Reflection and Questionnaire

Search Reflection sheet
1. Take some time to think about your topic. Now write down what you know about it.
The following is a very brief summary of my personal opinion on the nature of Information Literacy (IL) and Inquiry Learning. These opinions are based on uni study, professional development and personal experiences and observations. My understanding of both of these is an ever changing and developing thing.

Information Literacy: a set of skills, attitudes and aptitudes that allow users to make sense of a wide range of texts. It is not just decoding but being able to look at books, adds, TV, internet etc and understand the messages/themes of the texts as well as the content. Even though the work of Luke and Freebody (1999) is getting old, I still find it valuable in the context of IL. Their Four Roles for Effective Readers form a good basis for an information literacy program or element within a unit:

Code breaker: decoding the codes and conventions of written, spoken and visual text.
Text participant: comprehending written, spoken and visual texts by making meaning based on students’ own experiences and prior knowledge of similar texts.
Text user: understanding the purposes of different written, spoken and visual texts for different
cultural and social functions.
Text analyst: understanding how texts position readers, viewers and listeners through an awareness that texts are not ideologically neutral but represent the views and interests of the writer.
(Shaddock, T. (2006). Researching Effective Teaching and Learning Practices for Students with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities in the Australian Capital Territory. Accessed August 1, 2020 on A+ Education database)

Students need all the above skills to be able to successfully participate in inquiry based, self directed learning.

Inquiry learning: a style of teaching and learning that puts onus on the students to explore, discover and create knowledge and understanding in a range of curriculum areas. Personal experience and observation of other teachers has shown me that, over time, teachers generally move from fully self directed inquiry learning to structured Guided Inquiry to ensure curriculum requirements are met and a desired set of understandings are developed. GI generally involves research tasks based around core questions aimed at developing understanding in a curriculum area. Rather than a fully free flowing student driven affair GI is scaffolded and semi teacher driven, with clear curriculum goals

From what I have observed inquiry learning is extremely difficult for students with poor information literacy skills, so one needs to go with the other. There would appear to be little point implementing GI units if an extensive focus on IL is not included in the unit, and the curriculum overall.

2. How interested are you in this topic? Circle the answer that best matches your interest.
Not at all not much quite a bit a great deal

3. How much do you know about this topic? Nothing not much quite a bit a great deal

4. When you do research, what do you generally find easy to do?

I love doing research and ultimately would love to be a research librarian. I find locating information relatively easy using the university databases, but I am not sure how I would go without that facility. I need to experiment more with finding high quality information via Google or Google scholar.

5. When you do research, what do you generally find difficult to do?

I find it hard to stop myself. I tend to just keep saying “Oh that looks good, I’ll keep that.” I end up with far too much information and use hours of time that I can’t afford. I need to learn to find a little, then do a thorough assessment of its worth, and then go back to fill identified gaps instead of overloading myself. I also have difficulty letting go of my family’s needs and devoting time to my research.