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Lora Taub-Pervizpour & Jennifer Jarson

Muhlenberg College

Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference, Bryn Mawr, PA, 5/20/15

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Collaborating for Blended Learning

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Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/raulmahon/2970714101/

New Information Technologies

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Course Objectives

  • Think critically about the complex global information society
  • Examine the cultural, political, & economic environments of new media & digital technologies�
  • Address contemporary legal, political, & cultural controversies
  • Develop capacities as information literate learners who can discover, organize, analyze, create & share information�
  • Contribute your voice on these issues through new digital media

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Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship

The Assignment

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Image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Afghan_HINO_dump_truck.jpg

Challenge: Information

Dump

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Enhancements: Pedagogical Approaches

Gif source: http://www.thepetcollective.tv/cats-cant-jump-13-gifs-of-cat-jumping-fails-that-will-make-you-belly-laugh/

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Revised Assignment (Fall 2014)

http://bit.ly/nit2014

Document & Organize

Uncover & Reflect

Share with Peers

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Enhancements: Photo Journal

“The journal is your individual representation of the process as you experience and construct it. The photo journal is created in WordPress and includes photos, images, drawings, screenshots, and narrative text and captions that take the viewer behind the scenes of your research process. Think of this as 'the making of' your project, uncovering the questions and thinking behind your project, and documenting the 'what, why, where, and how' of the research you are producing.”

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In Tess’s Words

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Methodology

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Methodology

http://bit.ly/nit2014coding

-Content

-Reflection on process

-Tools for project

-Tools for research

-Identity

-Images

-Great quote

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Current Research Questions

Can digital tools be used...

in ways to help foreground

the process of research?

to help foster students’ identities

and agency as researchers?

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A Bird’s Eye View: Coding

Sample size

Total codes

Avg. codes / journal

All journals

17

976

57.4

“Robust” journals

8

524

65.5

“Limited” journals

9

452

50.2

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A Bird’s Eye View: Journal Pacing

Pacing quality

Poor

Fair

Good

Excellent

“Robust” journals

2

2

2

2

“Limited” journals

7

0

1

1

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This source makes me ask was this law only created to protect minors on the internet? Are there other motives with this new law? Will they ban other content that may be appropriate but not agreeable with the Russian’s views? I want to look into what other sites or content this law has been used to ban. This source definitely gave me insight into more issues of censorship occurring in Russia.

--Sara

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I’m not saying the UK is a dictatorship, but the pieces are in place for the citizens of the UK to rapidly begin to lose their civil liberties much quicker than they ever could have imagined. As an American citizen I feel very confident that I will be able to express myself freely, and speak my mind however I please, with no consequence from the government. [...] I learned a lot, but I definitely learned to appreciate the freedoms that come with being an American citizen.

--Jesse

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Usually, I can’t have more than 4 tabs open at a time or I start to feel disorganized which sometimes makes me anxious. On this particular evening I have so many tabs open they don’t even all show up on the bar itself. These tabs picture the sources I am pulling from while creating my Google doc. The Google doc. is seriously helping me so much–it’s a great organization tool and it’s helping me understand my information in a really efficient way.

--Tess

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It was [...] an interesting experience presenting on a topic that no one else in the class had knowledge on besides us, so it made us seem like the experts of the subject matter.

--Hannah

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Takeaways

Blended learning can: �

  • help model and practice information literacy�
  • make learning visible�
  • help students be agents in learning�
  • deepen intentionality, focus, and impact of assignments on student learning and development

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Future research areas

Collaboration and independent reflection

Digging deeper into higher order information literacy skills

Information literacy threshold concepts

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Lora Taub-Pervizpour, Muhlenberg College

ltaub@muhlenberg.edu

@ltaub

Jennifer Jarson, Muhlenberg College

jarson@muhlenberg.edu

@jarson