Asking ??Questions?? Tuesday Tech Talks– September 19, 4:00 pm Dr. David Cox, Skeen Library Director, SKEEN ROOM 208

Questions, Questions, Questions A long time ago in a Galaxy far away… A Professor began a class with the following point. “I am more hopeful to hear your questions, than to know all the answers you may be able to quote, spew, chew, and regurgitate.”

Today… we are going to talk together about Asking ??Questions?! Questions are important. Questions are those concepts which link you to the purpose of your information search Questions structure, or form the pathway to seeking answers. Questions are the driver, the force, the pathway forward to knowledge Asking Questions is the way to get to the place you want to be…

Do You Remember Geometry? Remember how to process your answer? Axioms and the rest? In some ways, it is a written out pathway, a showing your work, of how you got there. The answer to the question created the path to getting your answer realized You could not just state what you thought the answer was… you had to show your work

Questions are essential in moving us toward a goal We live within an Answer Culture Answers in searches are the Immediate Gratification of folk who search the Internet. Simply put, Google is the Immediate Gratification Word Crawler. In fact, if you type the words Answer Culture in Google, most hits will come up in the area of Job Interviews and seeing if you might fit the system of job providers. Not what we are going to talk about today. We are going to try and teach you how to think and ask questions. Information scientists-Librarians et al- are in the question business, so you may find pertinent and appropriate answers. So if you come to us with wanting information, guess what? You will be asked questions. Without Questions We Cannot Help YOU!

The drive for answers is good if you use questions, rather than seek the simple In Answer Culture immediate answers are akin to the Pavlov’s dog test for many people seeking information Most folks in education are living to take a test, and just get done with it Education requires more than test data. If must move to information, which then moves to knowledge. This is why asking questions is essential. It moves us beyond data and information to a place where we see what might be driving us forward. Socrates- the path to learning is through questions, rather than simply living one’s life by following other people’s answers. Question!

ACRL – Definition of Information Literacy Competency Standards stated that an information literate individual is able to: 1. Determine the nature and the extent of information needed 2. Access the needed information effectively and efficiently 3. Evaluate information and its sources critically and incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base 4. Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose 5. Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally. (ACRL, 2000, Section 7

What is your goal, your point, your search for information centered around? Information literacy is at the core of lifelong learning and includes: Knowing when information is needed; where the information needed is best found and how to locate information within the systems used; how to evaluate the content as well as the creation of information for accuracy, reliability, bias and agenda; and how to use the information effectively and ethically in decision-making or problem-solving to achieve personal, social, occupational and educational goals. (ACRL) Questions are the pathway, the means to your end. Good questions will lead you to solid information, and sources for your consideration The Goal is not simply to have an answer… the goal is to know as well as you can the knowledge needed for your answer to develop and deepen.

Again, Questions are the pathway beyond to and for Scholarship Beyond the Who, What, Where, Why and How More than Boolean tools such as And, Or, Not It is how these questions and word tools get you to your goal- answers in the context of your search Questions are more supportive in research process than answers Questions drive the process of learning Questions are the means to becoming Information Literate- and the tools to become Information Literate is knowing how to use the search engine well.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Example

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Questions are the pathway Knowledge moves you to Comprehension Comprehension moves you to consider Applications Application can then lead you to consider Analysis Analysis creates the opportunity to construct a Synthesis of ideas And that Synthesis of ideas is the basis for making evaluation, using the judgement of the previous process, and finally coming to the suggestion of answers. Questions are necessary to lead you along the way to Bloom’s Taxonomy and beyond.

Enough Already!!!! Thanks for coming. Hope this was helpful. Next week, same time, same presenters, different discussion topic. Got any ideas from this presentation that you would like to more about? See ya!