Academic Column: What's Next? Educational Futurism and the School Library

Dr. Robin Cicchetti is the Librarian at Concord-Carlisle Regional High School.

School librarians are already among the busiest people in the school. Teaching classes, prepping lessons, providing reader’s advisory services for their students and oftentimes faculty, reading review journals, ordering books, supplies and materials, and keeping the library up and running every single day. Many work without library aides and parent volunteers just aren’t the same. It’s a lot.

We have a research-based understanding of what good library programs look like; deep integration into the curriculum, collaborative planning to deliver instruction in inquiry-based learning, information and media literacy skills, technology integration, digital citizenship, fostering a love for reading and reading incentive programs, participation in school leadership activities, and many other aspects of teaching and learning. It’s a lot.

With all that going on it is hard to find the capacity to engage in visionary planning, but the reasons to be a voice for the future are important. In general, students are not engaged in their education but instead are “doing school” (Shernoff and Schmidt, 2008). This is not an effective way to prepare them for the future.

Anyone familiar with schooling, anyone who has spent time watching students asking the teacher to just tell them what’s on the test, students acting only with direct and careful instructions, and students becoming fearful and even hostile in the face of undefined tasks and indeterminate results, has seen the workings of educational futurism.
(Greteman and Wojcikiewicz, 2014).

The first wave of Web 2.0 and the energy it brought to education has passed. We are now at a transition point where schools need to review curriculum and pedagogy and revise professional development to better utilize the technology in the hands of our students. This aspect of preparing future-ready students is an opportunity for school librarians.

Leadership

To engage in futurism it is important for school librarians to develop the self-perception of transformational leaders who can “model the way” (Smith, as cited by DiScala and Subramaniam, 2011, pg. 61). Looking ahead and consciously planning for the future in a thoughtful manner will continue to keep school libraries relevant and indispensable.

Establishing a partnership with the school principal is key to planning for the future. A study conducted in 2016 established that the single most influential factor in creating the conditions for a strong partnership was “understanding the principal’s perspective and priorities for the school library program” (Shannon, 2016, p.19). The “prime source of information” about the library program is the librarian, making this “the most important challenge but well worth the effort” (McGhee and Jansen, as cited by Shannon).

Evidence based practice

The key to providing the information needed by the principal to set the conditions for partnership and futurism is based on evidence-based practice. In addition to the traditional data collected such as circulation and collection statistics and student learning,  it is important to also gather evidence on work being done to plan for the future. With evidence-based practice it is possible to both model for school administrators the value of planning for the future, and situate the school librarian as a valued voice in leading a future-ready school (DiScala and Subramaniam, 2011). Data gathering can provide the evidence to create context for futurist thinking, and lay the groundwork for partnership and planning.

Teaching and Learning

The Google generation (Google-gen)  is defined as “those born after 1993 who explore the world ... with little or no recollection of life before the web” (Rowlands, et al, 2008, pg. 291). Our Google-gen students demonstrate new forms of information seeking behaviors that are characterized as:

• Horizontal search and bouncing (skimming from one site to the next)
  • Power-browsing is a type of horizontal characteristic where students are engaged with an article for 4-8 minutes and is not reading in the traditional sense
    
    
• Navigating whereby the student spends as much time figuring out how the digital space is organized as actually engaging in information activities
  
  
• Squirreling behavior which involves gathering information sources from diverse and usually free sites and cycling back to power-browse at a later date
  
  
• Checking information seekers who rely on themselves to determine authority and trust in a source, usually based on brand (ex. Google) (Rowlands et al, 2008).

These behaviors have not changed since the study was published in 2008, and because these skills are not formally assessed it is unclear how effective information literacy instruction has been in the ten years since publication of the study. Understanding these information behaviors provides a strong rationale for revising what and how we teach, and makes a powerful argument for evidence-based practice to demonstrate improvements in student skills. This finding was verified in the national survey of National Board Certified school librarians which had a key conclusion that school librarians have “unrealized leadership potential in developing processes to systematically collect, manage, and assess the effectiveness of digital resources” (Everhard, Mardis, and Johnston, 2011). Really observing and analyzing student behavior during web-based inquiry activities has the potential to inform instruction and curriculum development in powerful, future-ready ways. This represents a fresh path for leveraging the role of technology integration towards more relevant aspects of information skills development (Johnston, 2011).

School Self-Assessment

Alan November has long been an advocate for re-envisioning education through technology, but points out the flaws in what is commonly perceived as innovation versus the “added value of digital learning environments” (2015). He provides six questions as a way to assess whether or not a school is truly engaged in innovative use of technology in learning.

Transformational Six

1. Did the assignment build capacity for critical thinking on the web?
   
2. Did the assignment develop new lines of inquiry?
   
3. Are there opportunities for students to make their thinking visible?
   
4. Are there opportunities to broaden the perspective of the conversation with authentic audiences from around the world?
   
5. Is there an opportunity for students to create a contribution (purposeful work)?
   
6. Does the assignment demo “best in the world” examples of content and skill?
   

As a futurist leader, the school librarian can be a critically important expert on moving the “no” responses to “yes” and shift teaching and learning forward to better prepare Google-gen students with skills that are relevant to their lives.

Futurism and public libraries

Miguel Figueroa of the ALA Center of the Future of Libraries provides a road map for understanding many of the trends of the future that our colleagues in the public library sector are discussing and considering in their long range planning. Not all of the trends apply to schools, but many can be easily adapted for school libraries interested in future planning. (You can access a free downloadable set of Trends Cards with talking points. )

• Badging - An alternative to traditional forms of assessment that focus on skills. The school librarian can identify the information skills to prioritize and create assessments that capture the skill acquisition. A digital badge program can extend to other parts of school culture and be included in the student’s digital profile.
• Connected learning - Inquiry driven by student interest and informed by establishing connections with experts in the field via digital communication. The school librarian in uniquely situated to facilitate these connections.
• Data everywhere - Overhaul how the school library gathers, stores, and shares data and statistics. Making the data visible helps educate the principal as well as the school community about what happens in the school library. Weekly gate counts, circulation statistics per grade level, the top circulating titles, current research projects, and many far more clever ideas than these that can highlight the role of the school library in the lives of students.
• Digital natives - The term has been around for quite some time, and is still relevant. The impact of electronic media on the developing brains of children is still not fully understood, but there is evidence of diminished skills in reading, ability to concentrate, and empathy. If we view the school library as a preview of the collaborative, work place environment, how can we better prepare students with the skills they will need? This is where programming can play a powerful role in a new, non-traditional way. What about activities and games that teach empathy? A quick Google search shows there are many resources, such as the 13 Top Games that Teach Empathy.
• Fandom - Fandom is all about building community, and is a great way to establish safe places for students with a passion. School libraries can host clubs and foster fandom for everything from Anime to Dungeons and Dragons to more traditional chess clubs.
• Fast casual - While offering coffee and snacks might not appeal to all school library programs, incorporating aspects of fast casual may entice students who don’t usually use the library. Establishing areas for collaborative work, hosting student performances and exhibitions, and adapting more of a learning commons model may increase student use of the library and the available resources. Quiet areas can be reserved for students who desire a more traditional library experience, but engaging more students in the library may positively improve perceptions about libraries for students as well as teachers and school administrators.
• Flipped learning - Flipping library instruction by utilizing screencast technology can provide opportunities for school librarians to improve the quality of the time they get when working with a class. Basic skills such as creating an account for a citation platform or a basic database search can be turned into a short tutorial that the teacher can assign for homework prior to the class lesson. That precious class time has been saved and can now be spent on higher order instruction such as source evaluation or more advanced search strategies.
• Maker movement - Already a very popular trend, the maker movement is well established in many school and public libraries. Are there different types of activities that can be introduced via the maker movement? Community service activities such as sending cards and letters to service people introduce a genre of writing skills not covered in school curriculum. Supporting students in activism by guiding them through inquiry to learn more about the issue and sponsoring a maker activity to make signs (pre-approved by the principal, of course!) or sponsoring a voter registration drive and utilizing the maker mindset for promotion and organization of the activity are just a few examples of stretching our thinking about the maker movement.
• Short reading - Evidence shows that students struggle with in-depth reading and that they tend to skim (Rowlands, et al, 2008). Short reading programs can include everything from trivia contests to haiku activities. Print and online magazines can be incorporated into information scavenger hunts for all age levels. This is an activity that can develop reading skills undermined by the GoogleGen practice of skimming, and is easily implemented via the school library.
• Unplugged - Two studies on student usage of college academic libraries determined that students value going to libraries to 1) escape the distractions of the technology in their home/dorm and 2) they appreciate libraries that care about their success and positive experience while in the library (Shill and Tonner, 2004 and Gardner and Eng, 2005). School libraries can provide the same experiences. Providing quiet, unplugged areas, diverse seating options, and an experience that features personalization and support for needs that include information and reading but go beyond that to personal support in homework assignments and activities from student life. School librarians are lucky to work with so many people from across the building and possess an institutional knowledge that can be leveraged to create a new domain of student support and services that can positively impact their performance and sense of community.
  

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Whatever you do, be sure to share your thinking, back it up with research, and document your progress with evidence-based practice. In the words of Christa McAuliffe, “I touch the future. I teach.” School libraries can influence the future for our students, and model futurism for our schools. Congratulations if you are already doing this type of work, and make sure to tell your principal!

References

DiScala, J., & Subramaniam, M. (2011). Evidence-based practice: A practice towards leadership credibility among school librarians. School Libraries Worldwide, 17(2), 59.

Everhart, N., Mardis, M. A., & Johnston, M. (2011). National Board Certified School Librarians’ Leadership in Technology Integration: Results of a National Survey. School Library Media Research, 14.

Figueroa, M. (2018). Trends. Retrieved February 22, 2018, from Center for the Future of Libraries website: http://www.ala.org/tools/future/trends

Gardner, S., & Eng, S. (2005). What students want: Generation Y and the changing function of the academic library. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 5(3), 405-420.

Greteman, A. J., & Wojcikiewicz, S. K. (2014). The problems with the future: Educational futurism and the figural child. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 48(4), 559-573.

Holderman, E. (2014, June 13). 13 Top Games That Teach Empathy [Blog post]. Retrieved from Common Sense Education website: https://www.commonsense.org/education/blog/13-top-games-that-teach-empathy

Johnston, M. P. (2011). The school librarian as a technology integration leader: enablers and barriers to leadership enactment(pp. 691-693. ACM.

Library of the future trend cards (Library of the Future, Comp.) [Pamphlet]. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/tools/sites/ala.org.tools/files/content/LibraryoftheFuture/TrendCards/ALACenterfortheFutureofLibraries_TrendCards1_Duplex.pdf

November, A. (2015, January 12). Walk through for innovation: Six questions for transformed learning. November Learning. Retrieved from http://novemberlearning.com/educational-resources-for-educators/teaching-and-learning-articles/walk-through-for-innovation-six-questions-for-transformed-learning/

Rowlands, I., Nicholas, D., Williams, P., Huntington, P., Fieldhouse, M., Gunter, B., ... & Tenopir, C. (2008, July). The Google generation: the information behaviour of the researcher of the future. In Aslib proceedings (Vol. 60, No. 4, pp. 290-310). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Shannon, D. M. (2016). Principals’ perspectives of school librarians. Librarians and Educators Collaborating for Success: The International Perspective, 28.

Shernoff, D. J., & Schmidt, J. A. (2008). Further evidence of an engagement–achievement paradox among US high school students. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 37(5), 564-580.

Shill, H. B., & Tonner, S. (2004). Does the building still matter? Usage patterns in new, expanded, and renovated libraries, 1995–2002. College & Research Libraries, 65(2), 123-150.