edna.edu.au

Initiation

Stage 1 of the Information Search Process is Initiation.

What is the topic?

What do I already know about the topic?

Complete a brainstorm, chart or picture of what you know already.

bubbl.us
bubbl.us is a free online brainstorm tool. Login if you want to save your brainstorm.
You can embed this as an image in your blog or in a wiki and thus share it with others.

Tags: information literacy libraries ipshaa tl guided inquiry
Posted at 11:52PM Jun 18, 2009 by Pru Mitchell  |  Comments[0]

Selection

Stage 2 of the Information Search Process is Selection.

• find some resources on the topic
• build background knowledge about the topic
• develop questions to guide further research
• scan reference collection and online sources
  

Wikipedia
Check references and external links

Wikipedia for schools
Hand-checked selection from Wikipedia, targeted at UK curriculum has about 5500 articles.
Search google: [term] site:schools-wikipedia.org

Tags: libraries guided inquiry ipshaa tl information literacy
Posted at 11:49PM Jun 18, 2009 by Pru Mitchell  |  Comments[0]

Exploration

Stage 3 of the Information Search Process is Exploration.

This is where time is spent in gathering more information about the topic to further build background knowledge. This involves catalogue searching and use of search engines.

Finding an easy way to bookmark and tag interesting and relevant resources is helpful. Investigate social bookmarking services such as delicious, diigo or twine and how they can be used. For this workshop we will use social bookmarking in me.edu.au. 

Tags
Tags should be single words or very short phrases.
Check whether spaces are permitted in your social bookmarking service. If not, use under_scores to connect words, or WikiCase.

me.edu.au social bookmarking
Log in to your me.edu.au profile and keep it open in a separate window or tab as you search. When you find a relevant resource, copy the url and paste it into your share links box. Add tags and a title/description about why you chose it.

me.edu.au uses commas to separate tags so spaces are OK, but still not ideal as spaces can break urls.

Tags: guided inquiry information literacy tagging iphsaa tl libraries social bookmarking
Posted at 11:31PM Jun 18, 2009 by Pru Mitchell  |  Comments[0]

Formulation

Stage 4 of the Information Search Process is Formulation.

Decide on the specific area of the topic to focus on and research it further.

Formulating essential questions is one of the hardest parts of the process. Is this worth researching? Asking the 'So What' question, and being convinced time spent on this focus issue is worthwhile will help.

[This is a placeholder: The subject of a future workshop]

Tags: information literacy ipshaa tl libraries guided inquiry
Posted at 11:19PM Jun 18, 2009 by Pru Mitchell  |  Comments[0]

Collection

Stage 5 of the Information Search Process is Collection.

Now is the time to record my new knowledge in an appropriate format.

In terms of professional learning, I find creating a blog post works well as a way to outline my new knowledge. It is an easy way to include links to references and to ensure I give attribution as appropriate.

Even if the final format of the inquiry is a presentation slideshow or conference paper, I will probably post it here so I keep lots of my learning in one place, and in some kind of chronological order. It lets me tag the learning, and to share it with my professional learning community.

Tags: information literacy guided inquiry ipshaa tl libraries
Posted at 11:06PM Jun 18, 2009 by Pru Mitchell  |  Comments[0]

Presentation

Stage 6 of the Information Search Process is Presentation.

Here the purpose is to share new knowledge with an audience.

Deciding which presentation format is most appropriate or best for the task will depend on the audience, the learning, the context and the type of feedback required.

If the presentation is in digital format then it has a much bigger potential audience. Posting audio, video, slides, photographs or online, or using a blog to post the presentation means peers can be invited to view the presentation and leave comments.

Tags: guided inquiry information literacy ipshaa tl libraries
Posted at 10:18PM Jun 18, 2009 by Pru Mitchell  |  Comments[0]