Research Report: Learning to Become Internet
Literate
by Michelle Sagucio, G18, Spring 2003
Dr. Leon James, Instructor: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/leon.html
Instructions for this report are
at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonpsy18/g18research.html
Review of 3 Generational Student Papers
Section
2: Self-observation Data
Data Comparison with a G17 student
Section
3: The Psychology of Information Literacy
1. Introduction
As a student in Dr. James’ Psychology 459 class, I am
a learner and contributor of the Generational Curriculum. As described in his
article, Creating
An Online Learning Environment That Fosters Information Literacy, Autonomous
Learning and Leadership: The Hawaii Online Generational Community-Classroom, which is summarized in the third
section of this report, the students who have taken his classes over the years
have become a part of a generational cyber-community.
His students have been shown to go through specific
developmental phases during the semester while accomplishing various
assignments. The process of learning the internet includes the three domains of
the
threefold self: affective (feeling), cognitive (thinking), and sensorimotor
(acting out). These three domains are found in each of the three main phases he
has delineated: becoming information literate, developing into autonomous
learners, and becoming innovative. Altogether, they make up Dr. James’
so-called “nine
zones of instructional objectives.”
This process of learning the internet entails becoming
information literate. Students develop this ability to recognize, find,
analyze, and utilize needed information in order to complete their reports,
participate in forum discussions, and give oral presentations in class; in
general, to take on more active roles in obtaining and improving their
education.
My research report is a product of the process I went
through in learning the internet. I will be providing my own terms and
descriptions of such developmental phases and will apply them to my review of
three generational student papers I have chosen.
The second section of my report includes data I have
obtained from a self-observation experiment that spanned 10 weeks. During this
period, I used search forms, as provided by Professor James, to record
empirical evidence of my thoughts and behaviors during search tasks. These
search tasks helped me gather information for my
Annotated Bibliography Report and for this Research Report.
The third section gives a summary of Dr. James’ article
on the Online Generational Curriculum. I have also incorporated the concept of
information literacy, as defined by the Association of College and Research
Libraries, with his curriculum.
At
the end of this report, I have included my advice to future generations.
Review of 3 Generational Student Papers
In accordance to the instructions for this report, I chose
three generational student papers to review, two from the list provided by Dr.
James and one I found from searching through the Generations
directory. Each of the following three students reflected on the
developmental patterns they went through while learning the internet. I have
chosen these three students who took Psychology 409 from Dr. James during Fall
1996: Michelle
Alonzo, Carol
Ohta, and Jami
Kaneshiro.
The developmental phases they went through accurately followed
those that Dr. James discussed in his article on The
Hawaii Online Generational Community-Classroom. These phases encompassed
aspects of the threefold
self: affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor. The table below represents my
understanding of the phases, the terms I have used to label them, and their
descriptions.
Table 1
My Descriptions for the 3
Developmental Phases
That Are Encountered By Students
Learning the Internet
|
Phase |
Description |
|
Affective: ANXIETY |
• feel overwhelmed by the amount of information available and the amount of knowledge/skills to be gained • experience
apprehension/uncertainty over the requirements of the course and how to
fulfill them |
|
Cognitive: ADAPTATION |
• after familiarizing self
with course requirements and the work of previous generations, start thinking
about a plan of action – what to do first and how to do it, where to
find information, etc.; becoming information literate • feel motivated to
accomplish tasks; overcome technophobia to a certain extent as to decide not
to drop the course and be motivated to learn how to accomplish various
required tasks |
|
Sensorimotor: ACCOMPLISHMENT |
• find a computer to use; begin using various search engines/databases and making web pages •
offer advice and share ideas with other students • implement new innovations
to better the appearance and content of own web page |
Table 1 will be used in my analysis for each of the
following three students. I have included direct quotes from their papers to
illustrate that their experiences coincide with the three developmental phases I
have pointed out. Each student analysis is divided into three sections: a
summary of the student’s learning experience, my reaction to it, and my
explanation of the developmental patterns they went through. I will be using Dr. James’ Chart of the Nine Zones of Instructional
Objectives, which can be found in Section 3 of this report, to explain the
patterns they went through.
Note: All quotes taken directly from the following student
reports contain misspelled words, if any, as found in the original sources. For
convenience, their quotes are in italics and are colored dark red. You may view
their original reports by clicking on the subheadings that includes their names
and title of their reports. (It was also a coincidence, not on purpose, that
the reports I chose to review were all done by females.)
Student # 1: Michelle
Alonzo, Developmental patterns for learning the Internet
Her Learning Experience
Michelle Alonzo, being a novice in using the internet and
e-mail, admits that “learning the internet
at the very beginning was the most difficult thing [she] ever had to do.” Although she had taken Psychology 459,
another course taught by Dr. James the previous semester, she realized that she
forgot many of the things she learned over the summer and hence, no longer
thought “[Psychology 409] would be a breeze.”
However, she states, “The struggling,
frustration, and of course, perseverance, really paid off because most of us
ended up excelling in that class.”
Table 2
Michelle Alonzo’s
Experiences in Learning the Internet
|
Phase |
Her Quotes/Examples from her
Experience |
|
Affective: ANXIETY |
“…learning the internet at the very beginning
was the most difficult thing I ever had to do.” “I had no idea what I was doing.” |
|
Cognitive: ADAPTATION |
“There were times when I felt like throwing the
computer terminal on the ground…” “You feel like quitting, dropping the class, or just
plain indulging in chocolate ice cream!” “When you find that your page is starting to come out
the way you want them to, you feel a little spark of confidence that can
probably help you to go further…” |
|
Sensorimotor: ACCOMPLISHMENT |
“I finally got the hold of the whole internet
process!…I could finally start working effectively without having to
rely on everyone else to teach me.” “Once you see your potential, you feel like you want
to do more and even try new things on the internet.” |
My Reaction
Michelle listed five steps to learning the internet. They
were 1) frustration and anger, 2) defeat, 3) you see a glimmer of light, 4)
motivation, and 5) feeling of success. I like to see her five steps fitting
into the three phases I have described above in Table 1.
Her first step, frustration and anger, fit into my “Anxiety” phase. In this first stage, she is overcome with emotions that hinder her progress. This hindrance could have been short-lived or prolonged, but none-the-less, was a sufficient force that determined whether or not she would decide to take upon the challenges of the course. When she learned to overcome her frustration and anger, she had in fact moved on to another developmental phase.
At the beginning of the semester, I also experienced anxiety. However, it was not as much of frustration and anger as Michelle put it. I was a novice at publishing work on the internet. I was a novice at making web pages. I was overwhelmed with information—the course requirements themselves and the smaller tasks that needed to be dealt with first in order to fulfill the major goals of the course. I had no idea what FTP was, I have never done forum discussions, etc. It was when I decided that I could put aside my anxiety and let my excitement propel me to start on my assignments did I enter my “Adaptation” phase. This is when I finally started printing out all the instructions and related links as outlined on our class home page. I familiarized myself with these forms so I could finally start on my reports.
Her next three steps, “defeat, you see a glimmer of
light, and motivation,” go under my “Adaptation” stage. It is
this stage where she is past her frustration and anger that she has motivated
herself to take on a plan of action. She has adapted from being fearful to
being motivated. This sense of motivation that carried her through her plan of
action and ultimately, the accomplishment of her tasks. As she stated, “You feel like quitting, dropping the class, or just
plain indulging in chocolate ice cream…[but] once you see your potential, you feel like you want to
do more and even try new things on the internet.”
At times, I was frustrated. I recall trying to learn how to
do anchors because I saw them in a handful of student reports in past
generations. My boyfriend told me that they were called anchors but did not
know how to make them in Microsoft Word. I went to the Help Guide in Microsoft
Word and typed in the word “anchor.” Unfortunately, it did not
return any results. Finally, I thought about a more general idea—making
hyperlinks. (Actually, it took me awhile to figure out that “links”
were also known as “hyperlinks.”) When I clicked on the tutorial, I
found that the word “anchor” did not appear anywhere. Anchors were
known as hyperlinks within a document. This particular experience illustrated
how I adapted to overcome my defeat and come up with other ways to find a
solution.
Just like Michelle, I found my potential and was therefore
more motivated to keep learning about other innovations. As she put it, “When you find that your page is starting to come out the
way you want them to, you feel a little spark of confidence that can probably
help you to go further because just the feeling that something finally work may
help you want to do more and make your page look exactly the way you want it to.”
Her fifth step, “feeling of success,” coincides
with my “Accomplishment” phase. “You
can finally look at the pages and say, ‘that is my work!’.”
I agree with her in that overcoming the process of learning the internet is
“a great feeling.”
Although the semester has not ended yet, I feel quite successful thus far. At
the beginning of the semester, I knew nothing about the publishing of work on
the internet, but now, uploading is a breeze. I look at my website and am
sometimes in awe over what I have learned in these past few months. With more
practice and the acquisition of more skills to implement other features and
innovations, I know that I can achieve more outstanding results in the future.
Explanation of these Patterns
(Please refer to Table 11 of this
report to better understand my explanations described below.)
At the beginning of the semester, it is very understandable
how Michelle encountering learning the internet as being very difficult. The
first phase she encountered was the affective aspect of Phase 1, where she is
trying to overcome technophobia. Because of her lack of knowledge of computers
and the internet, she has low self-confidence in these matters.
While she was learning the internet, she did get frustrated.
She thought about dropping the class, but luckily, stuck around. This shows
effort on her part to persevere, thereby reaching the affective domain of Phase
2. Once she saw her home page’s development, her self-confidence
increased and that provided the impetus for her to implement certain types of
innovations into her work. This marked her progress, going from Phase 2 to
Phase 3.
She has shown that she has gained enough skills throughout
the semester to accomplish her required assignments. She learned to rise above
defeat when things were not working. I think she has reached Phase 3 in
reaching “excellence.” Visit her
Psychology 409 home page and you’ll notice that she has a Psychology
499 home page also. Going through two classes of this sort shows that she
had overcome her technophobia, maintained a level of perseverance to complete
all required assignments, and has thus
become a contributor to this generational online community.
Student # 2: Carol
Ohta, My Adapting to Internet
Her Learning Experience
Like Michelle, Carol used the computer to type up reports.
She did not know much about the internet or how to use e-mail. She went through
the challenging process of obtaining and learning how to use her UH e-mail
account. Although she did not know how to start making files, she asked help
from the computer lab monitors and eventually learned the steps to do so. She
experienced a lot of frustration and fatigue trying to attain internet skills.
At the end of the semester, she had fulfilled the course requirements,
illustrating the fact that she had indeed become internet literate.
Table 3
Carol Ohta’s Experiences in
Learning the Internet
|
Phase |
Her Quotes/Examples from her
Experience |
|
Affective: ANXIETY |
“I started to freak out because I tried to avoid the
internet like it was the plague for years.” “I felt like an idiot.” “Yup, he looked at me like I was stupid or
something…” “…I didn’t know where to start or where to
go. I was a complete basket case.” “Sometimes I start peeling my fingernail polish off my
fingers and tend to start biting of my nails.” |
|
Cognitive: ADAPTATION |
“Hey, not so bad and I’m still surviving this
class.” “…at times I wanted to throw the computer out
the door and into the trash can because I was so frustrated and tired of
ending up on the Internet at a dead end.” “I really like backgrounds, images, and icons because
they keep me interested in looking for more ideas on the Internet.” |
|
Sensorimotor: ACCOMPLISHMENT |
“…I had finished one file, my homepage. I was so
happy, relieved, and satisfied.” “I’m even helping my friends who want to know
how to e-mail and create files on the Internet.” “I’m so shocked that I came from knowing
nothing…wanting to drop this class, to getting so much more ythan I
ever imagined to achieve in this course.” |
My Reaction
Although Carol did not explicitly state the phases she went through in learning the internet, I read her report and decided that she went from feeling anxious and lost to feeling motivated and finally being relieved and satisfied that she accomplished her tasks.
However, I think she had a fairly grim outlook of the course. At length, Carol stated,
“If
you're like me and have no computer background but Microsoft Works or Word, I
recommend you to send as much time in the computer labs as possible. You'll
spend most of your time and energy in this class developing, creating, and
making file and reports on the Internet. You'll hardly see your room, family,
and friends because your life is now on the computer and not on Earth. The only
time you're on Earth is when you're off the computer. When you're in the
computer labs, you'll see many people come and go, only to wonder if you'll
ever get to leave. When the time comes for you to leave, you'll find that you
can't leave yet because you're in the middle of a thought, but the computer
monitors don't care because they want to go home. This is the type of life you'll
probably come to view in this class.”
I understand and I agree that the assignments for this class
are time-consuming. Afterall, it is a writing intensive course and for most, if
not all, students are novices in making web pages and publishing their work on
the internet. Therefore, we need to put in a lot of time and effort to learn
the basic skills that will form the foundation for all that we later learn how
to do. I did a bulk of my reports during the night or else, the wee hours of
morning. I still saw my family and was able to spend time with my boyfriend; I
just needed to manage my time more wisely.
I also differed from her way of venting out frustration on
her family. She “went home many times and
yelled at everyone because [she] was irritated,
frustrated, and tired.” When I did get frustrated, I grumbled
to myself and pursed my lips, but I never yelled at anyone.
Carol “found out that
[she didn’t] like creating a page because
there’s so much to do.”
I also noticed that she had many graphics and pictures on
her various websites. How can she dislike creating web pages when she put in so
much time uploading those pictures and making various links? I think I
understand now what she meant about not seeing her family. Nonetheless, I can see
all the effort she has put into her websites.
Unlike Carol, I found out it was a challenging but enjoyable
experience. I would like to take another Dr. James’ course next semester.
In fact, even though I may not be able to, I am looking into putting up my own
personal home page, whether it be through RoadRunner, MacAccounts, or UH.
Despite these differences in the way we handled our learning
experiences, I can relate to her offering help to her friends on how to use
e-mail and create files on the internet. Also, just like her, “I really like backgrounds, images, and icons because
they keep me interested in looking for more ideas on the internet.” After looking at other students’ web
pages, I wanted to incorporate images and other features in mine. I searched
the internet for images such as animated graphics, bullets, and horizontal
lines. Being able to embellish web pages is fun and the process of learning how
to obtain and insert them in documents is itself a learning experience.
Explanation of these Patterns
(Please refer to Table 11 of this
report to better understand my explanations described below.)
Carol has gone through the developmental patterns as charted
by Professor James. Just like Michelle who had a lack of knowledge of computers
and the internet at the beginning of the semester, she expressed frustration
and anxiety. She was clearly experiencing the affective domain of Phase 1,
having low self-confidence and trying to overcome technophobia.
However, after taking the necessary steps in obtaining her
UH e-mail account, she also diligently followed through with weekly
assignments. This shows that she persevered, having then progressed into Phase
2.
Although Carol admitted to having not liked creating web pages,
she has shown that she does care about future generations. On her home
page, she has included “Carol’s
Helping Page,” which is a guide of UNIX and HTML codes. Also, being a
true lifelong learner, she was passing on her knowledge to others, helping her
friends with e-mail and with creating files on the internet. These
contributions are examples of having reached Phase 3. Carol has thus identified
with and shown loyalty to this generational cyber-community.
Student #3: Jami
Kaneshiro, Developmental Patterns for Learning the Internet
Her Learning Experience
According to her report, Jami underwent three phases in
learning the internet: failure and frustration, resolution, and excitement. Like
another student in the CLIC lab, she did not ask for help from the monitors for
fear of being embarrassed of her lack of knowledge. She sought to learn how to
troubleshoot on her own. Through this method of problem solving, she began to
realize that successes and defeats were integral parts of the learning process.
After experiencing problems and finding solutions, she became excited at her
potential to continue developing internet literacy and improve her projects.
Later, she could compare herself to her classmates who helped those who were
having trouble. At the end, she reflected on the course as being “informative and educational, and fun…”
Table 4
Jami Kaneshiro’s
Experiences in Learning the Internet
|
Phase |
Her Quotes/Examples from her Experience |
|
Affective: ANXIETY |
“I thought that I would sound too stupid or ask dumb
questions…” “I felt overwhelmed and already confused.” |
|
Cognitive: ADAPTATION |
“…I just sat at the computer and seeked out solutions
on my own...Through my mistakes, I learned and found other ways of solving
things or new techniques to use.” “…phase where self-esteem is rising as the
confrontations with failure are easier to deal with..” “I still feel a little uneasy about my knowledge but I
know that I can face the problems I encounter head on and not get so
frustrated. I don’t look at things as failures anymore, they are all
learning experiences.” |
|
Sensorimotor: ACCOMPLISHMENT |
“…feel comfortable enough to offer advice…” “Being a part of this community makes things
easier…” “This is when we can use what we have learned to
experiment and broaden our horizon…Just like our home pages, as we
learn new things we can add more and build on the ‘minimal’ page
that we began with.” “I know that I am getting excited by seeing my reports
and my home page on the Internet.” |
My Reaction
Jami has listed three phases in learning the internet: 1)
Failure and Frustration, 2) Resolution, and 3) Excitement.
I agree with frustration being a part of the first phase in
learning the internet, but I disagree with the term failure because it implies
that an action had been taken but was unsuccessful. Any action would come under
the sensorimotor aspect of the threefold self, clearly not within the affective
domain. Therefore, it does not make sense to include the term
“failure” in the very first developmental phase of learning the
internet unless she clarified it being a fear of failure.
I can relate to her “Resolution” phase, which I
am equating to my so-called “Adaptation” phase. As Jami states,
“The build up of frustration and anxiety often leads to a phase of resolution. This phase finds the student learning of more ways to deal with the problems that (s)he is faced with. The process begins to get a little easier and things are starting to fall into place. This is the phase where self-esteem is rising as the confrontations with failure are easier to deal with. A more positive outlook on things becomes apparent and now the students begin to enjoy their work.”
I think everyone who wants to succeed in this class go
through some process of adaptation, trying to survive by learning about which
things work and thinking of solutions if they do not work. We are all evolving
in ways that better our knowledge of the internet. We also better ourselves at
the same time by increasing self-confidence, gaining new skills, and
collaborating with others to make the online community experience much more
worthwhile and beneficial.
I agree that the last phase we go through involves
excitement. Who would not be excited in seeing their work published on the
internet? At the end of the semester, when we have accomplished the goals of
the course, we will feel relieved and satisfied that we followed through till
the very end. We now have evidence of the time and effort we put into the
course. Past and future generations can see the pages we have made and compiled
over the semester. It is a wondrous contribution indeed.
I especially like the very last sentence of Jami’s
report—“It takes a great deal of self
determination and work to do well and to appreciate what you are benefitting
from by taking this class.” I share the same sense of
accomplishment.
Explanation of these Patterns
(Please refer to Table 11 of this
report to better understand my explanations described below.)
Like the previous students I have looked at, Jami has also
gone through the frustration. Her fear of failure results from her technophobia
and low self-confidence in the subject area at hand, aspects of the affective
domain of Phase 1.
Although she refused to ask for help, the process she went
through in finding solutions on her own helped her become an autonomous learner
early on. On her own, she gained the knowledge and skills to complete her
projects. When she gained these critical thinking skills, she had already
reached Phase 2, becoming a self-directed autonomous learner.
I visited her
home page, but although it seems to have met the (minimal) requirements, I
did not notice any particular special contribution that she has included on her
website. I would have liked to have seen more of her personality come out
through her website. Nonetheless, she did go through all the developmental
phases as outlined by Dr. James.
2. Self-Observation Data
Data for my self-observation was gathered through my
completion of the search forms provided by Professor James. The compilation of
these forms spanned 10 weeks, ending a week before the deadline for this
research report.
Please view my forms by visiting its directory:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s2003/sagucio/forms.html
Instructions
for filling out the G18 search form:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy18/g18forms.html
Data Collection
A G18 search form had to be filled out weekly to discuss a
research topic of our choice, as chosen from a list provided by Professor
James. During the weeks that led up to the deadline of this report, our
research could cover any number of the listed research topics The information
retrieved from these search tasks was also utilized for our Annotated
Bibiliography Report, which was due a few weeks before this research report,
and for our weekly forum discussions. The data gathered from these search
sessions is used in this report to discuss my experiences in searching for
information on the internet.
Forum instructions:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy18/g18forum.html
Bibliography
Report instructions:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy18/g18bibliography.html
During the first two search sessions, it was a bit
troublesome filling out search forms. I suppose it was because I was still
familiarizing myself with the required assignments for this class and did not
fully understand the importance of the forms in completing my annotated
bibliography and research reports. I have never documented my search process
for any class before and felt a bit anxious in doing so. I was not sure how
long my explanations had to be and if they were sufficient in answering the
questions correctly.
The whole questionnaire itself seemed a bit lengthy, but as
the semester drew on, it did not seem as bad. By the end of the semester, I did
not feel as anxious or troubled in filling out the forms. While working on my
Annotated Bibliography Report, I finally understood and appreciated the
information collected on the forms. I felt even more so for this research
report. The completed search forms constitute a bulky section and serve as
empirical data showing my progress and attitude towards searching on the
internet throughout the semester.
As my understanding for the importance of the forms grew, filling out the forms became an integral part of my search task. Answering some of the questions before the search session put me a little more at ease before starting the actual search. For example, when doing research on the topic of people remembering those who have helped and hurt them (“Kicked While Down”), I knew that I might run into problems finding relevant articles because the other students who have already researched the topic complained of its difficulty. By writing down my level of anxiety, I did not set myself up for disappointment by thinking that I would not run into the same trouble as the other students.
It also put my mood in check. If I felt grumpy or really agitated at something that happened during the day, I would put off my search task a few hours or until I felt more focused. I did not want to fill out the forms while in a bad mood because my state of mind would interfere with the task. If I was in a bad mood, I would not be very motivated to do as much searching as compared to when I am in a good mood and I might also get irritated faster.
Besides this aspect of indirectly masking and preventing my
bad moods from appearing on the forms, the actual time I spent searching may
have also been masked. On the search form, I indicated the time that I started filling
out the form, not the time I started searching. Immediately after filling out
the first section of questions, I then proceeded to start my search. At the end
of my search, I answered the last section of the search form and indicated the
time I completed the form, not the search. I assumed that answering the
questions was a part of the search task at hand and therefore considered the
time spent on completing the form to be inclusive in the search time.
Besides the two aforementioned factors, the forms themselves
seem to accurately portray what I did and what happened during my search
sessions. Because each question called for an explanation, all my search forms
included explanations of each of my (numerical) responses. Having typed in
explanations for each question made it easier for me to relate to and
understand the information I provided weeks or just days ago. Recording these
bits of information in the search forms was an organized method of keeping
empirical data and made the process of constructing tables for my research
report more convenient.
While revisiting my search forms, I realized that I should
have provided longer explanations for many of the questions. However, although
that was the case, my seemingly short answers more or less answered the
questions at hand. The length and perhaps, quality, of my answers were
dependent on my mood during the search session and on the amount of effort,
frustration, and motivation I experienced while trying to accomplish the search
task.
By recording the problems I encountered while using a
particular search engine, I am more able to make suggestions as to what kind of
improvements search engine administrators should implement to make the search
engine easier to use or become more efficient. For example, unlike the search
engine www.vivisimo.com, www.google.com does not cluster its results
in categories. The long list of results that appears in the window is tedious
to go through. More often than not, there are also a lot of irrelevant articles
dispersed among the other more useful articles. This makes finding suitable
articles take longer and require more effort.
Although listing the results in categories helps, it would be
much more convenient if the categories were listed in alphabetical order. I do
not see the results being listed by categories containing the most articles or
by sites most frequently visited in Vivisimo.
However, even if the search engine Vivisimo
turns up many categories, at least the categories are still more concise and
helpful than one long list of results that are not in any particular order or
grouping as in Google. In Vivisimo, you can skip over the categories
you think are irrelevant and click on those that seem more promising.
Vivisimo also lists the
option of opening the article in a new window. It has that option beside the
title of the article. Otherwise, when clicking on the link to the article, it
will open in the frame of the current window. This makes reading the article
more efficient because after having done so, its window can be closed and the
window with the search results is left.
However, although I very much support Vivisimo, I am dismayed at the fact that
children can access inappropriate sites effortlessly. While revisiting the
topic “Woman and man’s role,” I typed in the search phrase
“men should not listen to women” and clicked on the first site I
thought would be useful. Unfortunately, its seemingly innocent abstract led to
new windows advertising pornography to pop up on my screen. Four or five
windows of the sort popped up. I found this lack of “parental
control” a drawback, but I imagine that it would be difficult to implement
such controls in a search engine.
This kind of feedback is useful information for search
engine administrators. What reasons would they give not to listen to people who
use their search engines? The people who use search engines often are the better
evaluators of such software programs. They know firsthand what can be improved
and made more user-friendly. Hence, if search engine administrators make it
more efficient, then people would not have to complain about the program and/or
look for other search engines to use.
Summary of Data
I have pulled out appropriate questions and responses from
my completed search forms to put in the following tables. These four tables,
which are all labeled with the search session numbers either in the first row or
first column, include links to the original search forms. The first three
tables correspond to the three sections of the search form: questions to be
filled out before, during, and after the search session. The numerical
responses listed were assigned ratings according to a scale of 1 to 10, in
which the scales were appropriately labeled for each question. The fourth table
in this section compares the actual time I spent searching for each session and
the length of time I expected the search to take.
Table 5
Scaled responses and calculated
averages
to questions filled out before
search session
|
|
Search Session |
|
|||||||||
Question |
Average |
||||||||||
|
3.
Mood (1=negative; 10=positive) |
7 |
5 |
8 |
7 |
9 |
8 |
7 |
9 |
8 |
8 |
7.6 |
|
6. Duration of search compared to
others (1=much less; 10=more than) |
8 |
8 |
5 |
8 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
8 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
|
7. Importance of task (1=not important; 10=extremely important) |
10 |
10 |
6 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
8 |
10 |
9.4 |
|
8. Perceived level of upset if
found nothing (1=not upset; 10=extremely upset) |
2 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
3.1 |
|
9. Certainty of succeeding in
task (1=doubtful; 10=almost certain) |
10 |
7 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
5 |
10 |
10 |
9.2 |
|
10. Likeliness of becoming good at
task (1=pretty doubtful; 10=almost
certain) |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
|
11. Perceived luck in searching (1=I have bad luck; 10=I always
find something useful) |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
10 |
9 |
9.1 |
|
12. Level of motivation to succeed (1=slightly motivated; 10=very highly motivated) |
10 |
9 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
6 |
10 |
9.4 |
|
13. Computers/search engines make
searching easier (1=strongly disagree; 10=very much
agree) |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
9.8 |
|
14. Likeliness of finding
something specific
(1=not likely; 10=very
likely) |
8 |
6 |
8 |
7 |
6 |
8 |
6 |
6 |
10 |
7 |
7.2 |
|
15. Perceived effort task will
require (1=not much; 10=a tremendous
amount) |
7 |
7 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
8 |
3 |
6 |
5.8 |
My answer for question #10 (the likeliness of me becoming
good at this type of search task) was 10 for each of the search sessions. I
also had fairly high and consistent ratings for perceived luck in searching
(question #11) and how easy it is to search using computers/search engines
(question #13); I believed I always found something useful and that
computers/search engines make searching very easy.
For question #11 (perceived luck in searching), I rated nine
sessions a value of 9. For session #9, I rated it a 10, meaning that I always
found something useful. This particularly high score was probably due to the
success of my search session the previous week. Although “Kicked While
Down” was a difficult research topic, I was still able to find relevant
articles. Therefore, because the search for that difficult topic was
successful, I had the feeling that I could be successful in all other searches.
However, for the last search session, I decided to use a rating of 9 because I
was revisiting a topic I have already researched and was not 100% certain that
I would find what I sought out to look for.
My perceived level of upset (question #8) if I found nothing
was not consistent at all. It ranged from 1 (sessions #5 and #9) to 7 (session
#7), where 1 meant not upset and 10 meant extremely upset. I can see why my
level of upset differed at times, though. When I ran into trouble while
researching a certain topic, as in session #8, I became more upset than usual.
For question #6, which is regarding the duration of the
search task at hand in comparison to others, my first data entry is not valid
because I was uncertain about what other search task to compare it to. The
following search sessions were more accurately rated because I had the first
search session to compare them with.
For question #7, the lowest rating I had for the importance
of the task at hand was 6. The other ratings included eight 10’s and one
8. The low rating of 6 was because I did the search on Monday, four days before
the deadline for forum discussions. Because it was still early in the week, I
did not find the task to have been extremely important to complete that day.
Session #8 was one of the longest search sessions I had
during the semester. Because the students who have already researched the topic
had complained of the difficulty in finding relevant articles, I was uncertain
in succeeding in the task. I therefore rated my certainty of succeeding in the
task at hand (question #9) a 5.
I also wanted to point out another low rating. For session
#9 (question #12), I was not very motivated to succeed in the search task. I
rated my level of motivation a 6 on the scale of 1 to 10, whereas I was very
motivated during the other nine search sessions, having ratings of 9’s
and 10’s. On my search form, I stated, “I don’t need a lot of
motivation today because I know that I will succeed the first time I try
[because] everyone else who already researched this topic found something so I
am quite certain that I will too.” Hence, for the likeliness of finding
specific, I answered (question #14) with a 10 (very likely). It followed that
my perceived effort the task would require was a 3 (question #15)—not
very much effort.
Table 6
My level of support for databases/search engines used
|
Search Session |
Database/Search Engine #1 |
Database/Search Engine #2 |
Level of support for
database/search engine |
|
|
8 |
||
|
8 (for both) |
|||
|
|
8 |
||
|
|
8 |
||
|
10 (for Google;
wasn’t successful with skworm) |
|||
|
|
9 |
||
|
4 (for both) |
|||
|
|
9 |
||
|
|
10 |
||
|
|
8 |
Since the beginning of the semester, I was using Google during all my search sessions.
Finally, after reading a few G17 research reports, I found out that they used Vivisimo during their counseling sessions.
Because I read that Vivisimo clusters its
results into categories and that it was the particular search engine used in
the counseling sessions, I figured that it would be a good idea to check it
out. I finally tried it during my seventh search session and was amazed at how
organized its results were.
During my second search session, I rated Google and Yahoo search engines the same
because when I used the same search phrases in Yahoo
as I did in Google, the results were
fairly identical and showed up in nearly the same order.
During my fifth search session, I decided to try out Skworm. Unfortunately, I was not familiar in
how to use it. Because I gave up quickly on it, I decided not to rate it.
Afterall, it would be an unfair rating because I did not put the effort to
discover and evaluate its features.
The lowest level of support I had for the search
engines/databases I used was during my seventh search session. This was
probably because the research topic posed some difficulty in finding relevant
articles. I suppose the frustration I felt and the obstacles I encountered led
me to rate the search engines (Google and Webcrawler) poorly. However, as shown in
Table 7 below, I attributed the results of that particular search task to my
search techniques. I know that typing certain keywords will lead to a list of
sites/articles containing those words, so it makes a lot of sense that my
search phrases probably did not lead me to the results I was looking for.
The first time I used Vivisimo
(session #7), I was very impressed with it. I rated it a 9 because if I gave it
a perfect 10, then that would have meant that I would have had already used
many other search engines and have rated Vivisimo
as the best or one of the best. However, I did end up giving it a 10 the
following week because I accomplished my search task very quickly. I suppose
the excitement and relief in completing my search in so little time compelled
me to rate it higher. Finally, during the tenth session, I decided to rate it
lower because I did not like how I came across a seemingly innocent abstract
that led to windows advertising pornography to pop up on my screen. I thought
about the implications it would have on children. I also realized that the
search engine could be further improved if it listed its categories in
alphabetical order.
The average level of support for Google, as is, is about
7.9, where 10 would mean that it is an excellent search engine. Hence, if I
were to go back to previous search sessions and re-rate Google, it would definitely have a lower
score than Vivisimo. I suppose that the high
ratings I gave it early in the semester should be discounted, especially since
I later found another search engine that has a great feature –
clustering.
However, I am not staying with Vivisimo
for succeeding searches. I will be likely to venture out looking for other
search engines/databases to use for future search tasks. I would like to think
that the search engines/databases I have used so far during this ten-week
self-observation period will be just a small sample of all the search
engines/databases I will later become familiarized with in the future.
Table 7
Responses and calculated
averages/modes*
to questions answered after
search session
|
|
Search Session |
|
|||||||||
Question |
Average/ Mode* |
||||||||||
|
16. Level of irritation (1=no
irritation; 10=extremely irritated) |
4 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
6 |
1 |
4 |
3.7 |
|
17. Level of anxiety (1=not anxious; 10=extremely anxious) |
8 |
8 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
6 |
1 |
4 |
4.9 |
|
18. Level of frustration (1=not frustrated; 10=extremely frustrated) |
2 |
4 |
7 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
5 |
1 |
5 |
3.8 |
|
19. Level of rage (1=no rage; 10=a lot of rage) |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1.1 |
|
20. Required effort compared to
other search tasks
(1=much less than
others; 10=much more than others) |
3 |
3 |
6 |
8 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
8 |
1 |
6 |
4.7 |
|
21. Relevance of findings (1=not relevant; 10=very relevant) |
10 |
8 |
10 |
10 |
7 |
8 |
7 |
8 |
10 |
8 |
8.6 |
|
23. Ease of using search engine (1=very easy; 10=very difficult) |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1.5 |
|
24. Length of time required
compared to other search tasks (1=much
less than others; 10=much more than others) |
1 |
3 |
4 |
8 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
6 |
3.8 |
|
*25. Most important factor in
obtaining results
(a=luck; b=my search
techniques; c=quality of databases/search engines used) |
B |
B |
C |
C |
B |
C |
B |
C |
C |
B |
B*, C* |
|
*26. Change of goals from beginning
to end of search?
(no; yes) |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No* |
|
27. Overall perceived success of
search (1=not successful; 10=totally
successful) |
9 |
9 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
7 |
8 |
10 |
8 |
8.8 |
My calculated averages for levels of irritation (question #16) and frustration (question #18) are nearly identical; 3.7 and 3.8, respectively, on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 equates to not much and 10 equates to a lot. This might be due to the fact that I equated irritation with frustration. I thought the two terms were interchangeable or somehow causally related. Hence, any irritation I felt could have been due to frustration or vice versa. I would like to point out, though, that the range for my level of frustration ranged from 1 (sessions #6 and #9) to 7 (session #3). I think that its value of 6 is a fairly large range, especially since the scale is only up to 10. My level of irritation had a range of 5; it ranged from 1 (sessions #6 and #9) to 6 (sessions #7 and #8).
The case of large ranges is even more so for my level of
anxiety, which ranged from 1 (session #9) to 8 (sessions #1 and #2). The high
ratings for sessions #1 and #2 were probably because I was very anxious at the
beginning of the semester. I was beginning to familiarize myself with the
requirements for this class and because I have not documented search tasks for
other classes before, I was uncertain in answering the questions and assigning
appropriate ratings to particular questions. After the second week, though, my
level of anxiety decreased because I read other students’ forum
discussions and we all seemed to be doing assignments in the same way.
My response to question #24 (the duration of current search
task compared to others) had the same range as my level of anxiety, which was
7. During my first search session, I rated the length of time the search took a
1 because I was unsure with which search tasks to compare it with –
library search tasks or internet search tasks? From then on, I just assumed that
the question was referring to internet search tasks and I used session #1 as a
reference point for comparison with succeeding search sessions.
The average for my level of rage was 1.1. This is a very low
rating and was probably due to the fact that I could not relate with the term
used. To me, rage entails violent behavior. No matter how frustrated I can get,
I would not pound the keyboard or slap the monitor as I have seen a few people
do.
I did not have one mode for question #25 – the most
important factor in obtaining my results. For my ten search sessions, I listed
my search techniques and quality of the databases/search engines I used five
times each. This shows that I probably weighed them equally. Typing in useless
search phrases can lead to a poor list of results, but having a search engine
produce an incredibly long, unorganized list of results can also lead to
unsuccessful outcomes. In essence, my search techniques and the search
engines/databases I use go hand in hand.
I also noticed that my averages for question #21 (the
relevance of my findings) and for question #27 (overall perceived success of
search) were also nearly identical; 8.6 and 8.8, respectively. This would make
sense because the relevance of my findings will determine how successful I rate
the search session to be. Of course, if I found irrelevant information, I
cannot state that my search was successful.
When comparing the averages for the effort required in the
search task (question #20) and the length of time it took (question #24), they
were only about 1 point apart. I thought this made sense because the amount of
time I spent on the computer was directly related to the amount of effort
expended during the search task.
For nine out of the ten sessions, my initial goal for the
session did not change. When I revisited the topic “Woman and man’s
role,” I was looking for another side of the issue that I did not clearly
bring up in my Annotated Bibliography Report. I set out looking for
articles/examples of why men should not listen to women, but was unsuccessful.
Therefore, I decided to change my initial goal to searching for ways to improve
communication between the two sexes instead. This change in plan turned out to
be more promising in returning results.
Table 8
Calculated (time) Difference
between Actual and Expected Search Times
|
Session |
Time Started |
Time Ended |
Total Time Spent Searching |
Expected Time |
Difference between Actual and
Expected Times |
|
6:55 p.m. |
7:32 p.m. |
37 minutes |
1 hour |
-23 minutes |
|
|
9:46 a.m. |
10:27 a.m. |
41 minutes |
1 hour |
-19 minutes |
|
|
3:17 p.m. |
3:59 p.m. |
42 minutes |
45 minutes |
-3 minutes |
|
|
3:00 p.m. |
4:55 p.m. |
1 hr., 55 min. |
1 hour |
+55 minutes |
|
|
7:00 p.m. |
7:54 p.m. |
54 minutes |
1 hour |
-6 minutes |
|
|
7:39 p.m. |
8:25 p.m. |
46 minutes |
45 minutes |
+1 minute |
|
|
9:25 p.m. |
9:41 p.m. |
16 minutes |
45 minutes |
-29 minutes |
|
|
12:58 a.m. |
2:28 a.m. |
1 hr., 30 min. |
1 hr., 30 min. |
0 minutes |
|
|
12:05 p.m. |
12:26 p.m. |
21 minutes |
30 minutes |
-7 minutes |
|
|
11:02 a.m. |
12:40 p.m. |
1 hr., 38 min. |
1 hour |
+38 minutes |
|
|
Average |
56 minutes |
55.5 minutes |
+30 seconds |
||
Table 4, as shown above, lists the times I started my search
sessions (question #2 on search form) and the times at which they ended
(question #28 on search form). I have calculated the actual time spent
searching so that I could compare it to the amount of time I expected (question
#5 on search form) the search to last. The last column of the table shows the
difference between the actual and expected times. For six of the search
sessions (sessions #1, #2, #3, #5, #7, and #9), I accomplished the search task
faster than I expected. I took longer than expected for three of them (sessions
#4, #6, and #10). Search session #8 was the only incident when the actual time
I spent searching matched that of what I expected in the beginning.
When I took the average of these time differences, it shows
that my actual search session took 30 seconds longer than I expected. Another
way to look at it is to compare the difference between the average time spent
searching and expected time; 56 minutes – 55.5 minutes = 0.5 minute or 30
seconds. However, this particular average is not very important. The actual
duration of my search sessions, which ranged from 16 minutes to 1 hour and 55
minutes, give an idea of how much more difficult some topics were to research
when compared to others. Three of the longest search tasks, which entailed a
lot of effort, were the search topics “Self-efficacy, optimism, and
cynicism, Kicked while down, and Woman and man’s role.”
The G18 search form was helpful in organizing my data, but I
do have a few suggestions on how to improve it:
In question #6 “If you compare
this task to other search tasks you’ve done, how long should it take in
your opinion?,“ the word “internet” should probably be
inserted before the words “search tasks.” That way, students are
more clearly told to compare their search task to other internet search tasks
rather than library search tasks. Unless, students were not intended to just
compare their task at hand to other internet search tasks, but to search tasks
in general.
Two of the questions to be answered at
the end of the session seemed repetitive: questions #16 and #18. I considered
irritation and frustration to be very similar, not two completely different
concepts. To me, any irritation I felt would have been a result of frustration
or perhaps it was the other way around.
Question #17, located in part 3 of the
search form, asks about the level of anxiety felt in today’s search task.
Because anxiety is apprehension or worry about a certain event, this question
would be better placed in part 1—at the beginning of the form. It would
make more sense to ask about anxiety in the beginning than at the end of the
session.
I also thought that the word
“rage,” as used in question #19, was a bit extreme. According to dictionary.com, anger is “a
strong feeling of displeasure or hostility” and rage is “a violent,
explosive anger.” In this respect, anger seems to be at a lesser degree
than rage. Perhaps, anger would be a better substitute.
In question #23, which is regarding the
ease of using search engines, I think the labels for the scale should be
reversed. Instead of 1 being very easy and 10 being very difficult, it should
be 1=very difficult and 10=very easy. This is because the scales for other
questions begin with negative connotations (not likely, not relevant, not
successful, etc.) and end more positively (very likely, very relevant, totally
successful, etc.). This type of scale is applicable in everyday
situations/conversations. When a male says to rate a female’s looks, it
is universally accepted that a rating of 1 is poor and that a 10 means she is
very attractive.
I seem to be a fairly optimistic person when it comes to
searching on the internet. I think that I will always find relevant
information, that computers/search engines definitely make searching easier,
and that I am getting better and better at this kind of task. I also do not
experience very much irritation, frustration, and rage. However, although I do
experience some anxiety, I still know how to focus on the task at hand. I often
like to think that I will be successful in all my search tasks, no matter what
the research topic is.
In regards to my information behavior in general, I like to
think that I have gone through Dr. James’ nine zones of instructional
objectives. I definitely had to overcome technophobia and low self-confidence
in the beginning. However, after familiarizing myself with the class requirements
and basic internet skills, I sustained enough perseverance to better my
understanding of creating web pages. I looked at previous generations and took
some of their ideas to include in my website. I went on to look for other ideas
to enhance what I had so far and in actuality, I still am looking for
innovations.
When I was beginning to be not as satisfied with the search
engine I was using, I read other students’ forum discussions to find out
which ones they were using. I also discovered through the G17 research reports
of the counseling session they had using Vivisimo.
I am still venturing, looking for various search engines and databases to use.
I know that there is an infinite amount of resources on the internet. I am not
planning to visit all of them, but I am definitely looking forward to
broadening my horizon with other search engines/databases.
Data Comparison with a G17 student
I decided to compare my data with Ms. Raemie
Monces, a G17 Psychology 459 student. I have created two tables: Table 5
compares my calculated averages to questions in Part 1 of the search form with
her calculated averages to the same questions; Table 6 does the same comparison
with the questions in Part 3 of the search form.
Her
Research Report can be found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459f2002/raemie/research.htm
To
view her forms, visit her directory at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459f2002/ramie/forms.htm
Table 9
Comparison of my averages with
Raemie’s averages
for questions answered before
the search session
|
Question |
My Data |
Raemie’s Data |
|
6. Length of search compared to
others (1=much less; 10=more than) |
6 |
5 |
|
7. Importance of task (1=not important; 10=extremely important) |
9.4 |
5 |
|
8. Perceived level of upset if
found nothing (1=not upset; 10=extremely upset) |
3.1 |
4 |
|
9. Certainty of succeeding in
task (1=doubtful; 10=almost certain) |
9.2 |
7 |
|
10. Likeliness of becoming good at
task (1=pretty doubtful; 10=almost
certain) |
10 |
10 |
|
11. Perceived luck in searching (1=I have bad luck; 10=I always
find something useful) |
9 |
6 |
|
12. Level of motivation to succeed (1=slightly motivated; 10=very highly motivated) |
9.4 |
6 |
|
13. Computers/search engines make
searching easier (1=strongly disagree; 10=very much
agree) |
9.8 |
9 |
|
14. Likeliness of finding
something specific
(1=not likely; 10=very
likely) |
7.2 |
8 |
|
15. Perceived effort task will
require (1=not much; 10=a tremendous
amount) |
5.8 |
6 |
On average, Raemie did not seem to rate the importance of
the search tasks very highly. Her rating of 5 is 4.4 points lower than my
rating. This pattern is also evident in our perceived levels of motivation. Her
rating of 6 is 3.4 points less than my rating of 9.4. I was more likely to
state that I always found something useful rather than attributing the success
or failure of my search task to luck. However, because Raemie stated “I do not believe in luck…” in
her research report, I assumed that she would have a rating close to mine. For
this question (question #11), I had an average rating of 9 (“I always
find something useful”) while she averaged a 6.
Despite these differences, we both agreed that we were
likely to become good at this type of internet search task. As shown in the
table above, we gave ourselves a 10. Our average rating of 10 implies that we
rated ourselves a 10 during each search session. We had similar responses to
questions #13 and #14. We both very much agreed that computers/search engines
make searching easier and that it was very likely to find something specific.
We also seemed to have had the same perceptions in the amount of time (question
#6) and effort (question #15) required to accomplish the search tasks; 6 and 5,
respectively for required amount of time and 5.8 and 6, respectively for
perceived effort.
Table 10
Comparison of my averages/modes*
with Raemie’s averages/modes*
for questions answered after
the search session
Question |
My Data |
Raemie’s Data |
|
16. Level of irritation (1=no irritation; 10=extremely irritated) |
3.7 |
4 |
|
17. Level of anxiety (1=not anxious; 10=extremely
anxious) |
4.9 |
4 |
|
18. Level of frustration (1=not frustrated; 10=extremely frustrated) |
3.8 |
4 |
|
19. Level of rage (1=no rage; 10=a lot of rage) |
1.1 |
3 |
|
20. Required effort compared to
other search tasks
(1=much less than
others; 10=much more than others) |
4.7 |
4 |
|
21. Relevance of findings (1=not relevant; 10=very relevant) |
8.6 |
5 |
|
23. Ease of using search engine (1=very easy; 10=very difficult) |
1.5 |
5 |
|
24. Length of time required
compared to other search tasks (1=much
less than others; 10=much more than others) |
3.8 |
5 |
|
*25. Most important factor in
obtaining results
(a=luck; b=my search
techniques; c=quality of databases/search engines used) |
B*, C* |
B |
|
*26. Change of goals from beginning
to end of search?
(no; yes) |
No* |
Yes* |
Raemie and I scored similarly for level of irritation, anxiety, and frustration (questions #16, #17, and #18). However, she did not find using search engines as easy as I did. My average rating of 1.5 is 3.5 points less than her rating of 5. Because she did not find it easy using search engines, I assume that is the reason why she attributed her search techniques to be the most important factor in obtaining results during her search sessions. The relevance of her findings is rated in the middle of the scale. In general, this could mean that her findings were relevant half the time and not very relevant at other times. At each search session, I rated my findings an average value of 8.6, quite relevant. I always found at least one article that was relevant to the topic I was researching.
I would have liked to compare our data for question #26, but when I looked at all of Raemie’s forms so that I could calculate her mode, I found that she answered the question with the same answer for all search sessions – “I was bored and looked around the Internet to see if I could find information for another class. It did not take long because I needed to do work for a class tomorrow.” Because this was the case, I assumed that she changed her goal by the end of all her search sessions. I only changed my goals during the last search session and so my mode was no—I did not change my goals.
However, is it because of the time spent searching for information for another class that she spent an average of 1 hour and 42 minutes searching on the internet? Or did she only record the actual time spent searching for this class (Psychology 459)? I spent an average of 56 minutes and was able to find sufficient, relevant information in nearly all my search sessions. Between our averages for the time spent searching, this was a difference of 46 minutes.
Like Raemie, I used Google most of the time. She quotes, “I also noticed that I became unsupportive of the search engine I was using as the weeks or sessions went on. I believe this is due to the fact that I was not satisfied with the results that google was producing. I was disappointed that children would be able to access pornography through typing in ‘Funny Jokes’ or ‘Funny Jokes Family’. This lost my faith in the search engine and its ability to produce valid information.” I was disappointed in the same way. Even with a better-featured search engine as Vivisimo, children can still easily access inappropriate sites.
3. The Psychology of Information Literacy
Article Summary
Instead of encouraging more students to instill passive
methods of learning as brought on by years of listening to lectures, which more
often than not leads to a lot of paraphrasing and referencing in their reports,
Dr. James sought to create a learning environment in which his students could
take on a more active role in their education. By establishing a course that
relied on working in an online environment, he helped students become
information-literate, autonomous learners.
His article, Creating
An Online Learning Environment That Fosters Information Literacy, Autonomous
Learning and Leadership: The Hawaii Online Generational Community-Classroom, analyzes the curriculum and its
implications for development in other educational and social settings.
Students, through their reports, show that they go through three phases during
the semester: 1) gaining information literacy, 2) learning through
self-guidance, and 3) being innovative. These three phases include affective
(feeling), cognitive (thinking), and sensorimotor (acting out) domains, as
outlined by the
threefold self.
There is a table found in his Taxonomy
of Instructional Objectives for the Online Generational Curriculum that is titled
“Internalization of Instructional Objectives through Community-Classroom
Approach of the Online Generational Curriculum.” Instead of directly
copying the table from Dr. James’ article, I have decided to create a
diagram that contains the exact information, but better represents the
information visually.
Diagram 1
The 3 Phases of Internalization
of Instructional Objectives
The diagram above depicts these phases as part of a target, where the most internal phase (Phase 3) is the bull’s eye, Phase 2 is the intermediate phase, and Phase 1 is the most external phase. As students taking part in Dr. James’ Online Generational Curriculum, our goal is to aim and hit the bull’s eye. In other words, to internalize the instructional objectives, not just know them. These three phases are also analogous with the continuum of novice, intermediate, and advanced. Like novices at throwing darts, we need to put in time and effort to be able to aim and hit the bull’s eye.
Within these three phases, there are three domains that
coincide with those of the threefold self: affective (feeling), cognitive
(thinking), and sensorimotor (acting out). With Dr. James’ permission, I
have recreated below his “Chart of the Nine Zones of Instructional
Objectives for Online Generational Curriculum”, which is the first table
found in his Taxonomy
of Instructional Objectives for the Online Generational Curriculum. The title of the table and its contents
are solely by Dr. James.
Chart of the Nine Zones of
Instructional Objectives
for Online Generational
Curriculum
Note: Read Table from bottom
up.
|
phases |
AFFECTIVE |
COGNITIVE |
SENSORIMOTOR |
|
Phase 3 Acquiring Democratic Leadership
Skills (through generational loyalty) |
A3 Acquiring balance between
inventiveness & service orientation |
C3 Showing creativity &
integration within a disciplinary context |
S3 Achieving user-centered excellence |
|
Phase 2 Acting As Self-Directed
Autonomous Learners (through generational modeling) |
A2 Exercising sustained effort &
acquiring project orientation |
C2 Gaining critical thinking skills
and professional assessment criteria |
S2 Achieving self-paced monitoring
& acting as a lifelong learner |
|
Phase 1 Gaining Information Literacy
(through generational identification) |
A1 Overcoming technophobia & low
self-confidence |
C1 Acquiring disciplinary content
& culture |
S1 Behaving as an active learner
& transmitter of knowledge & culture |
In Phase 1, students must go through all three domains
before being able to move into Phase 2. This is the first phase they
encounter—trying to become information literate. In the affective domain,
students compare themselves to past generations and learn that previous
students have had their share of struggles but were able to overcome them and
successfully fulfill the goals of the course. With that in mind, they are
reassured that they have the potential to overcome their fear of the internet
and contribute as much or even more than previous generations. After overcoming
their “technophobia,” they are able to progress into the cognitive
domain. This is the stage where they look back at the work of previous
generations. Finally, in the sensorimotor domain, they “act out”
their knowledge by contributing their work within the current generation.
In Phase 2, they start to understand what is required of
them and develop some extent of appreciation of the amount of effort and time
they need to dedicate to the work ahead of them. Only when they have maintained
this persistence can they learn the basic skills to accomplish their tasks.
They learn to troubleshoot, learning through trial and error of things that do
work and do not work for their projects. The knowledge they have gained thus
far plays a role in their understanding and correct interpretation of given
instructions and in the completion of their tasks.
The final phase, Phase 3, students go beyond the minimum
requirements. They implement innovations such as color backgrounds and graphics
into their sites. This sense of excitement and motivation for them to create
websites according to their creativity produces informative, complex,
integrated sites.
Although not listed in the instructions to do so, I have
included a summary of the second half of Dr. James’ article. To achieve
and take advantage of the potential of Dr. James’ “Generational
Curriculum, “ he has identified five major educational principles:
Principle
#1: Hypertext as an instructional tool
Using
hypertext to integrate students’ individual contributions to past
generations and to other instructional resources allows them to read,
appreciate, and model other students’ work. In essence, the links
provided on such pages “link” current students to each other and to
past generations.
Principle
#2: Building a generational cyber-community
Assigning projects that entail independent learning and
success also fosters camaraderie among the students. This approach includes
three properties: intentionality through assignments, generation-directed
reports, and organicity.
Principle
#3: Acquisition of learning skills
In accordance to the three developmental phases that
students go through in this type of online environment, students develop these
three skills: information literacy, scholarly skills, and innovativeness.
Principle
#4: Students – the cyber-community
Allowing discussion in class opens up communication pathways
between students to discuss problems and to find and share solutions on their
own. As part of a cyber-community, they learn to work together.
Principle
#5: “Ethnographic instructions”
Going through each step in the instructions with the students ensures more promising outcomes.
Relevance
My Research Report is a direct reflection of the
developmental phases I went through during the semester. The search forms that
I have compiled to obtain data for this research report are accurate records of
my affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor behaviors.
After reviewing student reports and home pages of previous
generations, I was amazed at how complex some of the websites were, especially
in the earlier years. I was especially amazed at how innovative some students
were in using frames, incorporating subtle colors, fonts, and features to
enhance their reports, and going beyond the minimal requirements to achieve
“excellence.” Looking at previous and current student reports
motivated me to enhance my reports as well. For instance, many of the students
used color backgrounds and images in their reports. I searched on the internet
for horizontal lines, bullets, and animated images. It was a fun searching
experience.
When I saw my website being pieced together a little at a
time, I was getting very excited at my potential. However, it took me a few
weeks to fully grasp the whole process of making a website. I did a lot of
trial and error kind of work, visiting the various options on the menus and
trying things out. I also visited the Help Guide in Microsoft Word and in
Dreamweaver over the internet to obtain answers for my inquiries. All the
searching and practicing turned out successful. However, I have not learned how
to make drop boxes and frames yet, but I do believe I will someday.
In this sense, I began “modeling” student
reports early on. I also knew that I would have an important part in
contributing to this generational project. This encouraged me to start on my
reports early in the semester, knowing that I had many examples to look back on
and use as references. I was also aiming to provide insightful reports for
following generations to look at and possibly model after.
At the beginning of the semester, I was very anxious.
Although I have never taken a course such as this before and even though I did
not possess much internet/computer background, I was excited to take up the
challenge. Some examples from my search sessions clearly indicated anxiety:
“I feel a bit anxious posting a
research message. I don’t know how others will react to it; if people
will shoot down my idea or agree with it.” session #1
“I was a bit anxious because it
was taking longer than I thought.” session #4
I’m in a pretty good mood today,
although I’m feeling a bit anxious. I’m anxious about doing my
Annotated Bibliography Report.” session #6
I am a bit doubtful because the students
who researched this topic have all complained of the difficulty of finding
appropriate sites.” session #8
I felt some frustration at times, also.
“I was a bit frustrated not
because I encountered any problems, but because I didn’t get specific
information. I wanted to find more evidence, but maybe I’ll revisit this
topic and try other search phrases.” session #2
“Today’s search did not go
as well as others. I suppose I wanted a more condensed list of results, but
then had to sift through a lot of sites I did not want.” session #7
“I was a bit irritated because my
first search phrase “men should not listen to women” produced some
sites leading to porn.” session #10
“I was frustrated because I
couldn’t think of other search phrases that would yield other
results.” session #10
After a few weeks of posting forum discussions online and
hearing other students talk about the problems they were encountering, I felt
less anxious. I felt that this anxiety, lack of knowledge, and process of
learning formed a common bond between us all. I learned to overcome my
technophobia and increase my self-confidence in completing these computer and
internet tasks.
“…I think I’m getting
the hang of it. I haven’t been an avid fan of doing research on the web,
but I think all this practice will help me in being more internet
literate.” session #2
“We have already reached
mid-semester and I think that I have improved since the first search task. Now
I know how to think of more search terms and not use too many cliché
kind of words.” session #7
Because of the time that I have been spending on the
internet, whether it be searching or publishing work online, I have learned to
appreciate its convenience, technological features, and wealth of information.
“It’s much more convenient
than going to the library, searching for materials in their catalogue and
finding them. With an internet search engine, you can just click the link to
get your information.” session #3
“I have been working on my
homepage and am quite pleased with the results. I am especially proud of myself
for learning how to work things in Dreamweaver, without asking [anyone] for
help.” session #5
I think I have already gone through all nine zones of
instructional objectives. To point this out more efficiently and visually, I
have copied the pertinent table and have included concrete examples from my
experience. However, instead of listing Phase 3 as the first row under the
headings, as in Dr. James’ article, I have switched it with Phase 1 in
order to better illustrate my progress from Phase 1 to Phase 3. It is also
easier to read it that way and will help you to make better sense of it all.
Table 12
My Progress Through All
Nine Zones of Dr. James’
Instructional Objectives
|
The 3 Developmental Phases |
Affective, Cognitive, and
Sensorimotor Domains |
|
Phase 1 Gaining Information Literacy (through generational identification) |
A1: Overcoming
technophobia & low self-confidence • felt frustrated and anxious (as illustrated by
quotes above) • realized that students were having problems also |
|
C1: Acquiring
disciplinary content & culture • looked back at previous generations to gain ideas • used hyperlinks within my web pages to refer to original sources |
|
|
S1: Behaving as an
active learner & transmitter of knowledge & culture • included a section on advice for future generations at the end of this research report • included a web page of interesting links that included tutorials on how to use Dreamweaver, sites where I took images from, and other useful sources |
|
|
Phase 2 Acting As Self-Directed Autonomous Learners (through generational modeling) |
A2: Exercising sustained
effort & acquiring project orientation • printed out all instructions and related forms at
the very beginning of the semester to realize the amount of effort the
assignments required • re-read all reports and looked over all other web
pages to look for spelling and grammar mistakes, to think of ways to present
information more clearly; had my boyfriend go through them at least once also • kept searching during the search sessions until I
found at least one relevant article; revisited the research topics later in
the semester to gain more insight and information on both sides of the issue • read forum postings to find out what other search engines/databases other students were using; tried some of them later in the semester during my search sessions |
|
C2: Gaining critical
thinking skills and professional assessment criteria • looked at other student reports and web pages to
check if I was doing things right • when trying to make my home page, I drafted out a
layout and practiced making it using tutorials that I printed out from the
internet • when learning to use anchors in my reports, I had to consult the Help Guide in Microsoft Word |
|
|
S2: Achieving self-paced
monitoring & acting as a lifelong learner • after printing out the instructions, I read them at
least three times before starting the actual report and wrote notes in the
margins and highlighted important sections; after completing my reports, I
went over the instructions sentence by sentence to make sure that I did not
overlook a step • started on my reports early so that I could ask Dr. James any questions I had along the way |
|
|
Phase 3 Acquiring Democratic Leadership Skills (through generational loyalty) |
A3: Acquiring balance
between inventiveness & service orientation • incorporated colored fonts and tables, bullets,
horizontal lines, and images in my reports • wrote advice for future generations at the end of this research report |
|
C3: Showing creativity
& integration within a disciplinary context • always included the same group of links at the
bottom of all my web pages for ease in navigating my website • other than my reports, kept the same layout for my
home page, blog, page of interesting links, and directory of my search forms • used the same font throughout my website to instill simplicity and uniformity |
|
|
S3: Achieving
user-centered excellence • created a web log to include my workplace
conversational experiences, which was applicable to what we were learning
from the class text, Dr. Tannen’s book • presented my reports to include quantity and quality of content |
I have gone from not knowing anything about publishing work
on the internet to building a website that I am proud of. I have identified
myself with the past, current, and future generations by modeling other
students’ ideas and contributing my own for others to model. I have gone
beyond the minimum requirements, adding extra sections in my reports and other
innovative features on my website. On my website, I have compiled a list of
interesting links, which include sources of inspiration for my website, links
to the other G18 Psychology 459 student home pages, and my blog, which is
tailored to apply what we have been learning from Dr. Deborah Tannen’s
book, Talking from 9 to 5, to my workplace experiences.
Information Literacy
According to the Association of College and Research
Libraries, the definition of information literacy is having the ability to
recognize when information is needed, how to find, analyze, and utilize it.
Being information literate is especially important in this
day in age. There is an indefinite number of sources of information and places
to obtain them from. We should be critical of the types and sources of
information we seek. We have to know what information we need for a particular
purpose, where to find it, how to analyze its validity and content, know how to
incorporate with what we already know, and understand its relevance amidst
surrounding issues.
Connection
Information literacy, which is an attribute of lifelong
learners, is an integral component of Dr. James’ Generational Curriculum.
This class taught us students to be autonomous learners. I also see students
demonstrate that they are lifelong learners. They are practically
“hooked” onto the internet. They have finally come to appreciate
its advantages and still continue to look for ways to improve their reports and
become more active participants in class.
After making the commitment to be part of the class and
ultimately, the generational cyber-community, we learned firsthand that we
needed to find out certain kinds of information first. It was only after
finding out this information that we could develop appropriate plans of action
to acquire more information. While we were looking for information over the
internet, we had to be critical users, especially since almost anyone can post
up a website. By reviewing and analyzing websites, we were able to decipher
which ones provided valid and relevant information. The information we gathered
was then incorporated with what we already knew and presented in an organized,
meaningful manner.
The process I described above is the process we went through
during the semester. We first familiarized ourselves with the syllabus and
related information such as FTP, forum discussions, and including links in our
websites. When we found out how to carry out those processes, whether it was
through trial and error and/or with someone’s help, we finally
“acted out” our knowledge. All our reports are reflections of the
developmental phases we went through and of the problems we learned to overcome.
They are a product of our knowledge and efforts. They are symbols that
represent us as autonomous, lifelong learners who are part of this loyal and
monumental generational cyber-community.
The
appearance of my website may seem otherwise, but I honestly admit that before a
few weeks into this semester, I was a novice at creating web pages and
publishing work over the internet. Like many others in my class, I did not
understand many things that Dr. James discussed during the first two class
sessions. I have never heard of things like FTP before and just the numerous
pages of instructions baffled me to some extent. Embarrassed of my lack of
knowledge, I hesitated to ask questions in class. When someone finally spoke
up, I saw a great deal of unease relieved from the whole class. It felt more
assuring knowing that I was not the only one who took this class without a lot
of computer knowledge.
The
beginning of the semester seems to be the most stressful period, but it can be
less so. After receiving your class syllabus, visit the class home page and
skim through the various instructions and links for the class. Print out all the instructions and a few of the
suggested student reports, which are usually listed at the end of
the instructions. To save ink and paper, copy the entire text and paste it into
Microsoft Word and change the font to a smaller size and/or to another font,
make the margins of the document smaller, and delete unnecessary space between
paragraphs/sections. You can visit any of the several computer labs on campus
to print them out. Trust me—having read the instructions more than once,
writing notes in the margins and highlighting certain parts will help you
complete your reports more efficiently.
Many
students of previous generations can attest that procrastination does not play
a key role in succeeding in a class where autonomy is valued. It is very true,
but no matter how many students emphasize it, many of us do not realize it until
we go through it ourselves. My advice: break up
the entire report into smaller, more manageable sections that you can work on a
little at a time. It is less stressful working on smaller sections
over a period of time rather than completing the assignment in a day or two, or
maybe in one night.
Most
importantly, if you have a question regarding
anything, do not hesitate to ask for help. Chances are that your
classmates probably have the same question and probably have other questions.
Take advantage of being a part of a cyber-community; get to know your
classmates early on. If not, Dr. James is the best source of information. I was
extremely shy at the beginning of the semester and may still seem to be at
times, but when I had pressing concerns, I finally urged myself to just ask
him. Since the first time I asked him a question, I have become more
comfortable in asking Dr. James for answers. You do not even have to speak with
him face to face; you can always e-mail him.
Finally, I
do have a piece of advice for Dr. James. Dr.
James, I think you should do some kind of getting-to-know you, team-building
activity at the very beginning of the semester with your students.
This way, they will get to know each other faster and will develop a sense of
“togetherness” in being a generation. At the beginning of class,
you can ask students if they learned anything new about computers over the week
or if they would like to share some advice on how to enhance their reports.
Other than that, I admire your concept of generations and think you should
continue with it. Many students can benefit from this class, learning to become
more information literate and more autonomous in their learning.
This class has
been one of the most enriching experiences I have had in college so far. It
definitely prepared me to become more information literate and to appreciate
the contributions of all the students involved in this generational community.
I have also become more in tuned with internet and computer technology.
Remember, it is you who has the ultimate decision whether or not to make this
course an educational yet enjoyable experience or a seemingly dreaded one. I
chose to make it worthwhile.
References
1) James, L. (1997). Creating An
Online Learning Environment That Fosters Information Literacy, Autonomous
Learning and Leadership: The Hawaii Online Generational Community-Classroom: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/kcc/kcc97.html
2) James,
L. (2002). General Instructions for G16 Research Report:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy16/g16reports-instructions.html
3) Sagucio, M. (2003). My Annotated
Bibliography Report: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s2003/sagucio/g18bibliography.htm
4)
Association of College and Research Libraries:
http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilintro.html
5)
Generations Directory: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/gc/generations.html
6) Michelle
Alonzo’s Home Page:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/malonzo/home.html
7) Carol
Ohta’s Home Page:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/cohta/459/hp.html
8) Jami
Kaneshiro’s Home Page:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409af96/jkaneshi/home.html
9) G18
Class Home Page:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy18/g18classhome.html
10) Directory of my search forms: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s2003/sagucio/forms.html
11) Instructions for filling out G18
search forms: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy18/g18forms.html
12) Instructions for G18 forum
discussion: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy18/g18forum.html
13) Instructions for G18 Annotated
Bibliography Report: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy18/g18bibliography.html
14) Raemie
Monces’ Home Page:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459f2002/raemie/home.htm
15) James, L. (1997). Taxonomy of
Instructional Objectives for the Online Generational Curriculum. www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/kcc/kcctables.html
Back to Top II Back to my
Home Page II E-mail
me
G18
Class Home Page II Dr. Leon James'
Home Page II Other
Interesting Links
Syllabus II Forum
Discussion II Oral
Presentation Schedule II 459 Due
Dates
University
of Hawaii at Manoa
II College of Social Sciences
II UH
Dept. of Psychology