People see information, learning and teaching differently

How do you see teaching and learning?
 Students may see learning as:
  • an increase in knowledge
  • memorizing
  • the acquisition of facts, procedures for use in practice
  • understanding what something means
  • interpreting the world to understand it
  • changing as a person
Teachers may see learning as:

  • absorbing knowledge and being able to explain and apply it
  • developing thinking skills and the ability to reason
  • developing beginning professional competence
  • changing attitudes or behaviors
  • a participative pedagogical experience

 Teachers may see teaching as:
  • presenting information
  • transmitting information to teacher to student
  • illustrating application of theory to practice
  • developing the capacity to be expert
  • supporting student learning
  • encouraging active learning
  • facilitating personal agency
  • bringing about a better society

What is learning?

Six Frames for talking about teaching and learning

  1. The Content Frame
  2. The Competency Frame
  3. The Learning to Learn Frame
  4. The Personal Relevance Frame
  5. The Social Impact Frame and
  6. The Relational Frame.
Each frame brings with it a particular view of information, curriculum focus, learning and teaching,
content, and assessment.  In describing each frame we provide a brief example of some aspect of IL education that typically illustrates practice primarily implemented through that frame.

Content Frame

Content Frame - Usually discipline focused
Outlook IL is knowledge about the world
View of Information Information exists apart from the user, can be transmitted
Curriculum focus What the learners should know about the subject
View of teaching and learning Teacher is an expert, transmits knowledge. Learning is a change in how much is known.
View of content What needs to be know has primacy. All relevant content must be covered
View of assessment Assessment is objective. Measures how much as been learned; ranks student via exams.

Competency Frame

Competency Frame - performance oriented
Outlook
 Set of competency or skills
View of information Information contributes to the performance of the relevant capability
Curriculum focus What learners should be able to do
View of learning and teaching Teachers analyze tasks into knowledge and skill; learners become competent by following predetermined pathways
View of content Content is derived from observation of skillful practioners
View of assessment Assessment determines what level of skill has been achieved.
Users of the Competency Frame usually adopt a behavioural or performanceorientation. They ask what learners should be ableto do, and at what level of competence?

Learning to Learn Frame

Learning to Learn - usually adopt a contructivist orientation
Outlook A way of learning
View of Information Information is subjective - internalised and constructed by learners
Curriculum focus What does is mean to think like a professional in the relevant field?
View of teaching and learning Teachers facilitate collaborativie learning; learners develop conceptual structure and ways of thinking and reasoning.
View of content Content is chosen for mastering important concepts and fostering reflective practice.
View of assessment Complex, contextual problems are proposed. Self or peer assessment is encouraged.
Users of the learning-to-learn frame usually adopt a constructivist orientation. They ask what it means to think like an information literate professional, for example an architect, engineer, journalist or landscape designer. They are also interested in what will help learners construct knowledge appropriately, and develop learning processes that foster the development of professional thinking patterns. Assessment of IL seeks to determine how information processes have informed learning or learners approach to the problem at hand. A typical example might be setting a real life problem in which the need to access, evaluate and use information from arange of sources is central and appropriately supported.

Personal Relevance Frame

Personal Relevance - usually adopt an experiential orientation
Outlook IL is learned in context and is different for different groups or people
View of Information Valuable information is useful to the learner
Curriculum focus What good is it to me ( the learner )?
View of teaching and learning Teachers focus on helping learners find motivation. Learning is about finding personal relevance and meaning.
View of content Problems, cases, scenarios selected to reveal relevance and meaning.
View of assessment Typically portfolio based - learners self assess.
Users of the Personal Relevance frame usually adopt an experiential orientation. They are interested in the kinds of experiences that are required to enable learners to engage with the subject matter. Assessment is typically portfolio based and learners self-assess.

Social Impact Frame

Social Impact Frame - usually adopt a social reform orientation
Outlook IL issues are important to society
View of Information Information is viewed within social contexts
Curriculum focus How does it impact society?
View of teaching and learning Teachers role is to challenge the status quo. Learing is about adopting perspectives that will encourage social change.
View of content Reveals how IL can inform widespread or import social issues or problems.
View of assessment Designed to encourage the experience of the impact of IL
Users of this Social Impact frame  usually adopt a social reform orientation. Their interest is in
how learning impacts society, in how it may help communities inform significant problems. A typical example might
involve focussing learners' attention on various issues and values associated with problems surrounding the Digital Divide, and proposing tasks related to policy, technology or training designed to assist in bridging that divide. Learners would be assessed in terms of their understanding of how IL could influence the social problem.

Relational Frame

Relational Frame - it's where all these other outlooks come together
Outlook IL is a complex of different ways of interacting with information.
View of Information Information may be experienced as objective, subjective, or transformational.
Curriculum focus Bringing about awareness of the critical ways of seeing or experiencing.
View of teaching and learning Teachers bring about particular ways of seeing specific phenomena, learing is coming to see the world differently
View of content Examples selected to help students discover new ways fo seeing. Critical phenomena for learning must be identified.
View of assessment Designed to reveal ways of experiencing.
Users of the Relational frame (Figure 8) are oriented towards the ways in which learners are aware of IL or specific relevant phenomena associated with IL. They are interested in designing experiences that help learners discern more powerful ways of seeing the
phenomena in question. Assessment is designed to identify which ways of seeing IL, or other relevant phenomenon, students have learned to discern. Reflection is one strategy to encourage students to discern more complex forms of the phenomenon. A typical example might involve helping students learn to search the internet by designing experiences that focus their attention on previously undiscerned aspects of the experience

Users of the relational frame are interested in both content (phenomena); and how that content is seen or experienced. Learning in this
frame is understood as coming to discern things in new or more complex ways. This view of learning has
been more recently formalised and labelled `variation theory' (Marton and Tsui, 2004; Pang and Marton,
2003).