Look Through Any Window

In the 2006 article, Australia’s Professional Excellence Policy: Empowering School Libraries, the author describes the current state of education and teacher policy in Australia through the lens of infrastructure dynamics and through student achievement 2003 results viewed favourably at the international level by OECD (Mitchell, p.1).

Although 8 states and territories have responsibility for the delivery of education in Australia (similar to the provinces in Canada) “…strategic policy at the national level is coordinated, and national agreements, on shared objectives and interests” (Mitchell, p.1). The current quality education agenda began in 1990, according to Baldwin, 2001 with much debate (Mitchell, p.1). Such alignments parallel somewhat the Western Canadian Protocol in the 1990’s and its policy direction on assessment in the core subject areas. To my knowledge, there is yet not bona fide national policy on quality education in Canada.

Mitchell observes that while teachers “look to standards to address quality improvement and to empower participants”, fiscal policy on the other hand seeks out quantitative measures and quality assurance (Mitchell, p.2), which is not unlike the provincial realities of teachers here at odds with politically driven agendas in education.

A Standards for Teacher Librarians project brought together in 2002 libraries and information services “to review current practice and to identify…professional development priorities for currency of knowledge and…best practice” (Mitchell, p.3). This event compares to the Canadian Association for School Libraries (CASL) where a The Role of the Teacher Librarian: A Checklist for the Future refers to “specialized knowledge of learning resources and technology” and “effective strategies for developing information literacy” (also BCTLA). The initiative sought out a national consensus on standards of excellence “to improve best practice… and to enhance student learning outcomes” (Mitchell, p.3). The result: a standards document after much consultation launched nationally at the Australian School Library Association (ASLA) conference in 2005 (Mitchell, p.7).

Reference is made in the 12 standards put forth to “have a specialist knowledge of information, resources, technology and library management” (standard 1.4); “incorporate transferable information literacy”(standard 2.2); “inform professional practice” (standard 2.4); and, “actively participate in education and library professional networks” (standard 3.4).

Although the focus in this scholarly article was upon quality development in policy, from a historical and political perspective, I must admit I was disappointed that the light did not shine through the Library 2.0 window more than a cursory mention in the standards document. Perhaps, stuff of another fabric as ‘policy statements on standards’ may go further in implementation, especially since 2006 as Web 2.0 spans all borders. Follow-up may be a good starting point in edublogging.


Bibliography:
Mitchell, P. (2006) Australia’s Professional Excellence Policy: Empowering School Libraries, School Libraries Worldwide, Volume 12, Number 1, January, 2006, IASL http://www.iasl-online.org/pubs/slw/slwjan06-mitchell.html

ENGAGE ME

The authors Naslund and Giustini, in their article entitled Towards School Library 2.0: An Introduction to Social Software Tools or Teacher Librarians, touch upon the main facets of information technology as a necessary current in school life. They provide a comprehensive range of software resources that can assist in tailoring one’s teaching to include many online resources for collaboration and production. I have perused the sites noted in the bibliography and believe that such exposure has given me a glimpse of what I can begin to accomplish using the right tools at the right time.

According to Harris (2005):“School Library 2.0 is about creating a participatory, user-centered environment rich in technology that is focused on interactivity and collaboration. This transformation must be based on one primary goal-student success” (Naslund and Giustini, p.56).

The online tutorial found entitled Learning 2.0 can be found at http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/ and includes many tools and sites worth exploring- that have been reviewed in previous articles; Blogger, Flickr, Odeo (podcasting), YouTube, PB wiki, Bloglines (RSS reader). This would prove to be a good launch site for me as a T-L learner (Naslund and Giustini, p.56).

Having access to edublog lists as well may prove useful in making contact and building up curriculum. The authors suggest a website that reaches out to T-L’s and includes sections of children and adolescent literature; librarian and associations (Naslund and Giustini, p. 57): http://aliceyucht.pbwiki.com/EduBiblioBlogList .

‘Engage Me’ is a theme that has permeated most articles in that the Digital Natives, iGen, or M Generation are moving the dynamics of learning into a new world arena. The YouTube clip entitled A Vision of K-12 Students Today states facts about work, teaching and the future: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8 (Naslund and Giunni, p. 59) that could provide a start point discussion of what to do ‘in our school’.

“Wikis are a way to track ideas and evaluate information technologies from critical perspectives” (Naslund and Giustini, p.60). To this end, an interesting approach: Wikijunior books that provide platforms for students to produce non-fiction material, up to age 12 at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/wikijunior . The authors further propose a valuable combination of tools specifically for T-L’s where lessons and materials are shared at a Teacher Librarian wiki: http://teacherlibrarianwiki.pbwiki.com/ and http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/ . Classification of information by students is an important skill to apply and can be facilitated by Furl which is a bookmarking site where students can highlight and organize excerpts from sources at http://www.furl.net/ (Naslund and Giustini, p.61).

Social Networking Sites (SNSs), in particular Facebook, specifically an Information Literacy Interest Group (ILIG) of the Canadian Library Association connects T-L’s and purports that LibraryThing at http://www.librarything.com/ can link up to OPAC library systems as an innovative, clearly visually appealing means of book cataloguing and access (e.g. book cover, reviews, summary, links to similar books) that may prove quite useful for staff and students, according to the authors.

Microblogging (e.g. Twitter and Tumblr) may prove more efficicient in responding to messages form colleagues and students instead of blogging (naslund and Giustini, p.62).

Voicethread is an ‘online media album’ where students can present and respond form around the world (e.g. Science Fair project). I find this site quite promising with lots of potential as a presentation / interactive platform at http://voicethread.com/#home (Naslund and Giustini, p.64).

One of the most impressive sites from Animoto allows educators to input audio and video into projects http://animoto.com/business/education while GoogleDocs and Zoho provide possibilities for collaborative authoring, according to Valenza, 2007 (Naslund and Giustini, p.64). Other recommended sources are http://www.slideshare.net/ for PowerPoint slides, http://www.teachertube/ for videos and Bubbleshare, Picasa or Flickr for photos, according to Shwarzwalder, 2007 (Naslund and Giustini, p.63).

“Managing information in the digital era means engaging in experimentation: shaping, creating and integrating textual, visual, special and aural elements for the purposes of meaning-making” (Naslund and Giustini, p.64).

‘Emerging cognitive landscapes’ with open source software opens doors to diverging possibilities (Naslund and Giustini, p.65).

On a final note from Alan November (2007): “The workers of tomorrow will manage their own productivity and seek structure collaborations from around the world” (Naslund and Gisutini, p.65). T-L’s can play a vital role in providing the tools needed to shape the workers.


Bibliography:

Naslund, J., Giusini, D. (2008). Towards School Library 2.0: An Introduction to Social Software Tools or Teacher Librarians. School Libraries Worldwide, Volume 14, Number 2, July, 2008 (pp. 55-67) IASL

Learning 2.0 (2009) http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/

Edublog (2009) http://aliceyucht.pbwiki.com/EduBiblioBlogList

YouTube (2009) A Vision of K-12 Students Today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8

Wikijunior (2009) http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/wikijunior

TeacherLibrarian (2009) http://teacherlibrarianwiki.pbwiki.com/
Wikispaces (2009) http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/

Furl (2009) http://www.furl.net/

LibraryThing (2009) http://www.librarything.com/

VoiceThread (2009) http://voicethread.com/#home

Animato (2009) http://animoto.com/business/education

Of Avatars and Islands

Authors Kemp and Haycock report on San Jose State University’s experience with Second Life, a virtual campus, begun in 2006. The article entitled Immersive Environments in Parallel Universes: Learning Through Second Life explains how teacher-librarians can obtain a degree in Library and Information Science (LIS) using creativity in exploratory and inventive environments. The program has potential for growth and platforms similar to Vista (e.g. Blackboard Learning Systems at UBC) need to exist in order to deepen the learning (Kemp and Haycock, p.93).

What is Second Life? as concept is aptly explained as a city garden metaphor inviting people ‘to let your imagination grow’ at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt5YVG4n2bA . The program has proven popular with 12 million user accounts registered in 2008 which is a 3600% increase since its inception in 2006.

The San Jose State U Second Life Island (SJSU SLIS) campus tour at http://www.youtube.com/user/jeremykemp provides a visual explanation of campus islands (e.g. research & development; student union; presentation & classrooms; teacher sandbox; neighbourhoods) and avatars (student persona) who attend and participate in non-violent simulations on a variety of topics (Kemp and Haycock, p.91). The authors report that work needs to be done in aligning more quests & lectures with portfolios & reflections and in reducing graffiti and virtual abuse that infiltrates at beginning stages (Kemp and Haycock, p.93).

“Timeliness is no longer a function of geography but rather of psychological presence (Garrison et all, 1999) and transactional distance (Moore, 1993) between teacher and student” (Kemp and Haycock, p. 89). The authors believe that future librarians will be creating ‘virtual space’ that match the techno-literate novice and experienced learners’ approach to solutions, interactions and productions (Kemp and Haycock, p.90), found to be embedded in a tumultuous phrase, ‘digital natives and digital immigrants’ alluded by Prensky, 2001 (Kemp and Haycock, p.96).

LLED 462 uses thread messages and document/media file uploads as noted in this article on Distance Education. There seems to be a ‘2.0 wave’ moving in post-secondary education and multi-user virtual environments show promise with estimates at 80% of Internet users exploiting such worlds by 2011 (Wagner, 2007). Kemp and Haycock then briefly describe the most popular virtual worlds as fantasy, role-play motifs: World of Warcraft, Lineage and Runescape (Woodcock, 2008). They also note two platforms for educational purposes that would be worth exploring: Active Worlds according to Barab et al, 2001 and NeverWinter Nights according to Baker, 2008 (Kemp and Haycock, p.91).

The authors include the LIS core competencies at: http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/slis/competencies.htm which reveals the essential skills at play. The Virtual Worlds Conference outlined at Infoisland (http://infoisland.org) would be a wonderful technology fair to attend with varied workshops being presented on April 24-25, 2009. The theme is Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education , Museums (VW LEM). One topic of interest would be VW LEM: Opportunities for children, tweens and teens. Lots to learn!


Bibliography:

Infoisland, 2008. (http://infoisland.org)

Kemp, J., Haycock, K. (2008). Immersive Environments in Parallel Universes: Learning Through Second Life School Libraries Worldwide, Volume 14, Number 2, July, 2008 (pp. 89-97), IASL http://schoollibrariesworldwide-vol14no2.blogspot.com/

Library and Information Science (2008). Core Competencies. http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/slis/competencies.htm

What is Second Life? (2008). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt5YVG4n2bA

Second Life SJSU Campus Tour (2008). http://www.youtube.com/user/jeremykemp

PLAY ME

Kathy Sanford, author of the article entitled Videogames in the Library? What is the World Coming to? Supports the notion of videogames as a skill building medium. “The structure of 21st century libraries support learning in a wide range of ways, including small group interaction, independent learning, self-paced learning and large group interaction’ (Sanford, p.85). She purports that a series of skills through play engage learners for the 21st century reality calling for leadership, competition, teamwork and collaboration (Jenkins, 2000). Personal responsibility to team members and learning through history and community via virtual worlds enables learners / players to make real-life associations (Sanford, p.85).

Interpretations of symbol systems in a multicultural world such as “maps, numbers, patterns” noted by Sanford and Madill, 2007 and physical skill development (e.g. Wii games) affirms that gaming is an active enterprise of practice, strategizing and goal setting; where choices are made in the face of challenge- a training ground, so to speak, for personal goal setting and graduated attainment (Sanford, p.85).

Fluidity from individual to group learning and engagement support Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (1978) and Gee’s regime of competence (2003) according to the author (p. 86).

Design concepts and semiotics (symbols) are being applied by students to game creation. These observations imply a high level of sophistication on multimodal levels through intertextuality, discovery and transfer (Sanford, p. 86). I’m especially interested in game development by students using GameMaker and Stagecast - tools to be explored as the learning processes involve symbol systems, practice, reflection / anticipation, experimentation, application / modification, evaluation and refinement (Sanford, p. 85) – rich, fertile ground to motivate learners. Captions invite learners to make and explore simulations and to learn thinking skills in the process in Stagecast. There is an age range in GameMaster for certain games (e.g. ages 7 or over; ages 16 or over) which obliges adult monitoring, access control and commercial filtering to some games

Issues such as access, usefulness, interaction and connection are lenses through which all library resources need to be filtered - video games being one, according to the author. As students live in a ‘videogame’ world, tapping such a resource makes sense to connect to learners on their ‘turf’ and may prove beneficial for 21st century applications (Sanford, p.87).

Bibliography:

Sanford, K. (2008). Videogames in the Library? What is the World Coming to? School Library Worldwide, Volume 14, Number 2, July, 2008 (pp.83-88), IASL
http://schoollibrariesworldwide-vol14no2.blogspot.com/

GameMaster (2009). www.eagames.co.uk/games

Stagecast (2009). www.stagecast.com

Seeking Higher Ground

I must admit that the Friese’s article entitled Pop Culture in the School Library: Enhancing Literacies Traditional and New rings true for me in that engagement with print has multiple entry points. I have reluctant readers, both boys and girls, who gravitate toward popular, media saturated texts in the library, such a Lego, Bob The Builder, Tintin, Smurfs, Babar and Graphic Novels (Bone, Superman, Baby Mouse).

The author provides six reasons to include such literature in library collections. The main argument is “We are providing students tools not just for reading words and images, but for negotiating the complex world of multimodal information and texts” (Friese, p.79). Drawing upon such entry points leads to pop culture venues that include character analysis, gender influence, the cult of heroes and the complexities within the ‘culture’ itself that lend well to peer communication and exploration, especially when strategically orchestrated by a teacher-librarian where links to similar texts / themes can be revealed.

The author believes that the motivation of the learner, a sense of belonging and voice and the library’s responsiveness to personal interests will go a long way. “When we include popular culture texts in collections, they become materials for teaching critical media literacy and information literacy skills” (Friese, p.80). Stephen Krashen’s term ‘light reading’ does fuel the notion of motivating and hooking the student through comics, magazines and graphic novels (Friese, p. 71). The author of this article seeks ‘cohesion between traditional and digital age skills’ and as I understand it; by linking to what students already know, we are in fact bridging ‘funds of knowledge’ noted by (Gonzalez et al, 2005) for students of disadvantaged families to parallel ‘cultural capital’ termed by Bourdieu (2007) for ‘high culture’ families (Friese, p.85). Depending on the school population, a teacher-librarian could plan out varied approaches to engaging learners.

Briefly, the six reasons to include pop culture in library collections, according to Friese:
- student identity
- making connections
- building background knowledge
- using multimodal approach embedded in commercial products
- enhancing critical media literacy by uncrating universal themes & roles
- a microcosm to building meaning

Comparing times past, present and into the future, there remains one constant, that is, whatever literacy tool collection we possess in our tool kit, the more varied the collection, the better chance we have of choosing the right tool or combination of strategies for understanding the situation before us. In this case, I do support the author’s position of including multimodal pop culture literature in library collections to motivate learners in making meaning through personal and negotiated connections. Fuel for the 21st century.


Bibliography:

Friese, E. (2008). Pop Culture in the School Library: Enhancing Literacies Traditional and New, School Libraries Worldwide, Volume 14, Number 2, July, 2008 (pp. 68-82), IASL
http://schoollibrariesworldwide-vol14no2.blogspot.com/

Opening Doors to Active Reading

Kopak’s article entitled Open Access and the Open Journal Systems: Making Sense All Over opens doors. What better way than to engage readers in a total reading /writing environment (Kopak, p.52) that immerses the audience in making meaning through links and tools that are accessible simultaneously. The author shows examples of such textual applications with reference to right margin cues: Abstract, Review Policy, Citation Protocol, Key Word Search, Supplementary Files, Book Searches, Related Studies, Media Reports, Email Author – all to engage the reader in current and reliable information, noting that literacy levels need to be considered in light of targeted audience if an educator wishes to use such a system as OJS. What is most impressive is that Direct Annotation noted by Shilit et al, 1998 (Kopak, 49) is viewed as an active reading strategy in which the reader can include personal notes and links to comparable sources which implies a critical engagement with information (Kopak, p.47).

Such an initiative promoted by scholars in the Public Knowledge Project means greater access to publicly-funded research documents attainable in a directory at http://www.doaj.org/. At last count over 3900 journals could be accessed free ranging from arts to science (Kopak, p.51). Now this shows once more the accelerated development of New Literacies embedding connectivity.

The notion of demand-pull learning is action oriented where learners are engaged dynamically with others and moves away from the traditional supply-push model of filling heads with knowledge according to Adler and Brown in Educause, 2008 (Kopak, p.52).

The Open Journal System (OJS) looks promising and fits with the creative commons movement of exponential learning. School teams could engage in such practice, as may very well be the case now, when one considers Inspiration software linking to databases that can be shared in blogs and wikis.

Bibliography:

Kopak, K. (2008). Open Access and the Open Journal Systems: Making Sense All Over School Libraries Worldwide (SLW),Volume 14, Number 2, July, 2008 (pp. 45-54) IASL
http://schoollibrariesworldwide-vol14no2.blogspot.com/

The Directory of Open Access Journals (2009). http://www.doaj.org/

IMAGINE...

McPherson, in his article entitled Shaping Global Criticality with School Libraries (SLW, pp. 35-44) invites teacher-librarians to view Global Criticality much like a fabric of social networking by implying ‘a convergence and divergence of thought, capital, culture and communications’ (Leu, 2001). By focusing on multilinguistic, multicultural and multimodal communication environments we can in fact engage students in real world applications that beckon us to envision such repercussions / implications on the world scene (McPherson, p. 40). Schools can play a vital role in prescribing multiple meaning making skills traversing cultures in a global stream to solve problems, provide relief efforts and even establish resourceful international economic ties (Bad Math et al, 2006).

From micro to macro levels, participation in a ‘plurality of difference’ (Kalantzis & Cope, 2006) reinforces the power of ONE person, one classroom, one school making a difference, one million times over… as the author invites and challenges the reader to IMAGINE the beneficial effect of people thinking clearly, feeling deeply, acting wisely (outcome aspirations as noted on ABC televised special of Multiple Intelligences, 1991).

McPherson brings home through survey findings, despite the encouraging note on the potential of Global Criticality, that 70% of youth using the Internet impress as vulnerable and need guidance in assessing the validity and authenticity of information (Media Awareness Network, 2005). The author supports similar findings by Ross Todd in Youth and Their Virtual Networked Worlds (IASL, 2008). He further states that 60% of favourite websites for youth are violent or sexualized in content. Schools can intercept this negative influence by educating students on key concepts and critical approaches to take in order to decipher message meanings and remain safe in the process. McPherson includes lesson lists from the Center for Media Literacy that are grouped at high school, intermediate and elementary levels. I’ve randomly checked some of the lessons and plan to include them in my teaching (http://www.medialit.org/).

Symbol systems that converse across diverse contexts and reflective processes that adapt and maintain flexibility emerge as significant factors in transforming our understanding and ultimately our actions in relation to Self, Others and the World (McPherson, p.37).

I support McPherson’s notion that as school libraries engage ‘multiliteracy and multimodality instruction’ they will be taking the right steps toward meeting the needs of global learners for their global futures (McPherson, p. 35).

Bibliography:

McPherson, K. (2008). Shaping Global Criticality with School Libraries. School Libraries Worldwide, Volume 14, Number 2, July, 2008 (pp. 35-44), IASL
http://schoollibrariesworldwide-vol14no2.blogspot.com/

Center for Media Literacy (2008). Five Key Questions That Can Change the World: Deconstructing Media Cornerstone lesson plans for K-12 across the curriculum
http://www.medialit.org/

Choose your attitude

In Ross Todd’s introduction to his article on ‘youth and their virtual networked worlds’ reference is made to a new paradigm wherein the school library morphs into an information technology environment to accommodate new learners and new learner styles. The author’s borrowed metaphor of libraries turning on the light says it all (Prensky, 2008, pp. 41, 42): the main challenge for schools is to harness the social networking phenomenon while integrating knowledge creation and expression in the Web 2.0 world. School communities must provide leadership and guidance in social conventions through personal contact and direct experience.

Evidence from researchers reveals that ‘students need to apply retrieval and search capabilities in their learning and that school libraries can play a central role to reshape instructional and access practices’ (Rowlands & Nicholas, 2008, p. 23). Another cited author in this article views the Web 2.0 as the ‘next phase of the information society’, as ‘architecture of participation’ and a ‘commons of cyberspace’ (Harrigan, 2007, p.24). Todd refers to further studies where social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, MySpace, Tagged, Bebo) have grown exponentially in 2006-07 especially in Europe and North America (200 million, mainly Caucasian at present) and that teacher-librarians must imagine a different information landscape, being adventurous to explore these networks building on potential in school life.

Accordingly, the older generations are making greater use of Web 2.0 technologies in information creation and dissemination, which I believe bodes well for the future of inter-generational understanding as it reveals our capacity to adapt and pursue lifelong learning, also essential in bridging ‘digital and print terrain’. I support Todd’s position that searching out social network sites / tools and assessing them for ourselves as teachers then integrating what is beneficial to inquiry, knowledge construction and communication will be fertile ground for libraries and schools.(Todd, p.31-32).

The potential for growth remains the same at whatever age… as noted in the following You Tube creation on the timeless theme of choosing one's attitude ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

Bibliography:

Todd, R. (2008). Youth and their Virtual Networked Worlds: Research Findings and Implications for School Libraries, School Wide Libraries (p.19-32), IASL.

http://schoollibrariesworldwide-vol14no2.blogspot.com/ and

http://asselindoiron.pbwiki.com/SLW14%3A2+AsselinDoiron

You Tube. U@50 (2007). Sponsored by The American Association of Retired People (AARP). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

A Literacy of Fusion

The International Association of School Librarianship SLW’s journal website displays a foundational article entitled Transformative Pedagogy (Asselin & Doiron). The authors’ work has already influenced my view on learning. Here it goes deeper by defining principles for teaching under How To Teach and What To Teach categories as well as a framework for schools and school libraries to engage student, school and community interests in ‘a literacy of fusion’. The metaphor of school library as brain or nerve centre then adds a dynamic, interactive, expansive image to the learning environment.


“Adolescents direct change within societies, they are the harbingers of the future…Internet enters their lives” (Leu et al, 2007). The characteristics of 2.0 Learners, categorized under processes and constructed identity, explain the Net Generation as ‘action-oriented problem solvers’ in need of critical literacy, among others, in ethics, creativity, diversity, flexibilty and social justice. The three dimensional framework of Damico, Baildon and Campano (2005) brings the operational, academic and critical streams into view, with the learner’s necessary focus on choice, discipline conventions and interpretation. The authors have drawn from their own research and above-noted sources, among others. Transformative Pedagogy is solid from the ground up and provides me with a blueprint that must be internalized into my own teaching and learning.


Bibliography:

Asselin, M., Doiron, R., (2008). Towards a Transformative Pedagogy for School Libraries, School Wide Libraries, Volume 14, Number 2, July, 2008 (p.1-18), IASL

http://schoollibrariesworldwide-vol14no2.blogspot.com/ and

http://asselindoiron.pbwiki.com/SLW14%3A2+AsselinDoiron

A Blogger's Dozen Revisited

By looking, reading and living in a 'controlled floundering' state, I realize that blogs, wikis, tags, archives, gadgets, widgets, mash ups, tumblelogs, wayfinding and podcasts are some of terms & tools needed to understood and experienced to gain membership in ...
Classroom 2.0.

Many forms of media today (plural for medium, here) interact in multiples and continue to expand the concept of information literacy and collaborative technologies, launching 'me & we' into a new realm of 'connectivity' that transcends traditional barriers, beckoning to the future. Kurzweil stating "...a million times more powerful... transformative" puts it into perspective.

My job as teacher and learner is to immerse myself in these media and to be engaged fully in the practice for the common good, in knowledge creation and in solution-finding, locally and globally, that can make a difference to others. Codes of Practice, Creative Commons, Literacy Initiatives and Authentic Voices are some of the 'wave particles' making it possible.


I realize that I know very little about this 'new world literacy' and that it's important to embark in order to do, to know and to understand if I am to teach competently in this 21st century. Time to get on board, adopting Generation M's approach, to play and learn! A quote comes to mind that is attributed to Henry Ford, American car magnate, and I believe it describes a universal human attribute that is as relevant today as it would be in his time: "If you think you can, or if you think you can't, you are probably right".