Wishing

Upon completion of this project I feel relieved but also energized.  I learned a lot about the process of inquiry and how messy it really is.  It was a new thing for me.   Much of the process forced me to use things that were new.  Things I will need to learn and be able to show when I graduate.  (Delicious, Bubbl.us, Powerpoint)  I am very lucky to have classmates that are teachers already.  Many of you steered me in one way or another.  My experience with personal inquiry is probably similar to a child or young adult since this is the first time I have done something like this.  However, I hope I know the where to look a little better.   I can see there are things being used in classrooms today when I was working on bubbl.us, the brainstorming/mapping site, my 11 year old son walked by and said "Dad are you doing an idea web?  We do those all the time!"  School has changed in the last 20 years, or at least there is a push to change how information is sought, processed and presented.    

However I also learned it is best to be more open at the beginning of this process.  At the onset, I was so focused on the glassware angle that it mislead a lot of my research.  And then to find out it really isn't that big of a deal according to an expert who lives in Belgium didn't help me feel too good about my original line of questioning.  I would have been better served exploring more questions at the onset and may have gone a totally different direction.  As I look through all the materials I compiled, the use of yeast, different strands of yeast and how the yeast works in the process of beer is just one area I could have explored more.  Especially since the Belgians use of yeast is considered one thing where they stand above the rest of the world in how they produce beer.  

The biggest challenge of the process was lack of reallly good resources at libraries at my disposal.  I could have done a better job expolring other libraries for more materials.  But time and distance made that difficult.  Since this wasn't so much a scholarly topic there was little journal literature to use as well.  This challenge weakened the overall product in my opinion.  Had I gone more into the science of beer or the culture of Belgium, I probably could have done more with IUPUI's resources.  The internet became my safety net.   

But that is a good thing to remember.  Students will have limited resources and abilities. Knowing what they have to work with both physically and mentally is a must when considering the curriculum.  In the Blue Book, Callison stressed the importance of improving library skills, levels of learning, technology skills and media literacy skills as they relate to the inquiry process.

I really saw the value of the blog in this process and I think that is the most valuable part, not only my personal one, but having to sift through my peer's work as well.  That is where I feel this project works for all levels of learning.  Perhaps the younger ages would be better suited to just do a log or journal of their thoughts.  But older students 5-12 probably could handle blog entries as it relates to the process and the project.  But the ideas they get from collaboration is where I feel the learning process sprung to life.  It sends you in directions you may not have seen on your own.    

I feel this project works within the guidelines of standard 9  from the INFORMATION LITERACY STANDARDS FOR STUDENT LEARNING, or the old AASL standards that Indiana still uses according to Dr. Lamb.  
The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and participates effectively in groups to pursue and generate information.

9.1 Shares knowledge and information with others

9.2 Respects others’ ideas and backgrounds and acknowledges their contributions

9.3 Collaborates with others, both in person and through technologies, to identify information problems and to seek their solutions

9.4 Collaborates with others, both in person and through technologies, to design, develop, and evaluate information products and solutions

Tech Tools

Powerpoint for final product

Delicious for links http://delicious.com/shumphrey574 

Bubbl.us brainstorm, idea mapping 

http://bubbl.us/view.php?sid=519257&pw=yaahFMK34I7NIMjdVSFBLV01YNTFRMg 

Ask an Expert - Tried one from Belgian Brewing Union website, didn't hear back

Have one more day for allexperts.com to return my email.  

A Google Scholar search was performed: Belgian Beer and Michael Jackson were searched, I was looking for articles that cited his works, then backward chained to read some articles to give me a better understanding of the beer making process.  

Waving

As mentioned I created a powerpoint you can see that here: 

http://mypage.iu.edu/~shmhumph/Belgian beer.pptx  

I will share this with my family members.  I have a large family on my mom's side where our Belgian heritage is embraced.  While we don't particularly keep any Belgian customs as sacred, a few in the family do like to know little tidbits about the country.  I know for sure one of my brothers has tried a lot more Belgian beer and probably has some other suggestions for which ones are better.  And since he's the one in the family with a MLS, I trust his opinion.  

Furthermore this project has me wanting to go to Belgium someday and experience the beers as they should be experienced.  I suppose maybe I am a life long learner after all, Life-long learning is about anticipation, exploration, and reflection as defined by Lamb (Information Age Inquiry Web materials).

I have been to my other "beer mecca" the Guiness Brewery in Dublin.  That was an incredible experience that I was able to share with my wife during our honeymoon.  She's great like that.  Oh and we'll be watching the Super Bowl tomorrow too, she's great like that also.  Well I am off topic, time to unwind, but I am having tea tonight.  

Wrapping part 2

So I went back and looked at my original questions.  The reason I set out on this project turned out to be the way I am going with my final presentation in the form of a powerpoint.  Mainly it will suggest a few Belgian Beers and what type of glass to use.  I also will have information such as ingredients and how the ingredients are used determines what style the beer is.  

This is important to me because I enjoy beer.  I'm old enough to savor and appreciate them now.  I like to have one when I grill, or when I unwind after a long day.  ONE being the key word!  (College the second time around is different in another way).  But in order to savor a beer it helps to have the right glass and the right serving temperature.  I have a better handle on how to do this now.   If you are a beer lover, you would benefit from this as well.  

I was able to apply my library skills to help me along the way, as Kulhthau was quoted in the Blue Book, we use library skills to expand our understanding and better enable us to make decisions and choices. (p. 86)   I never thought those skills would involve drinking a beer, but what this process proved to me is that there is no limit what you can learn or teach using the library. 

Wrapping

I am supposed to be packaging my thoughts for presentation.  But I am really trying to wrap my brain around standards.  I've avoided this until now.  

I am going by the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action, and I am following the skills chain. 

1.1.1 follow an inquiry process (blog to final project)

1.1.2 use prior background knowledge as context for new learning (Belgian heritage, knowledge of beer)

1.1.3 develop and refine a range of questions to frame the search (covered in previous blog posting)

1.1.4 find, evaluate and select appropriate sources (searched libraries, web, journals)

1.1.5 evaluate information on basis of accuracy, validity, appropriateness... (while peforming searches I bookmarked what I felt were valid, authoritative sites)

1.1.6 Read, view and listen for information presented in any format (used mostly books and web readings)

1.1.7 Make sense of information gathered from diverse sources (still a work in progress)

1.1.8 Demonstrate mastery of technology tools for accessing information (still a work in progress)

1.1.9 Collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding (still waiting for reply, may have to go another route)

One thing that makes this project different for me is the use of technology skills.  Callison states that technology tools can also play an important role in effective analysis, synthesis and presentation of information.  (Blue Book p. 87)  I can go to Delicious and gather my bookmarks, and search other people's bookmarks for more ideas.  I can go to Flickr and get pictures because going to Belgium is not in my budget.   I can even sift through a Google search and find websites that are both good and bad.  It does make things easier, you can take the messy process of inquiry and tidy it up using things like bubbl.com (I am trying to learn that one too) or charts or make a concept map.  

Weaving

At this stage I am actually getting organized!  I set up some links on Delicious:

http://delicious.com/shumphrey574 

That at least gets me looking at them and now I can look at them at work or at school or wherever.  I didn't know that feature of Delicious, allowing me to see my bookmarks anywhere.  I do like learning new things, especially ones that I foresee making my life easier.  Yeah it's just a little thing, but a potential time saver down the line.  And I can use it in a variety of ways.  

Oh and I also searched Belgian Beer while at Delicious, there are over 1000 bookmarks already registered.  Thanks to labeling I presume.  Reminding me to label this post now.  

I have also been saving a few images, I don't think I mentioned that yet.  Those will likely appear in the final portion of the project.  Or they may not depending on how this goes.  I also emailed The Union of Belgian Brewers.  According to www.beerparadise.bu this union is one of the oldest professional associations in the world and all Belgian breweries belong to it.  Among the questions I asked were about the glassware and designs, why brewing is considered an art in Belgium, how does beer fit into Belgian culture.  I hope I hear back from them.  

In Stripling's Curriculum Connections, Harada states that as society changes, the skills that citizens need to negotiate the complexities of life also change.  I don't think she was specifically talking about my ability to learn Delicious, but it is one of the technological changes that we also need to learn to negotiate the complexities of information access and organization.  Just like labels on posts help to organize catalogs and searches.    

Wiggling

More like squirming.  I agree with Lamb calling this the toughest phase for students (Callison's Blue Book p. 54).  I still am not too sure which way this project is leading.  Or maybe I am trying to overthink, I am definitely not used to free inquiry projects.  So many choices and I struggle with which to use, make, think about at any given time.  Backspace has been used heavily on this post!  

It shows me how my information Fluency needs some work.  Callison (Information Fluency, 2003) uses confidence, effiicience and effective as words to describe the information fluent.  I feel am short of that level by far.  

Perhaps a model of some sort or a table will help me see things from a different perspective but before I move to Weaving....I have to take my son to Wrestling - Hey that's a 9th W!