Mapping Landmarks in the Territory
Margy MacMillan LIW 2016
Discussion notes and quotes from participants
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Can’t distinguish between research as inquiry and searching as strategic - curiosity/enthusiasm
might be a marker for Research as Inquiry
Authority is Constructed and Contextual overlaps with Information Creation as a Process
Session a wonderful exercise to figure out thresholds - what they are, what they look like
Interesting to see what senior students say – how they’re navigating academic life
I take a pragmatic approach to TC’s – “feminism’ quote – shows what TCs suggest –
transformative – hard to make the tacit explicit and to identify the actual learning moment –
learning is fumbling in the dark – this moment often only seen in retrospect
Copyright quotation speaks to Authority is Constructed and Contextual, seen by student as a
barrier to Research as inquiry and Scholarship as a Conversation
Theme of in many quotes of students seeing selves as outsiders to the conversation (Scholarship
as a Conversation
A number of quotes were BINGOs – some evidence of all six concepts
Much rustling in the shrubbery – There’s something going on when students realize they have to
read articles more than once…
Reading – progression through the academic life of students
Other progressions: – terminology is disempowering (Scholarship as Conversation) leads to
questioning assumptions about where students are – They are not always really scared sometimes excited in first year, but see inversion – students who are further along seem more
daunted by processes; may have– different motivations. Could be seeing cycles of
disempowerment – start to learn what they don’t know. Could be the point where they’re
getting into majors
“Critical thinking skills have improved” – in conjunction with analyzing media - seems to be part
of every frame – where does it fit?
New-ish frame – perspectvism? - internalizing, synthesizing, extending – not specific to one of
the six (Student quotation on taking the perspective of someone from the Renaissance
Availability/unavailability of resources – couldn’t get everything right away, and ILL is frustrating
– but student recognized their own pickiness about that – ideal vs real – perhaps shows lack of
understanding of process and access – Some students were amazed at wealth of info – may not
understand what it takes t make that available - - link to Information has Value - and maybe to
statement about copyright as barrier - interpreting it differently from a librarian

Ideas for teaching sparks –
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Interesting to consider lifesaver model of teacher/librarian - linked to not fully entering the
conversation - . A struggle – we want to help and be the lifesaver – helpful guides – but still a
distance – student being shown what’s over the threshold, not necessarily discovering for sel

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Lots of statements on meaning making that might inform instruction
Could use this info as a training tool to prompt looking at student work, being more creative
Could use this kind of info with faculty members, librarians
Losing sight of the student voice can happen – anything we can do to help students reflect on
their process and use these reflections t improve o practice is a good thing
- wouldn’t it be cool to have a common reflection across writing assignments (see tweets by
@zoe_zoe
Thinking about how to incorporate Wikipedia – look at their topic, find 10 related wikipedia
articles – use those to help strategic exploration
Can use this to develop stepping stones – not teach/learn everything at once – Show that
understanding happens over time
Is there a way to probe student experience by asking for structured reflection, asking specific,
affective questions – metacognition - -use @zoe_zoe’s work on reading as model…

THANK YOU!!!! I really enjoyed the session and our discussion – hope you did too!