Saturday 8:30 - Keynote Speaker, Mike Palmquist

Bright and early Sat. morning, Mike Palmquist delivered the keynote address, "Joining the Conversation: The Role of Information Literacy in Public and Academic Discourse." Palmquist, the Associate Vice Provost for Learning and Teaching at Colorado State University, was one of the most engaging speakers - extremely sharp and well-informed on his topic, yet very down to earth and funny.

His topic intertwined several issues: new and emerging technologies; the role of metaphor in learning; and value of applying the conversation metaphor to teaching IL pedagogy.
(image from http://thrustbearingss.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Lion-King-Coloring-Pages.jpg)

He began by arguing that some of us have been so true to the ideas that technology should not drive the design of our courses that we've overlooked the impact of new technologies of learning, teaching, and literacy. Certainly, it is one thing to shy away from using Facebook with classes, but it is undeniable that everyday access to the Internet has shaped how our students (and how we) look at information. Technology has fundamentally changed the way we do everything, esp. in the field of writing. Evidence of technology supporting/shaping our teaching:
- expanded repertoire for meeting teaching goals
-context where new goals arise and old goals become less central.

Too often, we treat technology as an "add on," rather than recognizing and embracing it.

The conversation metaphor can be used to describe the more aware use of technology. Heavily influenced by the Lion King, it is a familiar context that is easily accessible to students and conveys the situations they find themselves in as writers/learners. It stresses the important of using sources and following research ethics.

Too bad you can't draw in blog posts, but try to envision the conversation metaphor: a circle connecting 4 boxes of text: Listen --> Reflect --> Decide to share --> Contribute. Now, replace those words with the following to draw a parallel between the (spoken) conversation metaphor and the academic conversation (research): Find, read sources --> Reflect --> Decide to share --> Write

(The Lion King tie-in is the "Circle of Life" idea - seemed a bit of a reach, but interesting that academics would have looked to this pop culture reference!)

Mapping the conversation metaphor onto IL: students locate conversations when they explore topics, then choose conversations when they focus their topic and sources. They begin to search by understanding the range of available technologies and search strategies, then engage in critical, active reading. They work with the information they've found, using databases, creating bibliographies, and managing print and digital information. They understand research ethics and avoid plagiarism, and the contribute to the conversation by using technological tools (Word processing, presentation software, etc.). Finally, they integrate their information into documents, understanding the reasons for using that particular information, as well as conventions for in-text citations and bibliographies.

Using the conversation metaphor continues the shift away from a skills-based approach to IL; allows us to deepen the partnerships outside of the library; and allows us to develop/repurpose tools and applications that support aspects of curricula beyond those initially intended.

A couple of tools that Palmquist mentioned to help embrace technology in the pursuit of IL are electronic-based concept mapping tools - Inspiration is one that we looked at last week with Jan; other similar programs: ithoughthd and cmap.

The presentation was very interesting, though more abstract and academic-focused, rather than practical idea-oriented like most of the presentations given by librarians. Definitely good food for thought.