C21L+T Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century:

An Inquiry-based Approach

Moira Ekdahl, Learning ServicesMay/June 2011 Updates

Sir Ken Robinson …

AASL: Standards for 21st C Learner in Action

All learners must be able to access high-quality information from diverse perspectives, make sense of it to draw their own conclusions or create new knowledge, and share their knowledge with others.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION MEANS:

• Principles of Equity of Access are in place

• Print, digital, and other resources are accurate, current, and age-appropriate

• Meaningful instruction in the use of these resources is provided

• Freedom to read is valued

Access: Tools, Resources, Information

• rapidly changing tools

• increasing numbers of resources

• more demands for users to be thoughtful consumers

• emerging need for skills for digital citizenship and lifelong learning

Access and Technology

• Resources no longer simply the textbook

• Tools no longer simply the pen or word-processing

• Students and their teachers need support and time to learn

• Teachers need collaborative support for new pedagogies

Access in our schools

• in classrooms that strive to move beyond the textbook

• in school libraries

• in the hours during and beyond the school day

BIG QUESTION IS EQUITY

Access in Interconnected Communities

Resources, tools, and information:

• Available in our “communities of functionality” -- educational, local, global

• Universal, national, social, and personal• Current, accurate, age-appropriate• Equitably distributed• Reflective of the wide range of interests, skills, and

abilities of our students.

Freedom of Access

Important to have freedom and flexibility:

• to make personal and pedagogical choices amongst resources and tools

• to read and learn widely and deeply• to participate in a culture of reading both for

pleasure and for information• to teach for access by reading and by exploring

curriculum

Flexible Access for Optimization

• to a school library as the "hub" of learning

• to “re-design” as Learning Commons

• to services of TLs as learning specialists

• to production facilities

• to technology in differentiated configurations

• to tools, including software and adaptive hardware

• to real and virtual resources and services, 24/7

ACCESS TO INFORMATION MEANS …

• Flexible access is ensured

• Technologies as tools are provided, including:

– Software and adaptive hardware

– Instructional technology

ACCESS to Resources and Services

Real research and questioning can become lifelong tools to encourage independent thinking and to guide classroom inquiry at any time students are engaged in reading, viewing, or listening activities.

IMPACT, p22

The Points of Inquiry

Inquiry, driven by wonder, connection, discovery, creativity, critical thinking – supported by technology

BC IRPs

Developmental, benchmarked, referenced to authority

Immersed in new & emerging technologies

Grounded in traditional and new or multi-literacies

Designed backwards

Parallel language to reading and other initiatives

Meaningful, authentic, and balanced approach

BC Public K-12 System Today

• Bulleted ILOs

• Exams / FSAs

• Press to cover curriculum

• Test- and text-focus vs Inquiry / RBT

• Technology integration issues

• Google vs Databases

• Books on carts

Transitions

BUT:• Transitions: Elementary, secondary, adult learning, post-secondary, work...

• “What are they doing in ____ school?”

• No surprises here: "ever thus“

• Assumptions - tabula rasa

• Transitional Literacy / Articulation

Stages of Building a School-wide Plan

• Build support amongst stakeholders

• Do a readiness assessment

• Build a foundation for collaborative implementation

• Create the context for collaborative planning

• “Think Outside” the classroom

• Engage in the conversations

In the Face of Change, Will You?

• Be flexible• Assess student needs• Initiate collaboration• Fail• Ask for help• Celebrate successes• Use new tools, methods of communicating …• Change roles

Change: A Process, Not an Event

Change is made by people, not institutions.It is personal and developmental in terms of feelings and abilitiesTeachers approach change differently:

• Innovators (8%)• Leaders (17%)• Early Majority (29%)• Late Majority (29%)• Resisters (17%)

Stages of Concern in the Face of Change:

0. Awareness – No thanks. Not for me.

1. Informational – Tell me more.

2. Personal – What will it mean for me?

3. Management – Where will I find the time?

4. Consequence – How will this work for my students?

5. Collaboration – How can we make this work?

6. Refocusing – Is there a better way?

VISION: FIRST THE TEACHING AND LEARNING

Effective school library and technology programs support teaching and learning by integrating local curriculum, resources, staff development, and assessment with:

– data-driven collaboration– literacy objectives– technology – information literacy skills– an inquiry or process approach

BC Public K-12 System

Future Possibilities?

• “Information Fluency”: Multiliteracies + Inquiry

• Re-design of Instruction and Spaces

Physical/Virtual Learning Commons

• 21st-Century Learning : Making the transition

Can we address the Challenges of Engagement and dodge the Risk of Irrelevance?

Just The Beginning…

Information Fluency Continuum: Benchmark Skills for Grades K-12 Assessments.

NYC School Library System (2010) Barbara Stripling et al

---------------------------------------------------------------Langley Teacher-librarians’ Association

Wiki for Inquiry Questions

LINKS

Vancouver TL StuffTL Special Blog: http://tlspecial.blogspot.com

TL Inquiry Wiki:http://schoollibraryprogram.pbworks.com

TL Inquiry – Video “School Libraries in Action”http://schoollibraryprogram.pbworks.com/w/page/15013262/Video-Project

BCTF / BCTLA LINKS:

Ekdahl,M., M. Farquharson, J. Robinson & L. Turner (2010) Points of Inquiry: A Framework for Information Literacy and the 21st Century Learner. Vancouver, BC: BCTF / BC Teacher-librarians’ Association.http://www.bctf.ca/bctla/pub/index.html#points (includes working dox)

Naylor, Charlie (2011) 21st C Learning – Widening the frame of focus and debate: A BCTF Research discussion paper. Vancouver, BC: BCTF Research.

http://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/Issues/21CL/21CL-DiscussionPaper.pdf

American Sources

Public Schools of North Carolina (2005) IMPACT: Guidelines for North Carolina

Media & Technology Programs. Raleigh, NC: NC Department of Public Instruction. http://www.ncwiseowl.org/Impact/docs/IMPACT.pdf

NYC School Library System (2010) Information Fluency Continuum: Benchmark Skills for Grades K-12 Assessments. NYC: NYC Department of Education http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/27A1E84E-65EB-4A54-80DF-51E28D34BF4F/0/InformationFluencyContinuum.pdf

Stripling, Barbara K. (2003) Curriculum Connections through the Library. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited. (Google Books)

Stripling, Barbara. "Using Inquiry to Explode Myths about Learning and Libraries." CSLA Journal. Fall 2004. In EBSCO Academic Search Premier, accessed June 2, 2009, Vancouver School Board.

Media Links

Best Math Teacher Ever. Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuwJawSoTmY&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Robinson, Ken. “Changing Educational Paradigms.” RSAnimate. Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U