Open Library and summer cycling

In the technology section of the Guardian, there’s an ineresting article on The Open Library. the article states that the Open Library hopes to “bring the web and books closer together” by developing “a single page on the web for every book that has ever been published”. The Open Library is part of the non-profit Internet Archive - itself a very interesting an worthwhile site. The idea of the single page for every book is not just to give brief information on the books i.e. not a cataloguer’s dream, but to have multiple links on the page, so that “information from around the internet” on a book can be included. The Open Library is not Google Books and has no intention of trying to be so. One of the issues with The Open Library is that, while many libraries have signed up with Google, other libraries may take a commercial view of their holdings. According to the article’s author, the library world “despite its meek appearance” [my italics] is “big business” these days. However, the academic world – and I think schools would come in here- may be the saviour of the Open Library.

Ah, summer cycling. I put on my Bicycle Wagga Wagga cycling top, shorts and fingerless cycling gloves and go cycling in the heat. OK – for those of you reading this in Australia and other countries, 23 degrees may not constitute much heat. but after 2 weeks of not very warm easterly winds coming off the sea, 23 is a delight. The route yesterday went past Barns Ness Lighthouse, along the side of the shore on a hard, bumpy track to Skateraw Beach, round the power station, across the main road and under the bridge, with a stiff climb up to Innerwick.  Great views across the abundantly cropped fields to the sea from here. Hard work at times but it’s great to get out and feel the sun on your back.

The Innovative School Librarian and Great Corby

There’s a new book from Facet Publishing who have published a number of my books.  Innovative School Librarian looks very promising and contains chapters such as:  the librarian’s vision and values; integrating the library; and innovating. The book is edited by the effervescent Sharon Markless, who has done some excellent work in the school library field over a number of years. Sharon’s co-authors appear to have produced a book which not only has an innovate title but also takes a new and much needed look at the role of the school librarian. This looks like an interesting and potentially very useful book for school librarians and teacher librarians, and not just in the UK where it’s published. Check it out.

At the weekend, my wife and I went to visit our son Jonathan and his wife Rebecca in the historic and attractive town of  Carlisle.  There’s an interesting walk in the town centre where you can visit the  very large cathedral and the impressive castle. There are also nice walks along the river where lots of sheep graze happily, ignoring the 2 lanes of traffic above them on the bridge. In the evening, we went to the very impressive and great value for money restaurant at The Queen Inn, where the service is excellent, the food first class and the rural setting is exquisite. If you go, try the chicken and pistacio nut pate, the loin of venison or pork, and the puddings (to die for) including a very sweet but irresistible sticky toffee pudding. Very good wines and a regular section of very good real ales. I had Coniston Bluebird Bitter - tasty and refreshing.

Question formulation and kittiwakes

The main paper I presented at the i3 Conference this week was on Students, question formulation and issues of transfer. This was part of a larger research project covering information literacy and transfer. I focused on how year 7 students, teachers and teacher librarians were all in favour of question formulation i.e. students developing their own questions for assignments as opposed to teachers providing questions. All were in favour in principle but, in practice, students and teachers often had a narrow interpretation of the value of questions e.g. they saw questions as mainly valuable in relation to information retrieval. Some students saw wider value  – that questions could be used throughout an assignment e.g. to guide the structure of the written assignment. In terms of transfer, some students voluntarily used questions in subsequent assignments while other students would only do do if directed by the teacher or teacher librarian. Question formulation, if done effectively, is a difficult task for most students and most year 7 students will need guidance on formulating questions. It cannot be assumed that all students will have the ability to formulate questions.

The kittiwakes are nesting again on the walls of the ruins of Dunbar Castle. There’s a good video by students in my old school about kittiwakes.  It also features the local high street and the John Muir Centre. The kittiwakes return each year to nest in the same places and have a very distinctive call. There is often a cacophony of noise at the harbour when these little gulls are nesting. You can get quite close to the nests and can see the chicks in the nest with the naked eye.  At the moment, the birds are sitting on eggs – see picture below.

Kittiwakes

i3 conference and tatties

Late posting on the blog this week, as I’ve been attending and presenting 2 papers at the i3 (pr. i cubed) conference in Aberdeen, a city in the north of Scotland.  The 3 ‘i’s stand for Information: interactions and impact and the conference covered a wide range of issues relating to information literacy, information seeking and use, information practice and knowledge management. Context was a common word used and the contexts included higher education, the workplace and schools. One of the keynote speakers of most interest to us in the schools area was Louise Limberg who gave an insightful talk which explored a range of aspects of information literacy, including what Louise called the “rhetoric of information literacy” i.e. statements about information literacy including definitions and standards. Louise was critical of many of these statements and argued that information literacy must be seen differently in different contexts. If you get a chance to read Louise Limberg’s work, you should do so.

The countryside around Dunbar at the moment is bursting with growth. The barley and wheat is standing high and the grain tops are fully developed. Some of the grain fields are starting to turn from green to yellow. The local fruit farm has a voluminous supply of strawberries which are very tasty. For those of you in most of Australia who are used to fairly tasteless Queensland strawberries, Scottish strawberries (like their Tasmanian counterparts) are full of flavour. East Lothian is also famous for growing tatties i.e. potatoes and there are many fields of tatties which are now just about to come into flower. The picture below shows a field of tatties near Dunbar and you can also see the recently constructed wind turbines on the hilltop.

Tattie field near Dunbar

Digital participation and hill running (watching not doing)

From Futurelab, a new project on what they are calling Digital Participation. This is interesting for teacher/school librarians as part of the project will be looking at digital literacy, which is defined by Futurelab as “more than functional ICT skills” and relates to students accessing, creating and communicating with ICT, as well as students taking a critical and evaluative stance in relation to digital media. The overall strategy is to make students more active learners. So aspects of information literacy will be covered by the project, which will be worth following.

At the weekend, my wife (in training for the Loch Ness Marathon  in October) went along to see members of Dunbar Running Club (ex non-running President being yours truly) take part in the Traprain Law Race. This involves runners leaving the picturesque village of East Linton, running along and then through the River Tyne  (see photo below) before going on  series of uphill stretches to get to Traprain Law.  So about 5K uphill (s0me of it very steep and 5K downhill. The top hill runners are  a race apart – strong on the uphill and fearless on the downhill. Not for the faint hearted.

Runners in the River Tyne

The British Library and a train journey

Late posting of the blog this week, I’m afraid as I was down in London doing workshops for groups of year 12 girls at a school. On the way back, I popped into the The British Library which is, if you are ever in London and some time to spare, very much worth a visit. It’s one of these places that has a good feeling about it when you walk in the doors. It’s busy but relaxed and there are lots of people who are there to study. Of course, it’s a controversial modern building and one which many people moaned about in the 1990s, but it’s also one of these buildings that is now accepted as an iconic building of our times.  Of course, it also has an excellent website which is worth exploring e.g. the online gallery - so check it out.

My wife and I travelled to London and back by train and the journey from Dunbar is very picturesque for the first part as you travel down the coast towards Newcastle and then, it’s fairly green after that, and you pass many a field of burgeoning barley or wheat or potatoes whose shaws now stand a foot high. On the train itself, it’s comfortable and you can do some work or read the paper or a book in peace for most of the time. AND THEN … on to the train comes a person who sits opposite and proceeds to get on the phone, in a voice which would probably carry to where s/he was phoning anyway without the use of the phone, and tell the people on the train, the people in the towns which the train passes and, probably, most of the UK, that the school which s/he represents wants a brochure printed. Meanwhile, other people are working and yes, some of them are on the phone BUT they speak normally or even quietly. Yes, there’s a quiet coach where people can’t use mobiles but not everyone can get on that coach and the tail is wagging the dog as there really should be not a quiet coach, but a LOUD coach, where all the self-centred, the world revolves around me,  ignorant people should be put, so that they can try and outshout each other.

Information literacy models and irises

This week, I’m marking an assignment, part of which asks students to critically evaluate and compare 3 information literacy models. The students have looked at models such as The Big 6, the Information Search Process (ISP), the Research Cycle, and my own PLUS model. The key benefit of models lies in their use in teaching information literacy in schools and also, for some of the models, in their use as something which students can actively use – the Big 6 is the most common model used in the world, while the PLUS model has a number of followers, some of whom I know and many of whom I don’t know. What I’m coming to think more and more is that such models can be used as the basis for students to form their own models, which are individual and suit their own learning styles.

Some of the irises in my garden have just come into bloom and they add a welcome splash of colour, now that the daffodils and tulips have gone back to being subterranean bulb dwellers for another year. The iris has a long history, originally being the Greek word rainbow, and with some of the colour schemes, you can see why. Drawings of irises were also found in Egyptian palaces and irises have been seen as passionate (yellow), as well as courage (all colours); and the iris is the state flower of Tennessee. Irises in the UK are often bought as house flowers but growing them is much more pleasureable. As you can see below, irises radiate.

Irises in my garden

Wikis and marking

Interesting conversation with my co-researcher and primary school TL (thanks Stephanie) about wikis and how they are used in schools. One the one hand, wikis can be seen to be used very well, to stimulate learning and encourage cooperation amongst students; to enable students to create knowledge; and to involve students in a range of literacies e.g. as in the Futurelab Report. On the other hand – and this comes from anecdotal evidence as most of the material on wikis tends to stress the positive only – wikis are being used in ways which may, in fact, restrict cooperative working amongst students. This is where students are given tasks to complete and to only contribute individual comments on or ideas on to the wikis. This is usually a case of technology being used for its own sake, as in “This is new for the class and makes them use ICT, so they will be motivated”. Well, maybe not for very long. Wikis and other educational ICT tools are best used as an addition, and not a substitute, for student centred learning, which includes group working and discussion – face to face.

I’ve been marking all day and before anyone thinks that this is a plea for sympathy or is preparing metaphorical violins, let me say that I accept that marking part of what I do and provides very good feedback to students – whether that feedback is positive or negative, or both. Marking tends to be a mixture of exhilaration, where some students excel and take their learning further than the subject requires; satisfaction, where most students have learned from your teaching, have stayed on task and produced worthwhile (if improvable) work; frustration, where some students produce a mixture of the incisive and the plain banal, but lack consistency (e.g. they appear to have read one part of the advice but ignored other parts); and downright annoyance, where a very small minority of students appear to have ignored the speicfication, the marksheet, the advice on the forum, and the podcast. The trick with marking is always to end on a high note i.e. the last assignment you mark should always be a good one. However, it’s like cycling – you don’t always finish feeling good, no matter what you’ve done earlier.

Google translate and football

I referred to search switching in the previous post and from the same source Search Engine Showdown, comes an article on Google Translate, which Greg Notess (I was about to write ‘notes’ but won’t) argues that Google’s translation services have improved recently. The article has a number of examples of how the translate service, including translated search, has been improved. I have normally advised people to use translate only for words or phrases and not sections of text. I have just copied a paragraph from the French newspaper Le Monde and the English translation starts with “Members French adopted by 312 votes against 218 reform their rules” and ends with “majority attempts to gagging”. So my advice has not changed.

Tonight is the big game. [Non football (soccer but only if you must) fans look away now and go to the llama photo below as a diversion.] The Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona takes place in Rome and might just be a great game, although finals can disappoint as no one wants to lose. As a neutral, I want an early goal, then some dazzling football from both sides, then more goals, then more dazzling football. It may not work out like that. Of course, it is mandatory to accompany this viewing with some Belhaven beer. 

Llama near Coldingham beach

Search switching and meeting the llamas

One of the sites I occasionally dip into is Greg Notess‘  Search Engine  Showdown. In a recent post, the topic is search switching i.e. doing a search on one search engine, then switching over to another butwithout having to type in the address of the other search engine. One tool for doing this, recommended by Notess,  is Turboscout. In this site, you put in your search terms e.g. I tried metacognition school students and I clicked on Google. The results came up and at the top of hte page, the search terms are in the search box, but underneath are a range of other search engines e.g. Yahoo, Clusty, Dogpile, Snap, Teoma and Wisenut. One advantage of switching is that sometimes, you can find a better i.e. more relevant, website in a different search engine. Try it out.

On a walk on Sunday, between Coldingham and St Abbs Head (referred to before on this blog), we passed a few people walking seriously (i.e. strong boots and rucksacks), others strolling along, enjoying the sunshine but not the wind. As we turned the bend, in front of us was a man leading two llamas! Earlier, on the steep cliffs, we had seen kittiwakes, razorbills and gullemots either clinging to the rocks or flying about in such numbers that you wonder how they don’t crash into each other. This is what you expect to see at St Abbs but llamas? One thing I must say about llamas, is that they are very patient when being photographed. See below.

Llamas at Coldingham