Final Vision Project Submission

 My Final Vision Project and Reflection

(Smassengil, 2011)

My vision for this project stemmed from a personal experience where I entered university and felt high school did not properly prepare me for writing research essays. For my final vision project, I created a binder with resources students can use to learn how to cite sources for research assignments. The purpose for this resource is to teach students about digital responsibility and citizenship, but also to prepare them for post-secondary education. I was hoping to create a resource that would make the citation process more interactive and engaging, but also provide students with digital tools to make citing sources easier and quicker so the process isn't so overwhelming and tedious.

My Final Vision Project

Click Citing Sources Livebinders Resource to access my resource and enter the access code: LIBE 477B

My Journey

I conducted a reading review at the beginning of the course on plagiarism and developing research skills and found several useful resources that I used to create my own resource such as BC's Profile for Digitally Literate Students which provides a list of standards and skills students should be learning in school, including how to cite sources. I also found some tools that could be useful for students to use when creating citations such as RefMe, which is a citation generator tool. While I was familiar with other citation generators such as BibMe and EasyBib, I liked how RefMe could be accessed from a mobile device and had an app that could be downloaded. This tool also provides a web clipper that stores webpages for future use. Students would be able to use their phones or tablets to conduct research, save their sources, and create citations. 

(Clarke, 2014)

Following my reading review, I started collecting resources that could be useful in teaching students how to cite sources. I was going to use a digital curation tool such as Symbaloo to create a collection of resources students could use, but there wasn't really a place to provide any explanation of the resources, or a way to organize them effectively. I was introduced to Livebinders and decided this would be a good tool to collect resources and organize them in a logical way for students to access them. I was able to upload videos, interactive tutorials, tools, and (after some struggle) images. 

While I tried to start small, it was a challenge to stop myself from adding more to my resource. Due to the complexity of teaching students how to cite sources, it is important that the lessons are properly scaffolded to ensure students can build their skills over time. However, since citations accompany research assignments, it was difficult to create a generic resource that could be used with any research assignment. I wanted to keep this resource as general as possible so that it could be used by a teacher or teacher-librarian to use with their students across the curriculum. While I think that the collection of resources I found will be effective in teaching students how to cite sources, it was surprisingly difficult to find interactive resource for APA style compared to MLA style. If I had more time, I would have liked to create my own interactive practice drills and embed them into the binder since the interactive practice tools I found weren`t exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately, I don`t have the skills necessary to create these types of resources yet.

The best part of this resource, in my opinion, is the review section. I think the Plagiarism Game is a great review for the students. I also developed a rubric for citing sources which will be useful even on its own since I usually just add a section to my essay or project rubrics for when the students need to include their sources. It will be helpful for the students to receive more specific feedback on their Works Cited Lists and in-text citations. However, this section of the binder was also a challenge because I didn't know how to insert an image of the rubric and then once I finally figured it out, the page wouldn't allow me to include any text. I never did figure out how to include text, but rubrics are pretty self-explanatory, so I think it works fine on its own.

In the end I am happy with the resource I have created and I hope that it will be helpful to me in the future. There are many other lessons that could be incorporated into this resource that I may add later on such as a lesson on incorporating quotations and paraphrasing. Once I have tested the resource and worked out any kinks, I plan on sharing this resource with other teachers to use with their students. My hope is that the students will leave high school feeling prepared for the rigors of academic writing at whichever post-secondary institution they choose to attend and that this will help to reduce the digital divide many students face as they enter university.

(University of Oregon, 2010)

Reference List

Clarke, Z. (2014). Try the RefMe app for help with your referencing. Retrieved 03 December 2015, from https://blogs.edgehill.ac.uk/ls/2014/12/04/try-the-refme-app-for-help-with-your-referencing/

Smassengil. (2011). Allnighter. Retrieved 01 December 2015, from http://www.toondoo.com/ cartoon/3504503.

University of Oregon. (2010). Digital Divide. Retrieved 04 December 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=gydVBXIucRQ

The Technology Behind My Vision

Final Vision Project Progress Report

My Progress Thus Far

To begin with I decided to use the University of Alberta's Guide to Developing Students' Research Skills as the foundational model for my artifact. However, once I had mapped out all of the components in LiveBinders, I realized that I needed to start smaller. As a tool I plan on sharing, I do not want to overwhelm my colleagues with tabs upon tabs of information; especially for my colleagues who aren't very comfortable using technology.

My FAIL (First Attempt At Learning)

(Broussard, n. d.)

I have decided that in order to narrow down my topic, that I should just focus on one of the components of the research process. If it is a success, then I can continue to build the resource to include all of the components required for developing effective research skills. One of the digital literacy skills the BC Ministry of Education (2010) suggests that students learn is to "[m]odel legal and ethical behaviours when using information and technology by properly selecting, acquiring, and citing resources" ("Profile of digitally literate students"). The skill that I would like to create a digital artifact for is citing sources. While citing sources can be a tedious process, I am trying to find some interesting ways to teach students about plagiarism and citations. For example, I found a game that will work well as an effective review of plagiarism.

Triumphs with Technology

For my Vision Project, I have decided to use LiveBinders to create my digital artifact. At first I was considering Symbaloo and Pearltrees because they are both digital curation tools that allow the user to post different types of media that can easily be shared with other teachers and students. After a classmate suggested checking out LiveBinders for my project, I found that I preferred the tabbed organization of the binder over the thumbnails that both Symbaloo and Pearltrees use. Also, I like the format for LiveBinders because it provides the user with different templates in order to present text alongside the embedded media. In terms of strategy, I find this digital resource easy to use because of how simple it is to add a webpage into a binder just by clicking on a tab you can place in your toolbar. Also, since the binders created are so similar to the hard copy ones we all have, it is easy for someone who isn't as tech savvy to be able to access the information without having to learn a completely different concept. Here is a short video on how LiveBinders can be used by teachers:

(Tallent, 2009)

Challenges with Technology

(Parisi, 1998)

As is the case when learning to use a new digital tool or resource, it takes a while for the user to become proficient in using the tool to its full potential. While I feel like I have learned how to use LiveBinder at a basic level, I'm sure with more practice I would discover how to overcome some of the challenges I am facing. The first challenge I am facing with LiveBinder is the formatting of the pages. It is difficult to move embedded videos or place them in a desired spot. I have also hit a roadblock when it comes to inserting images that do not have a URL. I am unable to use the snipping tool to snag an image from within a PDF or website and drop it into the binder, so it has become limiting in terms of which images I can use. The final challenge that I have been faced with is organizing the tabs of the binder. Without a premium account (which costs money), I cannot access other levels of sub-tabs, so it was a bit limiting in terms of how to set up the tabs in a way that keeps them organized. In terms of future road blocks, a problem I foresee is integrating this particular digital artifact into another binder that will incorporate all of the necessary research skills. I have a feeling that I will have to recreate all of the pages again rather than being able to import the information into another binder. While I'm not at Fran's level of frustration with the technology (see above cartoon), I definitely have a few kinks I need to work out.

References

A guide to developing student research skills. (n.d.). University of Alberta. Retrieved 22 November 2015, from http://www.library.ualberta.ca/documents/focusonresearch.pdf

BC Ministry of Education. (2010). Profile of digitally literate students. Retrieved 21 November 2015, from http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/dist_learning/1012profile.htm

Broussard, M. (n. d.). Plagiarism game. Retrieved from http://www.lycoming.edu/library/instruction/ tutorials/plagiarismGame.aspx

Parisi, M. (1998). Off the mark. Atlantic Feature. Retrieved 26 November 2015, from http://3.bp.blogspot.com/nGsXjSAO7Jo/UX8Sj7iQLtI/AAAAAAAAAa4/uo2vTcYrgAI/s1600/ Screen+Shot+2013-04-29+at+7.38.20+PM.png

Tallent, B. (2009). LiveBinders for teachers. Retrieved 26 November 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdG56uSubx0.

My Vision for Learning in the 21st Century

Developing a Digital Resource for 21st Century Learning

(Academic Styles, 2015)

When I was a first year university student I did not feel as though high school prepared me for the rigours of academic writing, especially when it came to researching and citing sources. I actually failed my first English paper because I hadn't learned how to properly cite sources in MLA style while I was in high school. I spent the first few months of university in the library with the style manuals spending hours teaching myself how to cite sources in MLA, APA, and Chicago styles for all of the different courses I was in. Now that the BC curriculum is going to include prescribed learning outcomes for digital literacy, it is my hope that all students leaving high school for post secondary education or to start their career will have the requisite skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century.




Since I am not currently teaching in my own classroom or in a Teacher-Librarian position, I would like to develop a resource that can be used by both classroom teachers and Teacher-Librarians. After conducting a reading review on the topic of ethical online behaviour pertaining to citing sources, I decided that I would like to create a digital resource that the staff and students can access from work/school, at home, or even once they are attending university, that will guide them through proper research techniques. By creating this digital resource, it is my hope that this will help students understand proper research techniques and how to use digital tools that will assist them in writing a research paper. The BC Ministry of Education Digital Literacy Standards that my digital resource would primarily focus on are Research and Information Fluency, Digital Citizenship, and Technology Operations and Concepts.

(Burnaby South Admin Blog, 2010)

Key Elements

I'm still in the process of deciding how much information I want to include in my resource because I do not want it to be overwhelming for other teachers who plan on using it with their students. I many need to start small and gradually grow the resource one teachers have started using it. The University of Alberta's Guide to Developing Student Research Skills includes many of the key elements required for conducting proper research. I would like to focus on including several of these key components in my digital resource. A diagram of the research model is below:

Another source of information I came across was Scholastic's 6 Online Research Skills Your Students Need which narrows down some of the key skills from above into the basic skills needed including: 1) Checking Sources, 2) Asking Good Questions, 3) Digging Deeper, 4) Being Patient, 5) Respecting Ownership, and 6) Using Networks. While these skills are pretty basic, I think this would be a good starting point for a digital resource that covers the main research skills needed for students. Another resource I consulted was Edudemic's Helping Students Become Better Online Researchers. One of the skills that I would like to include in my resource that was mentioned in this article is consulting an expert. The expert, of course, being the Teacher-Librarian. While I am hoping the students and staff would access this digital resource I'm creating from home, I think it is important that the students also have time in the library as a starting point for developing and/or increasing their research skills.

Format

I am planning on using a digital curation tool to compile the necessary resources for this project. I am hoping that the digital curation tool I choose (I can't decide between Symbaloo and PearlTrees) will be user friendly enough that even the staff members and students at my school who are not tech-savvy will still be able to access and use this resource with minimal problems. If I find that it is necessary to create a low-tech version of this assignment in order for more staff members to utilize this resource with their students, then I can do that at some point down the road. As for choosing a digital curation tool, I am leaning towards using Symbaloo because it is more widely know than PearlTrees and it has so many different options for embedding websites and tools. PearlTrees is another great option and I like that Word documents can be embedded directly, unlike Symbaloo which uses GoogleDocs. I haven't had too much time yet to explore all of the features both tools have to offer, so I will need to experiment with both tools in order to determine which one will work best for my audience. The following video explains the different features of both Symbaloo and PearlTrees:

(Bradley, 2015)

Audience

I would like to share this digital resource with my colleagues to begin with in order to ensure that this resource can be used throughout the school for a variety of subject areas. Once I have had a few colleagues try out the resource, I would like to share it with a broader audience. One of my goals is to start giving back to the online teaching community since I have "borrowed" so much from other teachers who post their resources online.

References

Academic Styles and Their Significance: Meet MLA, APA, Chicago, and EEE. (2015). Retrieved 12 November 2015, from https://studentshare.net/content/articles/academic-styles-and-their-significance-meet-mla-apa-chicago-and-ieee/

A Guide to Developing Student Research Skills. (n.d.). University of Alberta. Retrieved 12 November 2015, from http://www.library.ualberta.ca/documents/focusonresearch.pdf

BC Ministry of Education. (2010). Profile of Digitally Literate Students. Retrieved 11 November 2015, from http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/dist_learning/1012profile.htm

Bradley, P. (2015). A Guide to Creating Pages in Symbaloo and Pearltrees - Social Media for Creative Libraries. Facet Publishing. Retrieved 12 November 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqVolGKuUcs

Hudson, H. (2015). The 6 Online Research Skills Your Students Need. Scholastic Teach with Technology. Retrieved 12 November 2015, from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/6-online-research-skills-your-students-need

Muthler, S. (2015). Helping Students Become Better Online Researchers. Edudemic. Retrieved 12 November 2015, from http://www.edudemic.com/students-better-online-researchers/

The 21st Century Learner. (2010). Burnaby South Admin Blog. Retrieved 10 November 2015, from https://burnabysouthadmin.wordpress.com/tag/21st-century-learning/