The impact of social media and the internet on catalogue usage

Learning Outcomes:

Students should be able to:

1. Realize that the scholarly conversation on the topic is an ongoing one
2. That there are various platforms where conversations on their topic is taking place
3. Add their voice to the ongoing conversations and not be passive consumers of it 

Activities:

1. Find 3 articles that were written in the past six months on the topic and make a summary of the salient points which you then share on Slide Share
2. Find 3 different professional social network platforms e.g. websites, blogs, Facebook pages, Tweets, etc where the topic is being discussed and add your thoughts and opinions on each.
3. Critically analyze the 3 professional social networks you have identified and comment on their stance on the topic and value they add to the scholarly discussion.

Linking Activity to knowledge practice or disposition:

1. By concluding activity one, students will realize that there is constantly new and recent research being produced on the topic. This links up with the disposition which states “ learners... recognize they are often entering into an ongoing scholarly conversation and not a finished conversation”
2. By concluding Activity 2 students would have actively searched and found various scholarly inputs on the topic as well as various platforms where this takes place on. Activity 2 links with two dispositions which states “learners... seek out conversations taking place in various venues” and “learners... recognize that scholarly conversations take place in various venues”.    
3. By concluding Activity 3 students would have showed their understanding of the topic by not only commenting but also motivating their comments. They would be adding their voice to the ongoing conversation. Activity 3 links to the disposition which states “learners... see themselves as contributors to scholarship rather than just consumers of it”.