Kuhlthau (2007) states that the fourth stage in the Information Search Process Model is "Formulating a FocusFeelings: optimism, confidence in ability to complete task". I have found this process a little discombobulating! It has been difficult to focus on my search in a logical way - my approach has been at best haphazard and disjointed.... so.... not quite at stage 4 yet, it would seem.
I was reading a most useful text I recently bought Focus On Inquiry: A practical approach to curriculum planning [2009] by Jeni Wilson and Lesley Wing Jan, in which the authors wrote of the different types of inquiry - shared, personal (negotiated) and integrated. I know that the information learning activity that my students are engaged in is a shared inquiry. I find that in my role as TL, I don't have the time available to engage the students in negotiated inquiry - or more to the point, I don't have the confidence in my ability to effectively engage them with the constraints on my time. I have been using the 8Ws model for inquiry with them and have found it beneficial, but have not been utilising the model for my own research...
Kuhlthau states that "in an ideal situation, students begin to search for information because they want to know more about something that is interesting or troubling." I find that I am having great difficulty raising my interest level for this task. I am feeling swamped, unfocussed and reluctant to put my energies into it when I have other calls on my time that seem to be more urgent....procrastination?
