Informal Education Adaptive Hypermedia Resources

Here are some resources I like. I haven't read them all (yet?), but they are rich and relevant. I have copies of SOME of these resources, so if you are looking for an article, feel free to ask, and, if I have it, I can pdf and email it to you.

NOTE TO ALL:

1. Not everything in the research journal is in here, and not everything here is in the research journal.
2. Items that are killer resources (i.e. like "killer apps") have their citations noted in RED .

NOTE TO SELF:

1. Search ERIC, et al databases for "Pintrich" to get a ton of useful, relevant articles. For a rainy day. Also "McKeatrie."
2. Review Hope J. Hartman's website for more resources: http://condor.admin.ccny.cuny.edu/~hhartman
3. Review the CSUEB online journal, "Metacognition and Learning". It has some great articles for this thesis topic. Found 4/26/08 while researching for metacognition blog. Please note CAVEAT...see below.

WEB SITES

http://condor.admin.ccny.cuny.edu/~hhartman

This is where I got the killer graphic in the "Other Kinds of Resources" section below. She is the author of a lot of the articles I found and/or read.

http://home.twcny.rr.com/hiemstra/distancenew.html

This is the home page of Roger Hiemstra, Professor and Chair, Emeritus, Syracuse University. This has many of his books in online (and printable) form, plus a range of other useful material.

http://www.infed.org

A SPACE TO EXPLORE

Our aim is to provide a space for people to explore the theory and practice of informal education and social action learning. We want to encourage educators and animateurs to develop ways of working and being that foster association, conversation and relationship.

NOT FOR PROFIT AND INDEPENDENT

The site is run on a not-for-profit basis. Access to our pages is free and open to all. We are independent and funded by individual contributions. We carry no advertising, nor do any of our links to other sites involve sponsorship or payment to us.

LISTED

We are endorsed by various sites and have won commendations from organizations like Encyclopaedia Britannica, Adult Learning Australia, the Study Web and Schoolzone. We are part of the new British Library archiving project and a number of the pages are included on the UNESCO/NCVER voced database and on SOSIG (the Social Science Information Gateway). Over 1100 sites link to us (including the BBC, Channel 4, The Guardian and various educational institutions - for example: Harvard, MIT, and the Open University).

http://www.infed.org/archives This is the archives page, which lists everything they have. My favorite topics are:

--Brockett and Hiemstra. A conceptual framework.

(many more items to come!!!...)

http://www.informalscience.org

Informalscience seeks to promote and advance the field of informal learning in science and other domains. This site is a place to share knowledge and support a community of learners to inform informal science learning standards and practices.The website is an ongoing project of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Learning in Out of School Environments (UPCLOSE) at the Learning Research and Development Center. UPCLOSE is a group of researchers and educators dedicated to building and applying a practical theory of learning and teaching in informal environments. Through creative partnerships with museums and other non-profits, we are exploring new ways to conceptualize and evaluate informal learning.

http://www.insci.org

The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) is dedicated to advancing and improving the practice of informal science education in its many and varied forms%u2014through film and broadcast media, science centers and museums, zoos and aquariums, botanical gardens and nature centers, digital media and gaming, and youth, community and after-school programs. Founded in 2007 with support from the National Science Foundation, CAISE focuses on increasing and communicating the value of NSF%u2019s investments in informal science education.

http://www.ncsall.net/?id=493#7

Review of Adult Learning and Literacy: A Project of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy

This essential resource presents the major issues, latest research, and best practices in the field of adult learning and literacy. It is for policymakers, scholars, and practitioners dedicated to improving the quality of adult basic education (ABE), adult English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), and adult secondary education (ASE) programs. Each annual review will feature articles on the year's most critical topics; annotated reviews of the best books and journal articles; and timely updates on evolving policy and research.

Please note that volumes 1 through 3 were published under the title The Annual Review of Adult Learning and Literacy.

Note: The chapter I read was version 5, chapter 7, which discusses metacognitive strategies for reading comprehension. I think we should have a section in ACUT on "reading comprehension." Isn't it the basis of all learning?

On pages 197-199, there are 7 guidelines for cognitive strategy instruction. This gives a place to start as far as how we can design our instruction modules.

After the long reference list, there is a section called "Resources on Metacognition, Cognitive Strategy Instruction, and Reading in Adult Literacy." Each resource lists info for: focus, audience, and level of background knowledge. It's amazing.

ARTICLES

Butler, D.L. (1998). The strategic content learning approach to promoting self-regulated learning: A report of three studies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90 (4), 682-697.

Butler (1998) has developed a multiple-strategy intervention called the Strategic Content Learning (SCL) approach. She has worked with low-performing college students to set goals for their learning; use, monitor, and adjust various strategies; and evaluate their performance. Students show impressive gains in metacognitive monitoring, strategy use, and motivation; reading comprehension was not measured. (from item 5 above, version 5, chapter 7: p. 197)

Hartman, H.J. (2001). "Developing Students' Metacognitive Knowledge and Skills," Metacognition in Learning and Instruction: Theory, Research and Practice. p. 33-68.

Hartman, H.J. (2001), "Metacognition in Science Teaching and Learning," Metacognition in Learning and Instruction: Theory, Research and Practice. p. 173-201.

Mc Keachie, W.J., Pintrich, P.R., and Lin, Y. (1985). Teaching Learning Strategies, Educational Psychologist. Vol 20, No. 3, 153-160.

Pintrich, P.R. and Garcia, T. (1994) Self-Regulated Learning in College Students: Knowledge, Strategies, and Motivation, in _Student Motivation, Cognition, and Learning: Essays in Honor of Wilbert J. Mc Keachie, p. 113-133.

The entire book is worth looking at, but I started with this chapter (ch. 5), and the references alone made it invaluable.

JOURNALS

Metacognition and Learning. Available from CSUEB databases. Search by periodical locator for fast results.

I just found this journal while messing around the databases for the metacognition blog in Hilary's classes. It has only three volumes (years) online, so it's manageable to just browse around. I'll have to get back to this later. However, this is definitely a resource worth looking into.

CAVEAT: Hilary noted that this journal committed a cardinal sin by accepting a study that was not valid. It is the article about scaffolding. This error demonstrates, she said, that we know more than they do. She also said, though not in the same breath, that we may want to publish in this journal. She said go ahead and read the other articles, as well as the scaffolding article, but read the article by Kristina Hook first, "Steps to take before Intelligent User Interfaces become real". This is the paper that explains that inauthentically designed software is invalid.

UP NOTE: The references in these articles are very interesting! (need to post them on this page...)

BOOKS

Candy, P.C. (1991) Self-direction for Lifelong Learning. A comprehensive guide to theory and practice, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 567 pp.

5/20/08: This is in the references of www.infed.org: Now pretty much the standard survey of the literature of self-direction in adult education. Part one deals with the scope and meaning of self-directed learning; part two looks to four dimensions of self-direction (personal autonomy, self-management, the independent pursuit of learning, learner control); part three examines new theoretical insights on self-directed learning; part four looks to promoting self-direction; and part five is concerned with realizing the potential of self-direction. (This book is available at the ED-P library at Cal.)

Coffield, F. (2000) The necessity of informal learning, Great Britain: The Policy Press. 80 pp.

6/14/08: This looks like an amazing book on informal learning policy in Great Britain. Hilary said UK is one of the premier countries in the practice of informal education. I need to read this. I bought it from Amazon.uk.

Dervin, Brenda and Foreman-Wernet, Lois. (2003). Sense-Making Methodology Reader, Hampton Press Inc. 397 pp.

7/14/08: This book was recommended by Hilary to teach me about sense-making methodology. It's a very interesting book, a very good read while also being on an academic level. I like this author's writing style.

Hayes, C. (1998) Beyond the American Dream. Lifelong learning and the search for meaning in a postmodern world, Wasilla: Autodidactic Press. 365+ xvii pp.

5/20/08: This is also in the references of www.infed.org: Fascinating and distinctive exploration of self-education as the lifeblood of (American) democracy and critique of education as a means to an economic end. Seeks to break through the perceptual barriers of popular culture and new-age doctrines in search of meaning itself. Argues that we affirm the quality of our existence through ideas. Real poverty comes from settling for dreams defined by others while remaining bereft of our own.

Jacobson, Robert. (1999). Information Design. MIT Press. 357 pp.

7/14/08: I bought this online after reading the reviews of it online. It includes a Dervin article. Here is the back cover review:

Information Design is the newest of the design disciplines. As a sign of our times, when the crafting of messages and meaning is so central to our lives, information design is not only important--it is essential. Contemporary information designers seek to edify more than to persuade, to exchange more than to foist upon. With ever more powerful technologies of communication, we have learned that the issuer of designed information is as likely as the intended recipient to be changed by it, for better or worse.

The contributers to this book are both cautionary and hopeful as they offer visions of how information design can be practiced diligently and ethically, for the benefit of information consumers as well as producers. They present various methods that seem to work, such as sense-making and way-finding. They make recommendations and serve as guides to a still young but extraordinarily pervasive--and persuasive--field.

OTHER KINDS OF RESOURCES

Hartman, Hope J., "Hope Hartman's Concept of a Self-Directed Learner," retrieved April 22, 2008 from "http://condor.admin.ccny.cuny.edu/~hhartman/HOPE%20HARTMANS%20CONCEPT%20OF%20A%20SELF-DIRECTED%20LEARNER.jpg". I stumbled upon this when I googled "Hope J. Hartman."