Interesting lecture on the 28th of July about a concept that has been great influence with regards to all disciplines. The term 'Threshold Concepts', and at it's most basic form it merely means or refers to a certain journey one need to go through ones this occurs a person may fiuratively look back and see an older version of ones point of view or perspective. An example of such an occurence is us being the first ones to go through studying IL in this new framework. It is a journey but on the other end of this portal or pathway we can look back as pioneers, people who paved the way for others with a new understanding of what this framework is about and we would be knowledgeable about this and capable of informing others about it.

My question is however, we mostly spoke about disciplines as in subject fields, law, accounting,  medicine etc. I am thinking about in terms of other fields though as in where people create gimmicks such as in music eg. Dr. Dre could this be a characterisitic of Threshold Concept specifically the characteristic of Boundedness. Because Dr.Dre is a gimmick a stage name and not a real doctor in any sense of the word. So Dr is a self-given name but everyone knows that this man did not study to be a doctor so in the field of music he is known as Dr.Dre and known for putting life into music and curing beats etc. Just a question.


This concept has me thinking about various examples and it's frustrating.


Transformative: Refers to how once something is learned it transforms a persons way of thinking, his way of perceiving. An example I can think of at this moment is how psychiatric patience of Dr Michael Scott Peck felt after being in a few sessions with the Doctor. At first they are ignorant of the things that they are going through and then after he explains to them what is happening within them they are immediately aware of the processes that our minds go through and this brought awareness to the patience and they are immediately transformed in the sense that when they see live foreign objects they should not get scared and freak out, rather they must be aware that the mind sometimes does this due to chemical imbalances etc. Thus they are instantly not afraid when it occurs again.


It is also irreversible in the sense that once you learn it you cannot forget it or unlearn it.


It is integrative also in how various disciplines can learn from other disciplines and thus better their performance in their areas of expertise.


It is also troublesome which means that understanding and grasping a concept or idea or phenomenon it doesn't come without it's difficulty in understanding. It's a struggle to get to understanding, because it's a constant back and forth.


After each lecture I find myself extremely tired but also in a process of metathinking.


I am shaped by various topics, such as the frames for Information Literacy for Higher Education.


1.) I am very honest with the fact that I got a bit of a scare when I came across the first frame in Threshold Concept. Scholarship is a conversation. Everyone knows that people have a lot to say and their are no shortage of experts in any field. So there are a lot of conversations going on about any one specific topic and that is scary since you need to learn all points of view before deciding on which one or ones suits you best.
New insights and ideas are constantly shared during this conversation and it always gives light to more new ideas, there's no definite asnwer that's why research is always done to try to reinvent or further progress certain ideas.

2.)  Research as Inquiry. This refers to research as a process of interacting. A researcher constantly has to rethink, rework, and explore concepts. Students need to learn how to identify unresolved issues and frame appropriate questions that deals with solving or answering them.

3.) Authority of texts is contextual and constructed. This means that authority of a source or discipline depends on its origin, information, need and context within which information will be used. Eg. Dr Michael Scott Peck is a psyciatrist this alone basically gives him great authority so any advice he gives will probably be used. But if he says in order to cure a mental illness you need to walk through a literal fire then one would immediately question whether or not this is legitimate. So it is dependent on context as well as information.

4.) Information Creation as a process.

This refers to the various formats available to a person at any point in time. It refers to also the ways of sharing information. Eg. scholarly facebook pages etc.

5.) Searching as exploration. Search strategy is not straightforward and sequential. It involves inquiry, discovery and serendipity. Discovering one source can lead to the discovery of other sources or avenues.

6.) Information has value. Students should understand their obligation to cite and acknowledge the idea of others. .

Information Literacy

Let me first start off by saying that the main idea behind the lecture of the 21st July 2015 was that of Learning Theories. Learning Theories basically or loosely means that manner or approach a teacher goes about teaching his learners. Various theories over the years have been studied and made available and to this day there is no single best method or learning theory. The various learning theories are; Behaviourism (this basically suggests that people are clean slates and they learn by means of reinforcements. eg. if you put your hand in a fire it will burn. This is implied by the concept of Stimulus-response - a response being provoked by an element in the environment. Here the learner is viewed as a passive learner, and his behavirou is influenced by reward or punishment. A perfect general example is the prison system. If you break the law you will be taken out of society and put in isolation, away from your family and the 'normal' society. Cognitivism deals with the notion of learning as a process of constructing, analyzing and applying information, here learners are active participants in the learning experience. Here learning involves relating information to new information. Mnemonic devices, and visual aids are used to bring the lessons home to the learners. In this concept we learned about Bloom's Hierarchy of Learning Outcomes and the most comprehensive analysis of learning objective in cognitive domain is his (Benjamin Bloom) work published in the 1950's presented in the following pattern but not exclusively in this pattern as certain stages in many situations come before other. Remembering - Understanding - Applying - Analysing - Evaluating - Creating. Social Learning focuses on how people learn from one another in a social context, people learn by means of observation and modeling others actions. Self-efficacy is important here. Constructivism is viewed as interpersonal rather than objective. Pragmatism refers to learning as a fusion of the various theories because all learners are not the same and therefore different learning theories are applied to different learners

Information Literacy Post 2

1.  what you have learned in the course

2.  what additional links, if any, you have discovered eg. links to readings or interesting sites pertaining to the course

3.  your feelings about participating in the course

4.  your working relationship with colleagues in the class...

 

1.) What I learned in my first session with Shemeemah was that I received a definition that basically   sums up everything a person need to know about Information Literacy. In my own words Information Literacy is basically knowing what Information to search for, out of the searched information which of those hints are relevant and reliable, usable and available.

 

2.)  http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/what-does-information-literacy-mean-some-examples-from-different-disciplines.

Here is an interesting site, it gives you examples on Information Literacy and what constitutes Information Literacy. Not having much prior knowledge regarding the subject examples bring the concept home to any person, so that's why I found the site helpful.

3.) At first I wasn't sure what the course was about but I realise now that having this course won't just benefit me to the point of gaining a degree but it will also equip me to be information literate meaning that I will always have the benefit of knowing where to look for relevant, accurate and up to date information. And how to use that information.

4.) I, personally, have a great relationship with most of the people in the class. Just Nizam and Charlene that gets on my nerves

Information Literacy Day1

Information Literacy and my expectations of what will happen in the duration of the course as well as at the end of it, I haven't given it much thought but as I am typing this now I feel very pleasant about it. It seems that this will be very hands-on and somewhat interactive.