As I mentioned before this is my 2nd online course and I am enjoying it this one as much as my 1st one.
I have already recommended online courses to many people – family, friends, and co-workers. My hubby is considering getting his Master’s degree and I have told him “make sure you can do most of it through online courses!” I’m only (half) joking. He is very computer literate/savvy so I know he would have no problem but there are some people in my life that I told to stay away from online classes. These are the people with zero to little computer skills.
You definitely need to be more self motivated for online courses – for instance, you don’t have a professor in your face reminding you of when assignments are due.
My hubby’s sister-in-law is a professor and in the fall she will be teaching a hybrid online course. This is her first one and she asked me for input. I told her how much I love never having to miss work to attend class; or fighting traffic to get to school; or fighting for a parking spot or having to give yourself 15 or 20 minutes to walk from your car to class. Of course, she will have to deal with the technical aspects of teaching an online class.
In review online classes are a big YES for me.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Hello to everyone in LIB 3
This is my 1st blog. I created it for a previous online course I took in 2008.
I haven't posted anything to it in six months and I realized I missed my blog! :-)
I haven't posted anything to it in six months and I realized I missed my blog! :-)
Friday, December 19, 2008
LIB*21 Tutorial
This tutorial is for the physician, staff and employees at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center/Miller Children’s Hospital. Users will learn how to search the Parks Medical Library’s online catalog and A – Z lists to locate journals and books by title. Information is also included on how to order journal articles and books through the library’s Document Delivery(aka ILL ) Service for materials the Parks Medical Library does not have.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Blog # 9
Our last blog? Wow. This semester really flew by quickly.
I’ve heard about blogs for a few years but never visited one and when I saw that we had to set one up for the class I kind of panicked. I think I am pretty gosh darn computer literate – one has to be working in a library with an online catalog – but setting up and maintaining a blog? Eek!
Turns out it wasn’t quite as frightening as I imagined it to be. It is still strange to me to post assignments to a blog instead of turning in a paper as I did through all my school years. When I graduated from CSULB they had just implemented e-Reserves and my professors were not accepting papers via email or blogs. This online course has really opened my eyes to newer technologies and I must say I enjoy them.
My life is so busy right now that I doubt I will continue blogging between the end of the Fall 2008 and beginning of Spring 2009 semesters. Besides working, my sister and I are completing the (what seems like) millions of paperwork, repairs and all the other fun things that go with selling a house. But at least we had it on the market for only 2 weeks before we got a reasonable offer. Yippee! Instead of blogging I plan on spending time with my hubby and our two mutts. I can't wait. :-)
Happy Holidays to one and all!
I’ve heard about blogs for a few years but never visited one and when I saw that we had to set one up for the class I kind of panicked. I think I am pretty gosh darn computer literate – one has to be working in a library with an online catalog – but setting up and maintaining a blog? Eek!
Turns out it wasn’t quite as frightening as I imagined it to be. It is still strange to me to post assignments to a blog instead of turning in a paper as I did through all my school years. When I graduated from CSULB they had just implemented e-Reserves and my professors were not accepting papers via email or blogs. This online course has really opened my eyes to newer technologies and I must say I enjoy them.
My life is so busy right now that I doubt I will continue blogging between the end of the Fall 2008 and beginning of Spring 2009 semesters. Besides working, my sister and I are completing the (what seems like) millions of paperwork, repairs and all the other fun things that go with selling a house. But at least we had it on the market for only 2 weeks before we got a reasonable offer. Yippee! Instead of blogging I plan on spending time with my hubby and our two mutts. I can't wait. :-)
Happy Holidays to one and all!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Blog Reflection 8
I feel the need to rant! So many people assume that we sit around all day and read books or twiddle our thumbs because the computer does all the work for us. If only I got paid to read. If only computers did all the cataloging, reference and circulation work for us.
When I tell people I work in a library their eyes usually glaze over with a look that says “poor thing” or “oh…that’s nice. I guess”. I swear this happens a lot. The average person just doesn’t get it and I sincerely doubt they ever will. They see a person or two at a Circulation desk and maybe someone shelving and think that is all one needs to run a library.
For instance, teaching is such a large part of what I and fellow employees do on a daily basis. My library happens to have an OPAC available on the intranet only and accessibility to most of our resources are IP authenticated. Day after day we are asked questions that are easily answered with a little training and I have found that I enjoy teaching people how to use our resources. They are so thankful and happy to learn the correct way to do their research or studying and there are different ways we train.
One way we assist people is by participating in our hospital’s monthly new hire orientation where one of the librarians gives a short presentation outlining our library followed by a Q & A at the end of orientation. It is a great way to get people to know we exist and that we’re here to help them.
Our librarians created a PowerPoint tutorial that is posted on our intranet page with step by step directions on using the OPAC, Journal and Book A – Z Lists and Single Search. The tutorial is available to 24/7 and from anywhere in the hospital.
But by far the greatest way we teach people is one on one. Every day I am asked questions that lead to educational opportunities. The number one thing people learn is that they need to use our library’s intranet page to access databases, journals, books and evidence-based resources (among other things).
As I was suggesting before I get a little frustrated from times when people assume that “everything is on the computer”. It is my job to make sure patrons know other wise and to get the word out that working in a library is actually work. I feel better now.
When I tell people I work in a library their eyes usually glaze over with a look that says “poor thing” or “oh…that’s nice. I guess”. I swear this happens a lot. The average person just doesn’t get it and I sincerely doubt they ever will. They see a person or two at a Circulation desk and maybe someone shelving and think that is all one needs to run a library.
For instance, teaching is such a large part of what I and fellow employees do on a daily basis. My library happens to have an OPAC available on the intranet only and accessibility to most of our resources are IP authenticated. Day after day we are asked questions that are easily answered with a little training and I have found that I enjoy teaching people how to use our resources. They are so thankful and happy to learn the correct way to do their research or studying and there are different ways we train.
One way we assist people is by participating in our hospital’s monthly new hire orientation where one of the librarians gives a short presentation outlining our library followed by a Q & A at the end of orientation. It is a great way to get people to know we exist and that we’re here to help them.
Our librarians created a PowerPoint tutorial that is posted on our intranet page with step by step directions on using the OPAC, Journal and Book A – Z Lists and Single Search. The tutorial is available to 24/7 and from anywhere in the hospital.
But by far the greatest way we teach people is one on one. Every day I am asked questions that lead to educational opportunities. The number one thing people learn is that they need to use our library’s intranet page to access databases, journals, books and evidence-based resources (among other things).
As I was suggesting before I get a little frustrated from times when people assume that “everything is on the computer”. It is my job to make sure patrons know other wise and to get the word out that working in a library is actually work. I feel better now.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Blog Reflection # 7
At work I frequently have people ask me where they can find information on many different subjects. Although I work in a medical library with a great clinical medical collection I am still surprised that people use Yahoo! or Google for "answers".
Thankfully the majority of our patrons know to use PubMed or one of our subscription databases such as Ovid or MDConsult to do research, but some people still don't get it.
We refer almost everyone to our catalog where there is access to journals from EBSCO & Elsevier, among others. Don't get me wrong. I use Yahoo! and Google to search for many things...but the longer I work in a library the more I understand these search engines do not have all the answers!
I steer people clear of wikis as I don't think they can be trusted to find true, reliable information. After I inform people of the "dangers" of a wiki I demonstrate reputable sites for them to visit. LII.org is good source, as are encyclopedia.com and Encyclopedia Britannica.com (although one has to pay for this resource). If someone needs statistics I think the Center For Disease Control (www.cdc.gov) is a great one as it contains more than just medical statistics and facts.
Library employees are there, in part, to guide patrons to the appropriate resources for their needs and we need to know the pros and cons of various resources to better inform them.
Thankfully the majority of our patrons know to use PubMed or one of our subscription databases such as Ovid or MDConsult to do research, but some people still don't get it.
We refer almost everyone to our catalog where there is access to journals from EBSCO & Elsevier, among others. Don't get me wrong. I use Yahoo! and Google to search for many things...but the longer I work in a library the more I understand these search engines do not have all the answers!
I steer people clear of wikis as I don't think they can be trusted to find true, reliable information. After I inform people of the "dangers" of a wiki I demonstrate reputable sites for them to visit. LII.org is good source, as are encyclopedia.com and Encyclopedia Britannica.com (although one has to pay for this resource). If someone needs statistics I think the Center For Disease Control (www.cdc.gov) is a great one as it contains more than just medical statistics and facts.
Library employees are there, in part, to guide patrons to the appropriate resources for their needs and we need to know the pros and cons of various resources to better inform them.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The last few weeks have been a bit crazy. Between work, school and putting my house on the market I’ve been pretty gosh darn stressed out.
This is my first experience with an online class it has been a really interesting experience with my work schedule it is a better fit for me. What can be difficult is finding the time to sit down and complete an assignment. I find that an online course forces me to much more self motivated than a traditional class.
I have learned about so many new, great resources. I had never heard of Bartelby.com or looked at a Factbook before but I have found myself looking up information that has nothing to do with school work. So many people I know (and I’m guilty of this as well sometimes!) use Google or Yahoo! to search pretty much everything. Wikipedia can’t be trusted but I know plenty of folks who get there ‘information’ from them. I try to tell them that anyone can put whatever they want on a wiki without any solid references or bibliographies to back them up but they still use it.
What else can I do but give them a little information and cross my fingers?
This is my first experience with an online class it has been a really interesting experience with my work schedule it is a better fit for me. What can be difficult is finding the time to sit down and complete an assignment. I find that an online course forces me to much more self motivated than a traditional class.
I have learned about so many new, great resources. I had never heard of Bartelby.com or looked at a Factbook before but I have found myself looking up information that has nothing to do with school work. So many people I know (and I’m guilty of this as well sometimes!) use Google or Yahoo! to search pretty much everything. Wikipedia can’t be trusted but I know plenty of folks who get there ‘information’ from them. I try to tell them that anyone can put whatever they want on a wiki without any solid references or bibliographies to back them up but they still use it.
What else can I do but give them a little information and cross my fingers?
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