Reading Lists in Higher Education - Time to ditch the reading list?

Reading Lists in Higher Education - Time to ditch the reading list?

• 1.
  Time to ditchthe reading list? Higher York eLearning Network Conference 6 June 2011, York St John University Matt Cornock University of York
• 2.
  What is areading list? Assessment (students show wider reading) Student expectations (where’s my reading list?) Academic input (the course) Library and resources Reading list © 2011 University of York (practicalities)
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  What resources areavailable? Traditional reading list of institutional resources Resources familiar to students, com monly used and not ‘held’ by institution Perhaps not peer-reviewed Books Google & the web Wikipedia & collab spaces Printed journals Paid-for online journals Paid-for services and resources Google Scholar Official docs in PDF form Freely available resources Online video YouTube, BBC © 2011 University of York User-generated content Useful after student has left institution Requires info literacy
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  Discussion • What makesa ‘good’ reading list? – Why a reading list? – Who is a reading list for? – What sort of resources? © 2011 University of York
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  Reading list conflict “Spoonfeeding” Arestudents provided with too many references so they don’t look for themselves? What do students need to know in order to complete the course? Intellectual coverage © 2011 University of York
• 6.
  Mini-survey (57 Year 2/3Social Policy students) For assignments and seminar prep do you use resources from the reading list or ones you find yourself? 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Only reading Mainly reading list list Mix of both © 2011 University of York Mainly non-list Only non-list
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  Mini-survey (57 Year 2/3Social Policy students) Do reading lists encourage further reading? 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Yes No © 2011 University of York Don't know
• 8.
  Mini-survey (57 Year 2/3Social Policy students) It's nice that resources are mentioned as background reading, recommended or essential. Helps ground focus when essay writing. Long reading list with thousands of books make me feel overwhelmed. Although doesn't encourage you to look for own resources, makes you used a wide range of books because list is quite extensive © 2011 University of York
• 9.
  Reading list structures •Long lists • Topic-chunks • Weekly chunks • Specific page refs • Broad book refs • Is that all that’s possible? • Do these structures help? © 2011 University of York
• 10.
  Discussion • To makereading lists relevant to the ‘real world’ – different structures, purposes and content? • Design template structures which address: – Different resources being used – Opportunities for students to ‘go beyond’ © 2011 University of York
• 11.
  Using technology forreading lists: Wikis, blogs, forums • Familiar VLE-based collaborative tools • Students create their own lists / edit their group list • Incorporated into seminar prep or specific activity © 2011 University of York
• 12.
  Using technology forreading lists: Twitter #hashtags • Collect tweets together • Fast, good for short time periods • Not good for keeping as a long-term record – tweets are transient • #hastags for #themes or #modulecodes © 2011 University of York
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  Using technology forreading lists: Online bookmarking tools • Delicious recently bought after development stopped • Diigo is championed as an alternative to Delicious • Diigo to share weblinks and notes • Tag-based to sort links by theme or your own tags • Lists option © 2011 University of York
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  Example Diigo user’spage Links Notes Tags http://www.diigo.com/user/mattcornock © 2011 University of York
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  Reading lists workshopsupporting site http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/5549 • Notes, refs and links • Post your ideas • Share your trial experiences © 2011 University of York