#si643

It's strange how having class in a different room can make it feel almost like a different class. This semester I have 620 in that room on Friday mornings, so it was a bit disorienting for me to be in there Monday evening. I feel like it should be the weekend again.

It's also crazy that the semester is so close to being over. Our big bad webinar is next Wednesday at 6 p.m. (be there or be somewhere else!), and after that webinar there's just one more class meeting... Bizarro!

Oh, and I suppose I should mention that the webinar I watched was the one about Blackboard. A lot of it seemed similar to a (longer) version of the screencasts we did earlier this semester-- the gentleman talking demonstrated how to do various things using the site. I was a little surprised that about half of the time they had was devoted to Q&A, and also at how abruptly the webinar Q&A was cut off as they ran out of time. It worked out perfectly, though. It was a little bit like a long commercial, though, which I hadn't really been expecting.

I actually had a Twitter account before I needed one for class. I made it earlier this semester, just for the lulz. You know how I do. Anyway, I followed so many actors, comedians, webcomic artists, and people who say funny irreverent things that it quickly became ridiculous and a huge time-sink to read through all of that, so I just washed my hands of the entire thing and fled. (Talk about information overload, amirite, SI 500-ers?) I recently went through and organized everyone I follow into lists, but I might have to take a look at one of those Twitter-managing programs/websites I've heard mentioned. The two I can remember are Tweet Deck and Hoot Suite. Perhaps I should go check them out.

And then I will, as they say, tweet the deets. Ha!

Class was really good on Monday. I think one of my favorite things about this class so far is watching the variety of ideas people come up with for our little mini-classes. I worry that the idea I've come up with is so awesome that everyone must be thinking the same thing, but then we never have any repetition! I thought everyone did a nice job on the workshops. I have to give a special shout out to Malorie and Krystal though. Not only did they teach me something I didn't know but wanted to (how to download ebooks from the AADL website), but they also identified a problem with the book clubs and iterated through their design process to try something new. Rather than just saying "You guys are all [some sort of person]" they gave us slips of paper with roles on them. Kind of awesome guys. Terribly jealous I didn't think of it!

On to the readings!

How People Learn Chapter 7: This chapter gave us an overview of some exemplary examples of teaching across specific disciplines (History, Math, and Science). Bransford et al made a point of showing that just because someone is an awesome teacher in one subject does not necessarily mean that person can teach as well in another field. I experienced this myself during my brief stint at a private high school in Singapore. Turns out that although I'm an awesome ESL/EFL teacher, I'm a painfully awful English Composition teacher. Granted, I had very little guidance, but I really did not have any idea what I was doing. It's the only job I ever quit. Although the school tried to convince me to stay on, I think they were quite relieved they wouldn't have to fire me when the test scores started rolling in.

Anyway, I really enjoyed reading the examples of teaching. I thought they all showed remarkable awareness of the students and what they needed to learn. In my years teaching, we were always encouraged to try to find out what the students already knew before we tried to teach them something. I also really like the idea of letting the students fail so they can find their own way to the correct answer. I guess what I'm saying is that the best teachers might look a little "lazy" to the outsider. They make the students do all the work!

Montgomery: I thought this really related to what Eli, Sherlonya and Eva were emphasizing at the ALA "Day in the Life" event a week ago Friday (shameless plug!). They said over and over again that librarians need to emphasize the products they can provide to users. Their perspective was geared toward public libraries, but I think the Embedded Librarian and his or her webinars are great examples of products that academic libraries can offer. How cool is it that we have the technology to provide an expert on-demand? Oh the possibilities!

Matos, et al.: I really appreciated the concrete examples from this article. I think it really shows how making a point of introducing yourself and networking within your university can result in the library becoming more used. I think it's really true that students and faculty often forget about the resources available to them, but when a librarian makes a little bit of effort everyone ends up surprised, happy, and surprised at how happy they are.

Webinar. A New Culture of Learning: I did try to watch this live. I did! Unfortunately (Fortunately?) UMMA's Paper Study Room has become really popular as of late. As it turns out, pulling artwork and paying attention to a webinar are not mutually conducive. The snippets I DID listen to were so interesting, that I went back and listened to the archived version. They used IdeaScale rather than Eluminate, which seemed to work well (at least my one post of "Hi!" went through just fine). The speaker was supposed to be John Seeley Brown (Yay SI!), but he had to be replaced at the last minute by Douglas Thomas, gamer extrordinaire.

I really found it interesting that they think we are preparing students for 19th and 20th century jobs. "The world is changing really, really fast." Duh, but the school system isn't changing very fast. "So we have to teach faster or continue education at a different pace." I like that they pointed out that people really like change, and they get bored and leave something online that doesn't change fast enough.  Hmmm. I also found it interesting that he thought that "schools aren't broken, but our teaching theory is." Context is constantly changing, but so is the content. So it all goes back to productive inquiry. This struck me as resonating with the Chapter 7 above. Asking questions to get to better questions and then using the imagination. I totally want to take that class, don't you?

The software: Not that impressed with IdeaScale. People were having trouble with sound, adding questions and all sorts of things. It seems to still be in Beta version, so maybe they'll be able to fix it.

Ah, goodness. What can I say about these that I haven't, at one point, said about all presentations?

I thought everyone had interesting topics, and we had good conversations about them.

I always get way more tongue-tied than I think I will. A point I want to make will occur to me as I listen to someone else talking, and then either the conversation will have moved to another topic and my point is no longer relevant, I will have forgotten my point, or I will have realized that my point was stupid to begin with.

I should actually write out what I'm going to say, or at least a bare outline, so I don't get so nervous that I forget everything. With group presentations like that, it really would be better to designate a bit strictly what each member is going to talk about. I do hate interrupting.

It's hard to tell when people are done reading. I guess maybe the people I saw still looking at the papers were already finished, just being polite and wondering when I would start talking.

Actually, I just went back and looked at the evaluations again, and only one person said that we gave them too much time to read. I don't know why, but each person's comments really seem to carry a lot of weight. Overall they were positive, but I still find myself wishing I had done way better and impressed them somehow.

20 minutes is both longer and shorter than you would think.

Will blog about the readings later.

Well, it's certainly 'later'-- so here we go!

The more I read about teaching, the more I wish I could remember more of my teachers' strategies, especially in my younger years. I do remember one time in kindergarten or first grade that we finger-painted with pudding. Boys got the chocolate pudding first, while girls got the vanilla pudding first. I do remember thinking that was unjust. But I also remember not caring too much, because hey-- finger-painting with pudding! But yes, people who are experts are not necessarily the best choice to teach. It takes a different skill set.

I thought that it was very helpful, not only to get an opportunity to hear from Bobbi Newman, but also to see the webinar tool that we'll be working with.

The webinar tool seemed pretty straightforward, so I think I can leave it at that and not wax poetic about it (wax prosaic?).

It was, as always, nice to hear from a professional in the field-- what are still more academic concerns to me are real-life to them. I know I really need to get out of the academic mind-frame (because if the Blue Fairy grants my wish, in a short while I'll also be a real librarian), but it's difficult.

As several of my cohort members mentioned, it was really nice to hear a librarian that wasn't up in arms about the Harper Collins situation. And where there's one librarian that feels that way, there are bound to be more that we just haven't heard from. Perhaps this can get resolved without a full-fledged mob forming after all.

I also thought it was interesting how much of the time was devoted to her answering our questions. She was very thorough, knowledgeable, and friendly, and I enjoyed having her as a guest speaker.

I'm nervous about the workshop on Monday-- we'll see how it goes!

Oh, and this is actually something I watched for my SI 620 (Collection Development and Management) class, but I hope you all find it interesting, too, if you have the time to watch it. It's Eli Neiburger talking about how libraries are screwed. :)  Interesting stuff!

Part One

I had a lot of fun with the book club. I thought everyone in the Diamonds group did really well, and I really enjoyed listening to other people's thoughts on the readings.

It was also really helpful to get the feedback. I wasn't sure how much I was supposed to talk while we were presenting; I did want to add my opinion to the pile, but was worried I might be seen as trying to control the conversation too much, or like I thought my opinion was the be-all and end-all or something like that. But the entire experience was a good one, I think, and cemented my desire to be in a book club once I graduate. I don't know if I'd feel fully comfortable leading one yet, but I think participating would be nice.

However, I did think that the role-playing made things a little more difficult. I sometimes have a hard enough time coming up with what I want to say, without pretending to be a teenager (I don't know if I can accurately remember what that is like-- all my memories are suspect), or a youth librarian (which I have never been and don't plan to be).

Will add more later, about the readings for next week-- I'm dying to play around with this web archiving thing for another class.

Okay, on to the readings.

Pattern Recognition: You know, I'm no expert, but I get the impression that Harper Collins is more well-known for their fiction publishing, so I'm not sure this data from what the librarian admits is a small academic library with poor circulation is really relevant. The places that would be more affected by this, it seems, are public libraries that are already hurting for money and have higher circulation, especially in pleasure reading. I think that the commenters made some really good points.

http://boycottharpercollins.com/ is really straightforward. I didn't realize that Harper Collins owned so many publishing companies. It's true that some books that are really old still do circulate... I want to watch the YouTube video to see how many times the paper books manage to circulate. I am not familiar enough with library stats to know the averages.

YouTube video! First off, I must say that these are the most literate YouTube comments I've ever seen. I wasn't surprised to see that books were still in good condition after being checked out 26 times-- I also thought it funny that the paper copy was under a lifetime guarantee. Those librarian ladies were funny. This video is definitely proof that Harper Collins is way out of line with this policy.

Code of ethics: Nothing surprising here. I think I've read it before. Good ethics, indeed.

Open Letter to Librarians: "We have serious concerns that our previous e-book policy, selling e-books to libraries in perpetuity, if left unchanged, would undermine the emerging e-book eco-system, hurt the growing e-book channel, place additional pressure on physical bookstores, and in the end lead to a decrease in book sales and royalties paid to authors." I'm really not sure how this would happen. I'm no econ major, but I don't see how charging libraries multiple times for the same book would relieve pressure on physical book stores... Are they really that closely interwoven?

Questioning Boycotting Harper Collins: I guess I could see Harper Collins' proposal as being more reasonable if the number of check-outs allowed were higher. As the YouTube video showed, books are still in good condition after several times that many check-outs. While I do see his point that the beginning of negotiation might be a bit premature for a boycott, I do think the Harper Collins idea is ridiculous. A boycott certainly shows that people are serious and will not budge. I certainly hope that things get worked out in a favorable way to everyone, and soon: this debacle will most likely set a precedent that we will all have to live with.

For class 6 on Feb. 21st, I was unfortunately unable to attend. I've reviewed the PowerPoint from that class, but it's (obviously) just not the same as actually being in the room listening to the lecture. Reading my cohort's blog posts about it is actually not all that enlightening, to my surprise-- I can make neither heads nor tails of them, really (aside from the basics and when they refer to the readings), without having shared the experience. Not that it's their responsibility to transcribe the lecture for me or anything! Not by a long shot. I'm sure my comments regarding class and readings are just as obscure for someone who hasn't attended lecture or read the readings. It just reinforces my natural aversion to missing class.

For the book club readings, I am a Diamond-- presumably because I am a girl's best friend.

The first I'll write about is the story that my group found: Oscar Wilde's The Nightingale and the Rose. I'm a huge fan of Wilde. His plays are some of the few I enjoy reading, and I love his humor and wit. He stays true to form with this short story, which starts off like a typical fairy tale-- talking animals and plants, deep meaning, things in threes-- and ends focusing on the fickleness and stupidity of people.

The next: A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift. I also love Mr. Swift's satire-- how he works his way slowly into the solution, before laying it on the table and going into all kinds of details about who would buy the babies, how to prepare the babies, how they could use baby skin for leather, and so on. It's nice to see ye olde trolle in action. It reminds me of this awesome self-portrait from the 1790s by Joseph Ducreux, which you may have seen around the internet:

(from his Wikipedia page. Edit: That picture doesn't seem to be working for some reason-- just go to the Wikipedia page to check it out. It's the first one on the far right.)

People were still awesome back in the day. And I think it's notable that Swift's work is still well-known enough, almost three hundred years after he wrote it, that it is still referenced in movies, games, cartoons, and TV shows.

And then: Four Habits of Highly Effective Librarians by Todd Gilman. Gilman raises many good points about the changing landscape in Library Land, and offers some good ways to make life a little easier for oneself and one's fellow librarians. Many of his suggestions just seemed kind of like good common sense, but I suppose when things get hectic, it can help to remind yourself of those.

Next on the list: The Landlady by Roald Dahl. Roald Dahl is another great author; I loved to read his books when I was younger. And I'd probably still love them if I read them again. I think I'd like to. It was nice to read something of his that I hadn't read before-- it was quite a creepy little story. That landlady sure doesn't waste any time getting down to business!

And, last but not least, Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm. I imagine pretty much everyone has read this. Actually, though, I had forgotten the very end, where they ride a duck to safety and return home rich to find their wicked stepmother mysteriously dead. I find it somewhat interesting that the women in the story are wicked and end up dying, while the girl is just somewhat useless and a nonentity until she kills the witch. The boy is clever, and their father is supposedly good, though incredibly weak-willed and brow-beaten.

Class on Feb. 14th:

I was unwise enough to wait a few days before writing about class, but I really enjoyed the extra care that was put into the presentation, and all the old Valentines. I also liked how the McGonigal talk was linked to other classes taught here-- it really gives people a chance to take classes that are going to interest them more. I like it when information in class branches off so that you can pursue it on your own, rather than just dead ending as the section ends.

I must also admit that I am looking forward to the book club activity. I've always kind of wanted to be in a book club, but never got around to it due to worrying about not liking the book they chose, or not being able to come up with anything worthwhile to say about it, or just more mundane concerns about being able to find time and transportation.

Readings for next week:

I think the Socratic method piece by Tredway was really interesting. I kind of wish I'd had a chance to partake in interactive thinking and learning like that when I'd been younger. I wonder if this is what goes on in forensics classes. Again, it seems to tie back to making students interested and involved with their learning to make it stick. Using a novel (well, novel to someone used to America's public school system, but actually ancient) method such as this one seems like it has nothing but benefit-- and in only an hour a week!

On Hoffert's book-splosion: I had never thought of book clubs reading separate books to discuss a common theme. It kind of blows my mind. I'm not sure how well it would work out... I do think that there is some merit to having some common ground-- as I mentioned when we all found and read our own articles for this very class some weeks ago. I think if there is a shared text, it would make discussion so much easier, as people would be referring to concepts and events familiar to everyone. It's always interesting to see how different people interpret the same text. Of course, as I also mentioned before, I've never taken part in a book club using either format, so I can't say for sure which method would work better. I certainly can't argue with the results mentioned in the article.

Oh, Metzger's article involves the Socratic method, too! I guess I'm reading these in the wrong order. This article's really interesting, too. It's longer, so it has a chance to get into some specifics of using this method. I really like her students. :) They really seemed to take the concept and run with it. I'm really impressed. I keep thinking back to my high school literature classes (what I can remember of them, at least) and wondering how an activity like this would have changed the experience. I think it would take some time to get into the right mode, but Metzger also mentions how the first few sessions were a learning experience for everyone.

On to the Darnton, which I printed out before class on the 14th-- it feels as though it's been a while since I read something not on a computer screen, but of course that isn't true. I have physical texts for two of my classes this semester, and maybe more once spring break is over and my 1.5 credit class starts. Hm, I'm supposed to read this one closely. Pressure's on! Are we supposed to mark these up like the students in the Metzger article? Because right away I noticed that one of the words in the title is unfamiliar to me, so I looked it up. Jeremiad: A long, mournful complaint or lamentation. Yeah, I thought it sounded Biblical.

Actually, I think it's getting a little late for such intimidatingly close reading, and I have some other stuff I need to do tonight. I'll add on to this blog post later with my super-close reading!

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Okay, let's do this.

Wow, Harvard's book collection is (of course) very impressive! I'm glad that they're digitizing it for the world. I would love to have the chance to touch a Gutenburg Bible, oh-so-carefully! It must be crazy to touch such an important piece of history. I love old things like that.

It's always a little strange to me when someone says 'vicious circle' instead of 'vicious cycle,' but now that I think of it, most people I've heard go the 'circle' route. You know, I'm not sure this is really a close reading so much as me getting hung up on irrelevant details.

So Jeremiad 1 deals with the problem of disproportionate increase in the cost of serials, a topic that has been discussed in several of my classes. I thought that the plan they came up with to try to counteract it was a good one, and I'm sorry that it didn't end up working out. The best-laid plans of mice and men...

Jeremiad 2 shows us some shocking statistics. I can't believe that those journals cost so much! I mean, I suppose I'm still stuck thinking as an individual consumer and not an institution that has many people using its resources, but good golly! How do journal publishers expect libraries to keep shelling out that kind of dough? The article mentions a court case that may indicate that publishers will no longer be able to prevent the circulation of information about their contracts-- I think that's all for the good. Perhaps I'm biased, but it certainly seems to me that libraries are getting the short end of the stick, and any advantage they can get is all to the good.

Oh, and I see that Harvard has a policy like the one at U of M we learned about in 620 the other day, where the university will reimburse the fees for people submitting articles to open-access journals. I like it, but it is kind of a Band-Aid solution rather than a real fix.

Ooh, the Espresso Book Machine! I've heard so much about it, but have yet to see one in action. I understand that there is one on campus, is that right? Is it available to the public?

Jeremiad 3-- Google, where most things inevitably end up.

Oh, I didn't realize that libraries would have to pay to access Google Books-- that seems kind of underhanded, especially considering that many of the books were only scanned in the first place because of the goodwill of libraries.

'Cocaine pricing'? That is so 80's. Let's call it 'methamphetamine pricing.' Get with the times!

(I don't know, is meth still the 'big' drug? I find it so hard to keep up with these things. I suppose some would argue that coke will never go out of style, though I've always found drug-abuse-related deviated septums somewhat gauche. But I digress.)

Oh, my, a national digital library would be wonderful! How futuristic!

Class:

Assessment is so hard. We need it to get better, but no one likes giving it and getting it requires specific comments (which might *gasp* make someone feel bad!). And yet, our best learning memories are those teachers that took the time and made the effort to critique in such a way that we could see what we needed to improve upon. It's a delicate balance, but such an important one. If no one every knows what mistakes he or she is making, then no one can ever correct those mistakes and get better.

Readings:

I have to admit, in my years teaching I never once thought about give students a problem BEFORE I gave them the tools to solve it.  Funny how something so simple ends up being successful (according to the research). I know that giving things meaning makes them more learnable, but it's easy to forget the step of letting the students use what they already know. This is really one of the dangers of teaching.  We have a tendency to think of ourselves as the great givers of knowledge: throwing information down from on-high to our eager minions down below.  These readings really made me think about finding new ways to connect what our learners already know and making abstract connections across subjects.

Back in college I remember having a conversation with a guy about actors: Natural actors are good; trained actors are also good. But nothing can beat a natural actor with some training. Some of the readings we're doing make me feel like we're doing the same thing with teaching. I can't wait to be a natural teacher with some training. That's the kind of teacher who could change the world!