JOHN'S JOURNAL: Based Learning 18: RBL - Resource-Based Learning

RBL: Resource-Based Learning

Resource-based learning actively involves students, teachers, and teacher-librarians in the effective use of a wide range of print, non-print and human resources. Resource-based learning fosters the development of individual students by accommodating their varied interests, experiences, learning styles, needs and ability levels. Students who use a wide range of resources in various mediums for learning have the opportunity to approach a theme, issue or topic of study in ways which allow for a range of learning styles and access to the theme or topic via cognitive or affective appeals.

What is RBL?

RBL is not tied to a single learning theory or to any specific pedagogy, nor is it new to teaching and learning.
RBL is an educational model designed to actively engage students with multiple resources in both print and non-print form.

RBL Objectives:

Develop the capacity to recognize a need for information, to know how and where to find it from a range of sources, and how to select, organize and communicate it to others.
Acquire the skills required to analyze, interpret, synthesize and organize information as well as the language and communication skills of reading, writing, viewing, speaking and listening.
Develop as critical thinkers and creative problem solvers while building on a dynamic view of themselves as confident and discerning information users.
Extend their cultural understandings and their information competencies in increasingly complex contexts, using a range of information sources, formats and technologies as an integral part of their learning.
Use resources including literature, to further their personal growth.

RBL Outcomes:

Communicate information and ideas effectively and clearly, and to respond personally and effectively.
Select, read, and view with understanding a range of literature, information, media, visual, and audio texts.
Interpret, select and combine information using a variety of strategies, resources, and technologies.
Respond critically to a range of texts, applying their understanding of language, form, and genre.
Create texts collaboratively and independently, using a variety of forms for a range of audiences and purposes.

RBL is concerned with:

The principles which guide the selection and the organization of the content of learning materials
The use of such materials, which includes - the nature of the activities which learners will be carrying out; whether students will be working individually or in groups; the nature of the support students can get; the ways in which learning will be assessed.
Technical and professional issues, which include - the design and production of materials and the appropriate use of the various media; classification issues for cataloging or retrieval systems.

RBL Approaches:

RBL is perceived as an opportunity to promote a view of learning as an active and shared process.
RBL is conceptualized as an 'aid' to face-to-face teaching - and it is cheap once the initial investment is made.

Digital Resources:

Media have become vastly easier to produce and access; for example, high-quality, shareable digital documents have become commonplace through word processing, movie making, and desktop publishing.
Digitization has also reduced the need to warehouse resources at centralized repositories.
Digital media are now available directly from a myriad of primary sources and brokers, democratizing availability and access across a vast array of hitherto centralized resources.

Social Resources:

Blogs enable a wide distribution of ideas
Wikis enable broad distribution as well as the collaborative building of ideas.

RBL Issues:

Learning Materials: At one end of the spectrum, the authors take on the role of hidden teachers and make use of the medium of instruction to impose a structured learning path upon the learner. At the other end of the spectrum, the interactivity of the medium is exploited to allow learners to choose their own learning path and to build up their own resources either individually or collectively while providing them with supportive structures.
Individualization: Under one view, the main advantage of RBL is that it allows individual learners to progress at their own speed but on a specified path. The danger is that individualization of learning tends to become confused with the isolation of learners. Under the other view, individualization is associated with the attempt to support students' preferred learning strategies.
Learning and Feedback: Under one view, the socio-cultural nature of knowledge is given prominence. The other view tends to favor an individualistic and mentalistic approach to task construction in line with the precepts of cognitive psychology such as an emphasis on modeling activities and games where learners engage in joint interaction to achieve a goal.
Role of the Teacher: As RBL has become widespread, it has also become evident that the shift from teaching to learning which it presupposed had to be accompanied by a radical re-thinking of the function of teachers who were no longer the unique source of knowledge.

RBL Implementation:

Identify the goal or goals.
Determine acceptable student-produced artifacts including, but not limited to timelines, electronic slide shows, dramatic readings, videos, debates, postcards, reports, diaries, hierarchal web-based documents, or poster-board presentations.
Collaborate with the media specialist to plan the unit. Divide the responsibilities.
Select resources in a variety of formats which can include diaries, Web Quests, original documents, newspaper articles, magazine articles, games, poems, reference books, nonfiction books, experts, videos, museums, maps, charts, the Internet, works of art, plays, CD-ROMs, musical compositions, costumes, exhibits, PowerPoint presentations and field trips.
Create a timeline for implementation of the unit.
Schedule the media center, computer lab, guest speakers and field trips, if applicable.
Create rubrics used to evaluate student artifacts.
Evaluate student products using rubrics.
Collaboratively evaluate the effectiveness of the unit and revise appropriately.

RBL Roles:

Media Specialists play a crucial role in resource-based learning, beginning with the selection and acquisition of curriculum-supported materials.
Teachers act as coaches, facilitators or guides as their learners are sampling and manipulating information in multiple formats.

RBL Benefits:

Allows time for information gathering and reflection which in turn promotes deep learning.
Encourages learning on a topic through interaction with multiple resources.
Encourages in-depth focus on a topic which drives students to seek more relevant information and produce a product of higher quality.
Undertaking research projects enables the construction of meaning through active participation with information resources.
Promotes acquisition of effective information skills through conceptual awareness of the nature of information and its diversity.
Promotes the development of thinking skills such as problem-solving, reasoning, and critical evaluation through information handling and independent research.
Allows for information-gathering as a continuous process rather than unconnected tasks thereby encouraging the construction of knowledge at every subsequent phase.
Improves attitudes towards the library, librarian, and reading.
Improves student and teacher attitudes towards course content and academic achievement.
Connects information handling and use with subject matter which is essential for learning to take place.
Encourages information skills development through self-directed learning and reflection as opposed to teacher-directed skills instruction which may actually hinder the learning.
Allows for the active construction of personal understanding using reflection and self-assessment so information is given a context, mental model, or framework.
Discusses search strategy explicitly thereby increasing the likelihood that it will be transferred to future problem-solving situations.
Fosters enthusiasm for learning and inspired self-image through active participation.
Increases academic achievement through ongoing experience.
Promotes student access to and use of resources by linking cognitive search strategy to course-integrated instruction.
Improves research skills and fosters self-confidence in finding information by integrating library skills as part of a subject curriculum.
Increases academic achievement in subject content, attitudes, and critical thinking through a use of a variety of resources in learning.
Improves work study skills and vocabulary in the case of multi-media programs.