Presented at the Worldwide Virtual Conference Library 2.012

1. Doing Online Relearning through
Information Skills (DORIS): Contributions
for information literacy programs
Juan D. Machin-Mastromatteo
@judamasmas
PhD student
Institute of Information Studies
Tallinn University

2. @judamasmas
Snapshots
 What is it about?
Integration of social media into higher education and
the roles that information, digital and new literacies
play
 How?
Planning a series of learning activities for engaging
participants

3. @judamasmas
Where does this come from?
 Curiosity from MA thesis about the uses of social
media for „serious‟ purposes: education or
organizational?
 A return to my main area of interest: information
literacy and learning.

4. @judamasmas
What is it for?
 Librarians and related professionals mainly
 To enrich information literacy programs, by
providing:
A methodological/research framework
Insights for developing formal structures
Investigating pedagogical implications

5. @judamasmas
Core Theories
 Constructivist learning (Piaget/Dewey/Vygotsky)
 3 dimensions of learning:
cognitive, social, emotional(Illeris, 2003)
 Information skills: access, use, evaluation (Lau, 2006)
 Affinity Spaces (Gee, 2009)
 Participatory Action Research in Education
(Freire, Fals-Borda, Whitehead &McNiff, McIntyre, Herr & Anderson)

6. @judamasmas
Epistemological Assumptions
 The concepts of learning and knowledge are closely
connected
 Knowledge is created through socialization (Vygotsky, 1978;
Nonaka& Takeuchi, 1995) and can be discovered (Whitehead
&McNiff, 2006) as people possess tacit knowledge within
(Polanyi, 1958).
 Teachers are capable of generating personal theories by
systematically studying their practice (Whitehead, 1989)
“We cannot teach people anything, we can only help
them discover it within themselves” Galileo
Galilei

7. @judamasmas
Research Questions
What significant issues, challenges and opportunities
emerge when social media are integrated into learning
environments in higher education?
a) How do students‟ experience learning when they are
engaged in a learning activity that integrates social
media?
b) In what ways is students‟ engagement dependent upon
their literacies?
c) In what way do learning, literacy and social media
mutually shape each other?

8. @judamasmas
The Issues of Social Media
Machin-Mastromatteo (2010, 2011, 2012), built upon Bawden& Robinson
(2009)
 Trust
 Loss of identity
 Crowdsourcing Emerging issues Machin-Mastromatteo (2012)
 Decision making
 Quality control  Balance of identities/voices/roles
 Users‟ satisfaction  Fast changing features
 Information overload  Need for marketing SN tools
 Permanence  Users‟ underestimation
 Repackaging
 Privacy
 Negative consequences

9. @judamasmas
The Concept(s) of Literacies
Literacies
Information Literacy
as in Zurkowski (1974), Virkus
(2003), Tuominen, et al.(2005), Lau
(2006)…
 Digital Literacy
(computer, ICT…) as in Shapiro and
Hughes, 1996;
LankshearyKnobel, 2006. New
Literacies
 New Literacies
as in Lankshear and Knobel (2007)

10. @judamasmas
Participatory Action Research
(PAR)
Self and collective reflection on the subject of study
Researcher is part of and makes interventions on research
Cyclical process of exploration, knowledge construction and
action through
questioning, reflecting, investigating, developing plan
implementing, refining, questioning… (McIntyre, 2008)
PAR is a philosophy of life as much as a method, a sentiment as much as a
conviction (Fals-Borda, 1997)
PAR leads researchers into unfamiliar pathways… think in new ways…
generating provocative new ideas. (Whyte, Greenwood, & Lazes, 1989)

11. @judamasmas
Participants
 LIS Master
 Divided in groups
 Pilot Study (2011), Final Study (2012)

12. @judamasmas
Collection of Data
 Diagnostic Questionnaire
 Blog
 Social Learners‟ Input
 Class Discussions
 Social Media Sites
 Social Learners‟ Reports
 2nd Questionnaire
 Interview

13. @judamasmas
Stages of Research / Assignments
Assignments:
Individual reflection on own use of SM (2)
Create social site for an information service (3)
Evaluate an established social site (4), revisit (3)

14. @judamasmas
Example of Instructional Design

15. @judamasmas
Data Analysis
 The theory of affinity spaces:
On the function of its content
On the function of how people interact with the content and/or
with one another
 The three dimensions of learning:
cognitive, social, emotional.

16. @judamasmas
Data Analysis (cont.)
 A look at some of the challenges and opportunities of using SM
in higher education instruction related to the social learners‟
literacies
 A look at the most useful activities for learning, within this study
 The topics social learners learned about throughout the
activities of this study.
 Insights into the mutual shaping phenomenon between SM, the
learning experience and social learners‟ literacies.
 Social learners‟ reflections on their practice based on the
learning dissonance created by the order of the assignments.
 The researcher/practitioner‟s reflections on his practices
between the two studies conducted within this research.

17. Thank you!!
machin@tlu.ee
judamasmas@gmail.com
@judamasmas
http://judamasmas.tumblr.com
www.judamasmas.com