Communities of Inquiry: A Shift to Inquiry-Based Learning

in LIS Education?

Muzhgan Nazarova, Ph.D StudentAnn Peterson Bishop, Associate Professor

Bertram C. Bruce, Professor

Graduate School of Library and Information ScienceU. Of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Presentation Overview:

Community Inquiry (CI) track in LIS:

•Why and how it emerged?•Theoretical background;

•Mechanisms of implementation;•Perceptions of the students.

“Librarianship and information services is experiencing a radical redefinition of

the task and nature of both the profession and preparation for entering

it. Overwhelmed by new waves of technology and an information

explosion, the profession is almost drowning in the sea of change.”

Stueart,1989

Core Competencies for Librarians and Information Professionals

• Technical skills (e.g., knowledge of sources in all formats, collection management skills, application of critical thinking skills to library problems);

• Skills related to communication and human relations (e.g., conducting reference interviews, producing reports and presentation, effective management of group processes).

Lois Buttlar and Rosemary Du Mont, 1996

Core Competencies for Librarians and Information Professionals

Knowledge of the conduct of research and of information resources, management, access, systems and technology, and policy.

Tenopir, 2000

Core competencies:What is missing?

• Audiences and communities the librarians and information specialists work with and serve;

• Libraries become increasingly service-oriented;

• Role of a librarian in a collaborative knowledge construction

Changes in Library Education Needed:The KALIPER Project

Library education as a vibrant, dynamic, changing field that is

undertaking an array of initiatives

The KALIPER Report:Six Trends

1. Broad-based information environments and information problems.2. User-centered core; 3. Infusion of information technology into curriculum;4. Experimenting with specialization;5. Instruction in different formats with more flexibility;6. Offering related degrees at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels.

Communities of Inquiry

Community of Inquiry theory understands knowledge as communally constructed and emergent, proceeding through the interaction of critical and creative thinking

Kennedy, 1996

Community Inquiry Track

391LIA Literacy in the Information Age;450IBL Inquiry-Based Learning; 450PT Pragmatic Technology;450SJ Social Justice;450PAR Participatory Action Research;450CIS Community Information Systems.

CI Track and KALIPER Trends

1. By implementing the CI track, GSLIS addressed much broader information environments including different communities and address their needs;

2. While faculty members working on CI track have joint appointments and are actively engaged in a community service and work with diverse communities, a main focus is on understanding the users representing different communities and meeting their needs;

CI Track and KALIPER Trends

3. Along with increasing infusion of information technology into the curricula, as a part of a CI track, a main focus is on communication and collaboration technologies and how these technologies can bring communities together;

4. CI as an informal track in GSLIS curriculum has already passed its experimentation phase. It attracted the students from the other subject areas to engage in a dialogue with the students in LIS join in a community of inquiry;

CI Track and KALIPER Trends

5. Inquiry-based learning as an innovative method of instruction in LIS found its place in a field where dealing with inquiries on a daily basis is a major part of your work, providing more flexibility and developing and engaging in different communities of inquiry with people from all walks of life;

6. Some Community Inquiry track courses open to Undergraduates and PHDs

American Pragmatism and Theory of Inquiry

They all believed that ideas are not “out there” waiting to be discovered, but are tools - like folks and knives and microchips-that people devise to cope with the world in which they find themselves. They believed that the ideas are not produced by the individuals - that ideas are social.

Louis Menand, 2001

American Pragmatism

• William James (1675-1749);• Charles Sanders Pierce (1839-1914);• John Dewey (1859-1952);• Jane Adams (1860-1935).

Charles S. Pierce and Theory of Inquiry

All inquiry requires a cooperative community of minds and stresses the fact that notions of such a community of minds. Such a community is involved in the philosophic definition of the real.

Goudge, 1950

John Dewey and Communities of Inquiry

“Inquiry is the life-blood of every science and is constantly engaged in every art, craft and profession” (Dewey, 1938).

“Men live in a community in virtue of the things which they have in common; and communication is the way in which they come to possess things in common. What they must have in common in order to form a community or society are aims, beliefs, aspirations.” (Dewey, 1916).

Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL)

Inquiry-Based Learning is often described as a cycle or spiral, involving the formulation of a question, investigation, creation of an appropriate solution or answer, discussion and reflection on the outcome but in practice not all the steps I this cycle are necessary to be followed in sequence.

Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL)

The Cycle of Inquiry

Communities of Inquiry

A group (a social setting) of individuals who use dialogue (interaction among participants) to search out the problematic borders of a puzzling concept (inquiry as philosophical)

Turgeon, 1998

Characteristics of the CIs

• Coming to understand, and to build upon, a range of different perspectives and points of view;

• Thinking which is self-correcting, and thinkers who care for the procedures of inquiry;

• Developing an environment in which all ideas are listened to and respected as potential sources of truth

Online Environment for CI: CILs

Community Inquiry Lab (CIL) is a place where members of a community come together to develop a shared capacity and work on common problems.

Community Inquiry Labs Community A collaborative activity and for creating knowledge that is

connected to people’s values, history and lived experiences.

Inquiry An open-ended, democratic, participatory engagement.

Laboratory A space and resources to bring theory and action together in an experimental and critical manner.

CIL is most importantly a concept….

Community Inquiry Labs

• Web-based suite of Open Source software tools to support collaboration and communication (e.g., bulletin board, document uploading, calendar, inquiry units);

• People create CILs (websites) on their own, to support their activities within and among groups;

• Inquiry units = lesson plans, action plans, meeting minutes, research reports, journals, policy statements, etc.

Community, Content and Collaboration Management

Systems (C3MS)

C3MS systems are considered a form of Web portals, gathering a variety of useful information and communication resources into a single, “one stop” web page

Looney & Lyman, 2000

Community, Content and Collaboration Management

Systems (C3MS)

C3MS consist of a collection of objects called information bricks and services – operation on these bricks that can be accessed from a portal.

Community Inquiry Lab

Is based on a C3MS model and consists of different bricks performing different functions

CIL Features: Software

• Open software model: (1) users can mix-and-match bricks, (2) bricks are open source

• A brick maker, which allows non-programmers to make their own bricks

• Community development; collaborations with a diverse group of people working in education, e-government, and other areas

• Inquiry development model (use -> build -> design): (1) participatory design, (2) development as research on community inquiry

CIL Features: Relation to Community

• Open participation: start open and then create private spaces, vetting, etc as needed;

• Universal design: an emphasis on accessibility, not only in terms of disabilities, but in terms of bandwidth, screen size, local support;

• Community work first: situating the technology within ongoing communities, rather than seeing it as a replacement or complete in itself

Community Inquiry Track

391LIA Literacy in the Information Age;450IBL Inquiry-Based Learning; 450PT Pragmatic Technology;450SJ Social Justice;450PAR Participatory Action Research;450CIS Community Information Systems.

Paseo Boricua Street Academy

http://inquiry.uiuc.edu/cil/out.php?cilid=112

SisterNet’s CIL in ActionTaking Action for Water Quality

Pilot Study: Perceptions of Students

“It seems to me to be more appropriate to the type of work that LIS represents. It is also much more responsive to the various learning styles that people come [bring?] to LIS. At least it does represent some form or model of learning upon which LIS can grow”

Pilot Study: Perceptions of Students

“…In addition, the CIL allows for distant people to come together around the shared interest of a topic. Also, the CIL encourages the involvement by allowing for different interpretation of the information and its evolution by the members of the CIL”

Pilot Study: Perceptions of Students

“Learning is not linear, the inquiry cycle allows me to perfect my work, and allow others to input”;

“I think the inquiry cycle is in general the learning cycle for me. To have the structure lets you feel through the part of the process you are currently in, and enable the focus of attention to the part of the cycle”;

Pilot Study: Perceptions of Students

“The topics have a strong connection to LIS,

but also have an appeal to other fields of study. To see that there are strong connections across disciplines in a valuable learning opportunity. I also think the topics in the track are ones that are often lost between the technical and traditional branches of LIS”

Pilot Study: Perceptions of Students

“I think the biggest potential issue might be the

practicality of not recognizing or understanding a more commercial, corporate, conservative arena within which we all have to exist and hopefully thrive in this world. It is wonderful to put forth social issues, concerns and agendas but doing that with students and not giving them an understanding of what real world is can be very disconcerting for the student once they are out on their own. “

Conclusion

CI is • Response to a complex array of changes in LIS;• Building bridges in LIS knowledge;• Much work to do!

Resources

Contacts