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=[Starting points for a pathfinder section of Assignment 3]=

=How might a library orientation program be best designed and implemented in a new senior high school today to best meet the needs of our Net generation high school students?=

**Introduction, Scope, and General Advice for Users of this Pathfinder**:
This guide is designed to provide links to support for teachers and teacher-librarians facing the challenge of providing effective library orientation to students in North American high schools equipped with today's technologies and online resources, but limited print resources. It is created both as a pathfinder that might be used to guide further academic research in this area, and as a personal inquiry to meet a "just-in-time" challenge faced by the author. For clarification, please note the deliberate way (definitions) in which the above guiding question is framed:
 * //Today// means that this will be most pertinent to the //Net Generation of high school students//—students in the second decade of the twenty-first century, who will be graduating from secondary school within the next two or three years (2013). Such students have specific subcultural behavior traits that have been identified and explored by researchers, and must be considered in light of this inquiry. If we are to provide orientation to Net generation students, we need to meet them on their terms, placing their experimentation with new resources and tools in a context for them that makes sense to them, that fits their values and their perceived (content) learning needs and (process) learning styles and modalities.
 * //New senior high school// implies that the physical structure of the building and library is up-to-date—equipped with the modern conveniences of wireless access for student-owned devices (laptops, netbooks, iPads, iPhones and iPods, cellphones, etc.), some access to school-owned laptops, classroom access to SMART Boards, document cameras, filtered student access to the world-wide web, broader teacher access to the web, etc.
 * //Library// is the most expansive term of all, as in a school replete with wireless Internet access and SMART Boards in all classrooms, the "library" permeates the whole school, in all the classrooms, all the time. The library room, itself, becomes part book room, part work area, part community-building area (actively demonstrating aspects of emergent student culture), part area of shifting specialized learning focuses not fitting specifically into any one curricular program of study--e.g. providing information literacy through immersion in various stages of the inquiry process, providing support for student learning across all learning styles and modalities, and more. The library is not a repository of information, so much as a place of intellectual wonder, risk, and even anticipation. The focus is not on resources, but on students learning how to question and to learn. The print and media resources contained on site are only a tiny part of the actual collective library of online databases, online resources in all media formats, potential partnerships with other learning institutions and experts available locally and world-wide, etc.; the tools of pen and paper and even Microsoft Office products are again only a tiny part of the actual collective toolset of online tools that students can use to co-construct new knowledge products. The main point here is the the virtual library, or cybrary, has morphed into the actual library. The virtual library IS the library now. The library room itself is now only the avatar or objective correlative for all else the library actually has become.
 * //Orientation program,// given the above, connotes much of what encompasses the educator component of the teacher-librarian's job description. Our challenge is to engage students in a wide range of processes that nudge them to grow as learners capable of constructing and co-constructing knowledge. Whether working with students one-on-one or in groups, by ourselves or by assisting our colleagues in the classroom (where we can then leverage and merge teachers' curricular, pedagogical, and technological expertise with our pedagogical and technological expertise to support students in mastering new skills and processes for specific curricular purposes), we can support student learning through every stage of the inquiry process.

**General Advice for Researchers**:
To approach this question openly, the researcher would need to have a good sense of the definitions of the terms used in this question (see above bulleted list).

**Essential and Supplementary Questions:**

 * The "Who": What are the qualities and learning needs of **students** today, and how can teachers and other educational stakeholders today best empower them as learners?
 * The "What": What traditional **roles** of the teacher-librarian are still important in the 21st century and which ones should be let go? This pathfinder redefines the traditional role altogether to fit with the times.
 * The "When": What essential skills do students need to develop to be best prepared for the challenges of the **21st-century** knowledge economy? At what point in the student's learning journey does s/he become able to engage in inquiry without cognitive scaffolding in place?
 * The "Why": To what extent is "orientation" to the huge array of resources and processes inherent in at 21st-century library really a strategically planned and contextualized intellectual awakening of the student to **a whole new gestalt of what learning is** -- learning anyplace, anywhere, anytime, anyhow?
 * The "How": **Meeting the challenges**: e.g. How can high school students best be connected with rich online curricular support resources on sites housed in databases (such as 2Learn.ca, LearnAlberta's ORC (Online Reference Centre), Edmonton Public School's My Library, and other databases, such as Proquest, EBSCO and Gale databases, accessible in public and academic libraries), each of which requires a separate signon, uses its own search process, has its unique "bookmarking" process, and is accessible in different ways depending on student location (at school or at home) and accesss device (computer or iPhone)? The barriers associated with this challenge have been detailed in the [|Alberta Education Distributed Learning Discover Phases report](2008). I would like to explore a solution to this "infoglut" through the use of a slow transition from students using pages of resources preselected by teachers to the student's creation of resource pathfinders through leveraging the advanced features of social bookmarking sites in an ongoing "library orientation".

**Operational Definitions / New Vocabulary:**

 * **Net generation** - "Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation, Generation Next or Net Generation, describes the demographic cohort following Generation X. Its members are often referred to as Millennials or Echo Boomers. As there are no precise dates for when the Millennial generation starts and ends, commentators have used birth dates ranging somewhere from the mid 1970s to the early 2000s." (Generation Y. //Wikipedia//. Retrieved from [].)
 * This term will be used to describe the students in senior high school over the three year period from 2009-2014. Cultural qualities that research as indicated as being unique to this demographic segment must be taken into account when designing and implementing orientation to inquiry processes, if such processes are to be effective.
 * **Distributed learning** – "a flexible approach to learning that allows teachers, students and content to be located in different, noncentralized locations, extending learning environments beyond the classroom. It includes all forms of learning where, by design, students and their teachers may be separated by time and/or space for some or all of their interactions. In practice, students benefit from distributed learning through a range of learning options through flexible scheduling, flexible pacing and varying levels of structure depending on their needs and learning styles. Such learning options are provided in a variety of delivery formats and mediums — print, digital, Web-based, face-to-face and in a variety of environments — classroom, online education, work experience, project-based learning and independent study." (Alberta Education, //[|Distributed Learning Discover Phase Report]//, p.56. Retrieved from [] .)
 * This term encapsulates a vision of learning that recognizes the demographic characteristics of today's students and the affordances offered to us by emerging Web 2.0 and other technologies to support and reinvent instructional and learning practise. It draws from wide-ranging research, including significant Alberta stakeholder input. It will be used in this paper to provide rationale for suggested new distributed practices in library orientation and work with the process of inquiry.
 * **Universal Design for Learning (UDL)** – "a set of principles that guide the design of flexible learning environments, resources and activities to accommodate individual learning differences. UDL is intended to increase access to learning by reducing physical, cognitive, intellectual and organizational barriers to learning, as well as other obstacles. A UDL approach calls for creating curriculum, learning environments and resources from the outset that provide multiple means of representation to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge; multiple means of expression to provide learners with alternatives for demonstrating what they know; and multiple means of engagement to tap into learner interests, to challenge them appropriately and to motivate them to learn." (Alberta Education, [|Distributed Learning Discover Phase Report], p.57. Retrieved from [] .)
 * As teachers and teacher-librarians integrate orientation to each stage of the inquiry process within curriculum, such integration needs to consider the wide range of learning styles within the classroom. To provide students with true support, the design of the learning environment itself must provide opportunities for all learners to move forward in their learning.
 * **Twenty-first century skills** - The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (US) states: "Within the context of core knowledge instruction, students must also learn the essential skills for success in today’s world, such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration." Other definitions of 21st-century skills are provided by the MacArthur Foundation, the Conference Board of Canada, media bloggers such as David Warlick, Will Richardson, and Alec Couros, and by Alberta Education.
 * The terms "twenty-first century skills"/"...learner" have grown to enter the vernacular, as a Google search and Google image search will reveal. In this paper, the definition will be created by examining the definitions provided by the several lenses of P21, the MacArthur Foundation, the Conference Board of Canada, ISTE, and Alberta Education.
 * **Participatory culture** - this term targets a key shift in society to a culture that learns through action and community.
 * This concept opens the door to our engaging students through offline and online collaborative activities and underscores why issues of bullying are so crippling to students. The shift in power from teacher to student in student-centered learning is important, but the behind-the-scenes management of a more participatory classroom culture, to provide equitable opportunity for all learners to learn unhampered by subtle pressures of the group or individuals within the group to conform, is critically important. The "wisdom of the crowd" must still allow for the voice of the student who sees things differently. The student who stands apart from his or her peers in any way may need to be supported as s/he learns to "use personal strengths and develop strategies to cope with weaknesses" (Alberta Assessment Consortium, 1997).

**Dewey/Library of Congress Numbers: Numbers and associated subtopics.**
**Dewey Numbers:** 000 Computer science, information & general works 001 Knowledge 002 The book 020 Library & information sciences 027 General libraries 028 Reading & use of other information media 107 Education, research & related topics 153 Mental processes & intelligence 155 Differential & developmental psychology 301 Sociology & anthropology 302 Social interaction 302.30285 Online social networks 303 Social processes 304 Factors affecting social behavior 305 Social groups 306 Culture & institutions 307 Communities 370 Education 373 Secondary education 407 Education, research & related topics 600 Technology 607 Education, research & related topics 706 Organizations & management 707 Education, research & related topics 806 Organizations & management 807 Education, research & related topics 907 Education, research & related topics

Distributed cognition - mapped to DDC 153, 302 Social media - mapped to DDC 302.231 Online social networks - mapped to DDC 302.30285 Social skills in adolescence - mapped to DDC 305.235 Social phobia in adolescence - mapped to DDC 616.85225 School librarians--Job descriptions. High school libraries. Education --Computer network resources. Inquiry-based learning Information literacy --Study and teaching. Library orientation for teachers. Media literacy --Study and teaching Research--Methodology--Study and teaching (Secondary) Library orientation--Web-based instruction. Internet in library reference services. School libraries --Aims and objectives. School librarian participation in curricular planning.
 * Library of Congress Subject Headings**

"Virtual library" "Inquiry-based learning" "high school" "secondary school" adolescent, teen "Net generation" Millennial "21st century learn*" "library orientation"
 * Other search terms used:**

**Other Keywords/Phrases:**


 * library orientation program design implement
 * new senior high school today
 * Net generation high school student needs

**Subscription** **Databases**:
There are two levels of subscription services that serve this research well. The first, is for the purpose of the literature review in the capping paper, setting up the rationale for this practical approach to "orientation"; the second, is for the purposes of devising a workable way by which students themselves can be oriented to/guided through the information search process (which is what the capping paper will present).


 * Databases that will assist with the literature review, chosen for their scope that should together provide a broad range of educational research resources in areas such as inquiry, collaboration, teacher-librarianship, visioning of the future of education, educational technology, and student learning:**
 * ERIC - wide ranging materials, including contemporary articles
 * ProQuest Education Journals - rich selection of top quality resources ("over 700 top educational publications")
 * Education Research Complete
 * Academic OneFile - can be accessed by teachers and students through Gale "AccessMyLibrary" app for mobile devices
 * Academic Search Complete
 * EdITLib Digital Library for Information Technology and Education - for more educational technology-related support
 * ProQuest Dissertations and Theses - Full Text


 * Databases that assist in the "gradual release" (Harvey and Daniels) of students into the world of database information retrieval:**
 * **Entry level** - [|2Learn.ca's Senior High Source] provides an immediate onramp to teacher-selected resources for students that fit topics within the Alberta programs of study. It also provides support materials to assist students in managing resources through the information search process, such as the 'NetLog fill-in-the-blank-then-print form and citation checker. I see students using this site to practise evaluating sites according to authenticity, quality, and usefulness. I also see them working with 'NetSteps pages of annotated resources shared by Alberta teachers on this website. []
 * **Intermediate level** - Following is a list of LearnAlberta's Online Reference Centre (ORC) databases suitable for senior high school students research, once they are familiar with working with more direct pathfinder sites, such as those I and others create, and 2Learn.ca 'NetSteps pages. Databases I see as most valuable for students at a new high school including regular and IB programming, on my initial explorations, are marked with an asterisk*:
 * Advanced Placement Source*
 * AlbertaSource.ca: The Alberta Online Encyclopedia
 * The Atlas of Canada
 * The Canadian Encyclopedia
 * Canadian Reference Centre*
 * Culturegrams
 * Early Canadiana Online
 * EBSCOhost*
 * eLibrary Canada: Curriculum Edition*
 * Grolier Online Passport
 * History Study Center
 * Novelist Plus
 * Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center*
 * Peel's Prairie Provinces
 * ProQuest Learning Literature*
 * Science Resource Center*
 * Statistics Canada: Learning Resources
 * TeachingBooks.net
 * World Book Student

>
 * **Advanced level** - I see students, once they have a handle on researching and managing resources, moving into the wider range of research activities available through mining the databases at the University of Alberta and Edmonton Public Libraries.
 * **A Framework of Support by developing a research culture among teachers:**
 * Teacher PD to support library resource/process orientation for students can also be provided with the following two focuses:
 * 1) to familiarize teachers with LearnAlberta teacher resources that exist //in addition// to those in the ORC, as well as 2Learn.ca resources--particularly resources that provide advanced knowledge of a subject or that provide ready-made or easily customized interactive materials for students;
 * 2) to involve teachers in activities that demonstrate how the Diigo screen capture function enables one to transcend limits of online databases-specific resource management tools, thus allowing one to aggregate targeted resources into one package.

> Resources subscribed to are probably best suited for teachers or students more familiar with the search process. As we have them licensed already for our students, it makes sense to make use of them when there is curricular and timely reason to do so. These databases are:
 * **[|My Library]** - My Library is a cooperative Edmonton Public Schools sites where senior high schools have shared the cost of subscribing to Gale subscription databases. It is located at []
 * Global Issues in Context
 * GREENR (Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources)
 * Literature Resource Center - LRC
 * Student Resource Centre Canadian Edition


 * **Database access is provide online through AccessMyLibrary iPhone/iPad/iPod applications.** All users are able to access all Gale databases in libraries within 10 miles of their current location. Within an urban centre that includes public and academic libraries, this provides libraries' worth on information literally in the palm of one's hand. I see access to this application as one that will draw students in, as the convenience and immediacy of completing a search even on a whim will appeal to them. The opportunity to explore using this application with students seems worth exploring.

**Portal Websites:**

 * University of Alberta Libraries - []
 * Library of Congress Online Catalogue - for research - []
 * Amazon - for looking at what else people are reading in this area - []
 * 2Learn.ca - for links to research and for student starter pages - []
 * LearnAlberta - for links to interactive student resources and student research links through the ORC - []

**Other Web** Resources:
**Primary Sources**:
 * Alberta Education. (2009). //Alberta's distributed learning strategy: discover phase report.// Edmonton, AB: Alberta Education. Retrieved from []
 * Alberta Learning. (2004). //Focus on inquiry: A teacher’s guide to implementing inquiry-based learning.// Edmonton, AB: Alberta Learning. Retrieved from [|http://education.alberta.ca/ media/313361/focusoninquiry.pdf].
 * New Media Consortium (2005). //A Global Imperative:The Report of the 21st Century Literacy Summit.// Retrieved from [].
 * // Partnership for 21st Century Skills - //[]

**Image Resources**: Google Images:
 * "21st Century learning". Retrieved from []
 * "21st Century learner". Retrieved from []

**Journals** - located through U of A libraries E-Journals / Proquest :

 * Educational Leadership
 * ERIC Digest
 * Library Media Quarterly / School LIbrary Media Quarterly
 * NASSP Bulletin
 * School Libraries Worldwide
 * School Libraries in Canada
 * School Library Journal
 * Teacher Librarian

**Articles that are pulling me towards further reading:**


**Authors writing in this area to follow:**

Asselin, M. Branch, J. Harada, V. Harvey and Daniels Haycock, K. Kuhlthau, C. Oberg, D. Stripling, B. Ross, T. Valenza, J. Zmuda, A.


 * James Herring []
 * Learning Circuits []
 * Future of Education [] - Ning community
 * Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning []
 * Classroom 2.0 NIng community []
 * Hey Jude []
 * Diigo groups: TL Diigo - teacher librarians (hosted by Joyce Valenza)
 * Buffy Hamilton's The Unquiet Librarian []

**Video/Streaming Video Resources**:

 * TED Resources [] - available through iTunes as podcasts, these resources will provide ongoing input regarding how the vision of education is evolving.

**Reflection:**

The challenge of providing effective support to today's students as they foray onto the world-wide web to conduct research is significant and potentially far-reaching. In an environment where the "library" is so vast, to assist students in seeing how to "orient" themselves within the layers of credibility, specificity, and practicality of online resources, some of which require a great deal of skill in locating, is a task that can only be achieved piece by piece through the integration of inquiry processes into both teaching and learning. If such a challenge can be met strategically, through specific types of skills being integrated into specific steps of the inquiry process, thus enabling students to be nudged along the path from guided to collaborative to more independent inquiries, then one might expect to see direct results in student learning. Through the process of completing this research, and even in the process of reviewing readings so far, it is clear that there has been lots of work completed in this area already, and yet I have not yet seen the gap between the kind of stance one needs to successfully use advanced search skills and the very real stance held by our Net generation students be bridged. I hope to be able to work towards bridging this gap through some of the strategies mentioned above, which will be better linked to the research as I have time to develop this pathfinder in more detail.


 * D ** **ate: August 3, 2010**

**Template for Creating Pathfinders from Joyce Valenza, Springfield Township High School Virtual Library** http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/pathfinder.html