Blog post #6
Last week, we conducted our own webinars via various parts of the building for our peers to listen in on and participate with. I really enjoyed being able to veg out (partially) and listen to my friends speak on things that they are interested in. Mary was my partner and throughout the week we looked into how law and public libraries help out the public when it comes to need. The webinar execution itself was actually very nerve-wracking, more then I thought it was going to be. Even though my partner and I were prepared, the constant chatter on the side of the screen chat room was really difficult to follow along with while keeping my focus on my notes and slides. We also had a timer next to us and even though it was a helpful, it also put some stress on us that was unneeded.
Some of the main points from chapter four that I pulled from as follows: metacognition, executive function: cognitive and neural processing that involves the overall regulation of thinking and behavior and the higher-order processes that enable people to plan, sequence, initiate, and sustain their behavior toward some goal, incorporating feedback and making adjustments.
self-regulation: learning that is focused by means of metacognition, strategic action, and motivation to learn.
Reconstructing memory: making the memories your own versus what others might remember.
All of these I thought were really interesting in evaluating and thinking about teaching people (especially our younger patron friends) and what they are able to retain after awhile. Cognitive processing is always something fascinating because trying to understand someone else's thought process other than your own is so difficult. Many adults were not taught ways to process their emotions or general thought process so going through the self-regulation process or even the executive function is something really difficult in their old years to process through.
Chapter five brings up the point that in chapter four it discusses how in memories when you think of something it will recall an action or how something was performed. However, it seems as if it could also be linked to an older memory rather than an action that is being recalled. Chapter five also discusses how younger children are better at retaining formation (which is what I stated previously in my last blog... kids are like sponges!) But when college students were given new facts to think about they only retained about 56% of it. Chapter five also discussed what it's like having different areas of expertise but also having a bias about certain things. Having a learning bias is not always a bad thing (like most people think) and it helps to distinguish differences between people culturally.
I could not tell that you were nervous at all! Your webinar was great :)
ReplyDeleteI know that you want to be a youth librarian, so I liked your shoutout to how kids learn vs. how college students learn. It's pretty amazing that kids can be so absorbent of knowledge--those developing brains are so powerful!
AGREED on how stressful the webinar presentation was. I loved the topic, and working with you was great (I loved how we brought our interests together to present on cool ways different types of libraries can collaborate), but keeping track of all the moving pieces was super difficult. I am happy with what we accomplished, but I feel like I learned a lot this time about things we could do differently (or ways that we could make certain things easier on ourselves in the moment) if we were to give another webinar presentation.
ReplyDeleteAnd I loved the discussion in this chapter about memory too. I don't know much about it, but thinking about how we form and recall memories is fascinating!
Hi there, I have my webinar tonight. I don't expect to be very nervous about it, but then you weren't either. Do you have any suggestions for me? Or perhaps things you wish you had done differently? If you did it again, would you keep the timer or not?
ReplyDeleteSorry for all the questions. I've never hosted a webinar myself so I don't know what to expect.
Make sure you have all of your notes in front of you and ready!
DeleteHi Stacia! I totally agree with you that the continuous chatting during webinar was really difficult to follow along with while keeping our focus on notes and slides. A funny story is actually Conner helped me with Powerpoint, and I just waved my hand when I need change slides. So I could focused more on my notes, except the discussion time. And Rachel was consistently responding to people in the chat.
ReplyDeleteAnd I like the point you made about evaluating and thinking about teaching people and what they are able to retain after awhile. When I taught primary kids last summer, I found out that what they remembered for a long time was different from what I expected them to remember. When I played videos of world traveling, they remembered about different looking foreigners and architecture rather than the nature and language. It's very interesting to know learner's memory pattern and adjust the way you teach.
Hi Stacia!
ReplyDeleteYou and Mary did a great job during your webinar! And I know what you mean about it being surprisingly stressful, especially trying to watch the chat and present at the same time. My group didn't use a timer, which I'm kind of glad about since you mentioned it adding on additional stress. In any case, your webinar was really informative and interesting. Great job!
I think you bring up an interesting point about how executive function and other cognitive learning factors play a large role in individual's ability to learn and progress verses the individuals who are taught these things from a young age and have an advantage from that point forward. If this is the case, parents or caregivers that are successful in transferring these skills but their kids at an advantage where as us, as instructors, should recognize that these functions will be at a varying levels in the patrons we come into contact with.
ReplyDeleteI like what you brought up about how adults can have issues with self regulation and executive function if those skills weren't taught and gained when they were younger. It makes me wonder about ways to counteract that. Are there things we as instructors can do to help adults master these skills? I wonder what those might look like.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I talk about Memory I can't help but think of the Movie Inside Out. Calling back favorite memories from Long-term memory v. recalling from short term is a very different experience. The movie also attempts to explain how our emotions shape our memories, and how sometimes our feelings about a memory can change overtime. I could not help but think of this while reading your post. Thank you for sharing! https://gph.is/19sLo5D
ReplyDeleteYour webinar was amazing! I also really liked working in a group with you to talk about memory (lol that's how late this comment is), because I thought our discussion about memory tricks was really interesting to discuss with you and Zixi and then with the class in general. You also made a great point about different memory tricks per different stage of development.
ReplyDelete