Woohoo! I'm back into Framework Five. Not without a LOT of effort to squeeze some thinking time in to my remote working diary. But essential for the reminder of what we're about in using the Framework.
Our Framework definition of 'critical assessment' goes like:
“Learners critically examine the resources they are using, asking relevant questions about origins, context, and suitability for the current information need. They understand the importance of how authority, such as disciplinary expertise, is constructed and will determine the credibility of a source. They understand that the information they find is influenced by those who select and curate information, in addition to those who create it.”
My version:
Critically assessing resources means appreciating the rationale for how far to trust the item found, whether by determining how credible that source is, or who owns the material and incorporated it, for example, in a database, judging its current relevance and whether it can be ‘good enough for now’ or must be ‘perfect’.
Examples:
1. Personal : finding shoes from Jones Bootmaker
I love a particular pair of shoes I bought on a whim from Jones about 3 years ago. I was not impressed/quite sad that the heel splits quite quickly. I went back to them sometime ago and asked what could be done – apparently not a lot. Despite the heel issue they are sooo comfortable that I bought a second pair about a year ago as I was passing by the shop and spotted the same style. Now they are coming to the end of their life, so I decided to repeat the exercise in lockdown by ordering online. I knew the style (or so I thought) and the size and colour. I went on the Jones website, checking that I was on the correct website and not a look-alike one, searched high and low, tried using the filters eg style and price and eventually found two near-similar looks. But I was not convinced that they were 'the' shoes and I'm not the world's best 'returner' of items bought online so didn't want to make a mistake. I decided I was not prepared to order them as I was adamant I wanted the same thing again (comfortable shoes, the best ever!). I persevered with search, but this time found my current shoes and eventually a number inside which might or might not have been useful. Back to website, and entered the number and up came the shoes (not either of the pairs found earlier which appeared to be similar). Double check images carefully and style (zip down one side). Convinced, so I buy two pairs. They arrive - they are right.
2. Work-related: Finding an Alison Hicks article.
I knew that Alison had written a great article about 'situated learning' (in fact HM has sent it via email to me once before - or I thought she had). Finding the email in my inbox just impossible regardless of how I tried so.....I searched google scholar, I searched Alison Hicks' website for her bibliography, I tried other IL sources and citations. I found a possible contender but the closest to what I was looking for seemed to be a book chapter and I had thought it was an article. Read it and wondered if it was right, but I want to cite it and need to be completely sure that I have this right. Resort to HM again for confirmation which I get. Thanks HM.
Interesting question for myself - did I critically assess a resource, or did I just persevere with a search. In the last example I regarded final confirmation from HM as 'authority' as I knew they knew (if you see what I mean) and I assessed whether what I had found had the message I thought I had remembered. In the first example I think that I critically assessed the search results I found and found them wanting because of the lack of crucial information. But it's is interesting that I found myself reverting to these types of examples.......
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