What do you have to show for it?

Demonstrating learning, proving to others that learning has happened, and communicating the hows and the whys and the whats of that learning is one of the most challenging aspects of both teaching and learning.

I can know as a student that I have learned something, but being able to prove that to someone else can be challenging. This is especially true when the things learned are less formal, less quantifiable. Or when there is an element of novelty, or newness to the learning. It starts out with a strong argument of I KNOW THE THING. Then quickly dissolves into a puddle of gibberish interspersed with theorists, and rhetoric. Finally a quieter, you can't just trust that I know the thing that I tell you I know?! And maybe some impossible to follow hand gestures that show that I know the things I learned.

As I work through how to talk about the implementation of the chaos dump in my 259 course, I find myself stumbling over myself. I know what happened - I know what worked, I know what didn't. I even know why I did what I did and what I would do differently next time. But, how to package this information for those who are not in my head, who were not in my class all semester long is proving more difficult than anticipated.

I tell my students each semester that while I love technology, I still use "old school" methods - and my method of choice (or addiction) is post-it notes. I jokingly tell them that I probably couldn't teach without them. I'm fairly certain I couldn't be a student without them.

But, I used them to start outlining my thinking. I don't know that I have a solid idea for creating the packaging for my learning, but at least I know some of the skeleton of what I want to tell other people about my learning, and that's a start, right?!

How I Cite?!

I was asked about citations. How to teach, to create a lesson for learning how to cite. I won't lie, I didn't know what to think at first. I have no memories of being taught how to cite. I remember learning that plagiarism is bad, and to avoid it we cite our sources. I then remember buying the style guides for MLA and later APA - and then, when OWL became available it was like a whole new level of amazing. It was always one of those the teacher says "cite your sources" and I went home and followed the protocols laid out in the style guide of choice.

Now, just because I can't remember doesn't mean it wasn't taught. One of my friends told me I'd probably blocked it. And, based on the responses I received from several colleagues, I'd totally believe it.

Me: do you remember being taught how to use APA/MLA cite sources, etc?

S: High School, lots of worksheets - He gave us a lecture on it and walked through the generalities of structure, and then we had worksheets with examples of book titles/article  titles/pictures, etc, and we had to format the citation correctly - we also went through a  bunch of online resources like the Purdue OWL and autoformat options in word or online

Me: Were we taught how to use APA/MLA or like citation stuff?

K: We got a bit on basic how to bibliography in high school, then in my first tutorial [UK  University], they were like, ok, your first essay is coming up, here's how the department  cites and references - And basically it was just an example or two - we were just expected to figure it out

Me: Citations? Were you taught how to do them? If so, how? When?

B: Freshman year. Series of talks from the librarians - Also, in HS, we had a unit on it in our textbook - The mini version of the MLA handbook was a required reading/text for my freshman comp courses - But, again, I'd gotten it in HS, too.

It's pretty much universal that information (both print and digital) must be cited. In academic work, this can be hugely problematic if not done correctly. Yet, based on my own experiences, and those of my colleagues, all of whom have at least one advanced degree - training and education how to do it seems distinctly lacking. I think K's comment sums my understanding of the current situation well: figure it out. Yet, this doesn't seem like the best way of doing so. 

How can instructors help their students learn to cite things? I'm still thinking through this one. I had a colleague suggest worksheets, which she admitted were a dated idea, but would maybe help springboard the learning between "read about it and DIY" and an in-class lecture on how to cite information. Within the worksheet, she envisioned fill in the blank type activities where students would be asked where they would insert the title of the book. This is an area that needs more thinking - makes me wonder what other places are doing, how others are learning to do it. By initial questions make me believe this problem extends beyond the course I'm working with - how many students are left on their own to "figure it out", or are lumped into the "prior knowledge" bubble?