A Question Of Taste - LTEA Conference 2009, University of Reading, Jamie Wood

A question of taste: social bookmarking to support inquiry-based learning

Jamie WoodCentre for Inquiry-based Learning in the Arts

and Social Sciences (CILASS)University of Sheffield

Overview of talk

• Inquiry-based learning• Social bookmarking• What we did…• What the students thought…• Reflections and practical considerations

CILASS• Centre for Excellence in

Teaching and Learning• 5 year programme (2005-

2010) of reward, development, innovation, research

• Core community: Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences; extending to other Faculties

“Modelling the process of research in the student learning experience”

Inquiry-based learning: Two definitions

“Inquiry refers to instructional practices designed to promote the development of high order intellectual and academic skills through student-driven and instructor-guided investigation of student-generated questions” (McMaster University)

“An array of classroom practices that promote student learning through guided and, increasingly, independent investigation of complex questions and problems, often for which there is no single answer” (North Carolina State University)

Social bookmarkingSocial bookmarking is a method for Internet users to store, organize, search, and

manage bookmarks of web pages on the Internet with the help of metadata, typically in the form of tags.

Users save links to web pages that they want to remember and/or share. These bookmarks are usually public, although they can be made private or shared with restricted groups of people.

Most social bookmark services encourage users to organize their bookmarks with informal tags instead of the traditional browser-based system of folders. They also enable viewing bookmarks associated with a chosen tag, and include information about the number of users who have bookmarked them.

Many social bookmarking services provide web feeds for their lists of bookmarks, including lists organized by tags. This allows subscribers to become aware of new bookmarks as they are saved, shared, and tagged by other users.

(Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking; accessed 18.05.09)Importantly, articles on sites such as JSTOR, or behind passwords, can sometimes be bookmarked; in History, a large number of sources are

available on the open web

Social bookmarking and IBL

• Active engagement. • Social/ collaborative

element. • Allows for collaborative

construction of knowledge/ learning.

• Therefore potentially useful for supporting IBL…

‘tag cloud’ created by my classes in 2008

Context• 1st year core History lecture-

based module • 1 seminar per week for two

groups• Oral presentations (2) and

contributions assessed (17% of course mark)

• Assessed essays (33%) • Exam (50%)

2008 Aims• To get students to

practice their questioning skills and explore the relationship between questioning and IBL

• To encourage efficient and effective use of the web through a constructive approach

What we did – 1• I set up a delicious site

for the students and I to use

• Common login; public• Weekly homework:

– ‘bookmark’ 3 websites (1 primary source; 1 secondary source; 1 ‘other’ source)

– provide a short description of the site and ‘tag’ the site with a number of descriptive keywords, including student’s name

• I did the same

http://delicious.com/paganschristiansheretics

What we did - 2• Collated resources were

shared between my 2 groups

• I created a course blog, to which the students posted a weekly question arising from their preparatory readings = inquiry?

• I read the blog and delicious site, using them as a basis for seminar preparation

• Experimentation occurred http://paganschristiansheretics.wordpress.com/ transferred to: http://paganschristiansheretics.blogspot.com/

2009 course• In 2008 I had used a

social bookmarking service called delicious and a blog

• In 2009 I chose a platform that could host both a blog-type function and the bookmarking/ tagging

• I chose diigo.com

Discussion forum• Replaced blog• Primarily a place for

students to post pre-seminar questions or other activities (feedback)

• Place to upload weekly homework/ handouts

Bookmarking

Similar basic functionality to delicious• Description• Tagging• Sharing

And more…• ‘diigo for educators’

account – private, separate logins

• Highlighting • Sticky-noting• Sharing

“I just think that this bit is interesting when we consider how quickly Clovis decided to switch allegiances to the Christian God from the Pagan gods.He seems pretty adamant in this extract that his gods are better than his wife's Christian God. It might just be me but I can't help but think that Gregory has missed something out in his analysis of Clovis' conversion, in between this point and when Clovis makes a deal with Jesus when he is losing a battle against the Alamanni.”

Pre course surveyMajority of student preferred for questions to be set by the tutor,

although: • ‘It is good to set the questions ourselves as I feel it makes us think

more about what we're doing and we're able to focus on areas which interest us.’

All students: • thought that questions were either ‘very’ or ‘quite’ important to

their learning.• were happy with setting questions for seminars. • were positive about the opportunity to use an online discussion

forum for questioning and interaction.

There was some concern about technical aspects of the software, getting used to using it.

What happened• 19 students and me• We ended up (over 11

seminars) with 147 posts to the forum

• 314 bookmarks (including ones from last year’s course), using 590 different tags

Varied activities – some examplesLocating and bookmarking source(s)• Find and bookmark primary/

secondary source• Add description and tags

Essay writing• Respond to feedback on

essays by bookmarking a relevant site

• Revise thesis statement from first essay and post to discussion forum

Non-written sources• Find and bookmark a

non-written source (YouTube; Flickr)

• In description, explain why this source is relevant to the seminar

Highlighting • Highlight and comment upon

relevant sections of a document which I had pre-selected

Questioning• Post a question based on

reading to the discussion forum

Student feedback15 responses to questionnaire.

In general, positive about diigo, more so than delicious in previous year:

• Collaborative generation of ideas • Practical use in preparing essays• Enjoyed the opportunity to find own

sources: ‘In regards to preparation, I like how it's not always reading long pieces of text and how we have to find our own sources.’

• Freedom: ‘There is more freedom of choice about what to read.’

• Different way of learning: ‘I like the use of diigo, it is much more interesting, and because you are not only reading, it is easier to absorb the information.’

Difficulties: “The only thing I would say is using the diigo site, not because I don't think it's a good idea, just because I'm not very good with technology and I found parts (e.g. highlighting and sticky noting) very confusing at first!”

Setting questions – 3 conceptionsBy tutor: Helps to give direction; reassuring; makes sure what you are doing is relevant and

useful; gives focus to research; links to lectures; student questions might not be challenging enough; more likely to lead to a ‘good’ answer; helps with new areas of study

Mixture: “A mixture is best to make sure key themes are not overlooked by setting your own

questions gets yourself and others thinking more.”“A varied set of questions from myself and the tutor would be good as I could concentrate

on areas I enjoyed as well as looking at questions I may have not considered.”

By students: More interest; more control over learning; opens up discussion; allows exploration of topics students are uncertain of

“I like the fact that we've got to set our own questions as it means that we focus on areas that I or other members of the group are unsure about. I think I've learnt more from it.”

“I prefer setting the questions myself, mainly because it forces us to think about the issues in different ways; with the diigo site because people are reading sources in different ways so a wider range of issues comes up.”

Changing conceptions:

• “I used to prefer having the questions set for me but I think it has been more useful setting them myself as it has made me think about the reading more.”

• “I used to like just being set questions, but now I have realised how beneficial thinking of your own questions is. I much prefer it.”

Posing questions and sources

• ‘it forces you to think about the source material and be analytical in response to it’

• ‘makes you read the article properly as you have to think about it’

• ‘It has definitely made me think more about what I was reading and thought how it related to lecture topics as well’

• ‘it makes you think about what you're reading a lot more, and opens up the area of reading to different paths of thought.’

Posing questions and learning from others

• ‘it allows me to look at topics from a different perspective’

• ‘it has been good to see what other people have put and there was probably more variation in the questions than if the tutor was to set them.’

• ‘it allows you to see a wider range of issues that come up from sources - some that you may not even have thought about.’

• ‘I've found being able to see other people's questions helpful, as it brings up new points that I might not have previously thought about.’

Improved research skills80% of students felt that the use of diigo and the seminars had improved their

research skills– ‘normally the reading for seminars is set for you, whereas we often have to find

our own reading for this seminar...I have become much more adept at using JSTOR's search functions.’

– ‘become more effective at researching and locating articles, as well as being better at extracting quotes from articles.’

– ‘having to highlight and tag has meant I have considered them [the sources] in depth.’

– ‘I've searched for more primary sources and articles than I have before.’– ‘particularly with reference to primary sources. The course puts more focus on

primary sources than any module so far, and they were a bit of an abstract concept before…I feel better able to find, evaluate and use them now.’

– ‘it has made me more aware of where sources can be found i.e. not just JSTOR.’ – ‘I think I'm better now at analysing how useful a source might be and how you

can use it.’

My reflection – practicalities Issues • Problems with tagging

protocols• Move from common

logins to different student accounts…allows tracking

• Assessment not as important as I’d thought in generating engagement – though rationalisation is preferable

• Reminders help• Support resources – can

be tagged in diigo (e.g. past papers)

Tips• Variety of tasks• Specificity of tasks

(what and why)• Modelling of tasks • Bring the technology

into the classroom• Support for engagement

Other• Versatile beyond IBL• Room was important• Possible to replicate

functions in a VLE, for example

My reflections – learning• Develops range of skills

(technology; information literacy; research)

• Models disciplinary processes and develops disciplinary skills (summarising; use of sources) and knowledge

• It is inquiry-based learning

• ‘The whole of diigo has been invaluable. It is an excellent resource to find articles for essays and the tags and descriptions people have assigned to journals give a good summary. The questions on the forum raise issues that I may not have thought about otherwise.’

• ‘It is useful as I then identify areas of the module that I am less confident with and can address them with extra reading. They [the questions] also stimulate my thinking, and I think about other issues that interest me relating to the course, not simply what the tutor has asked of you.’