Throughout this course, I participated consistently both by posting on the discussion board and responding to others’ posts (abbreviated in citations as DB). In both cases my input was well thought out, relevant, and had worthwhile content. I also reflected regularly and thoughtfully in my learning journal in response to the material at hand. These discussions and reflections contributed to my work in the course assignments and supported my learning. Overall, I feel that I showed excellent participation, contributing fully and effectively throughout.
As I went through the course, I engaged critically with the course materials and posted my thoughts to the course site for discussion, which expanded my learning on the topics. The most important instance of this was with regards to the metadata article by Chris Taylor we read for lesson 3. After observing several statements in the article that didn’t seem right to me, I checked the date of the article, which turned out to be 1999. As the article was concerned with search engines, I didn’t feel that this information was appropriate. In response, I posted my concern to the course site (DB Course Readings, Jan 15), reflected on it in my blog and went in search of more appropriate information. I spoke to friends who work in the field, and located a variety of other sources, including an article I posted the discussion board (DB Course Readings, Jan 17). By becoming involved and thinking critically, I supplemented my learning on the topic, and ended up with a fuller understanding of the issues at hand. I posted on the discussion board to share my findings and open the topic up to discussion with the class (DB Lesson 3, Jan 16).
Another example of how reading the material actively supported my learning occurred in lesson 2 on the topic of access to online information. In doing the lesson, I made a connection to an article I had read and reflected upon in a previous course. I linked to the previous blog posting in my learning journal, and added it to the discussion of the material on the course site (DB Lesson 2 Jan 9). This began a brief thread discussing censorship on the site. By making connections and sharing another article with the class, I was able to approach this idea from a different perspective than I had previously, and helped me see different sides of the material at hand.
In this course I worked to apply my learning from the discussions and reflections to my work on the assignments. My first attempt at a MARC record, for the lesson 6 activity, was one such learning process. I began by trying a copy and replace method, using a record I’d pulled from a library site. I reflected on this on my blog, and shared the attempt posted there on the discussion board (DB Lesson 6 Jan 29). In response, the instructor posted a set of the suggestions on how to improve this first attempt, encouraging me to focus more on the guides available online, than trying to go from one record to another. When faced with making more MARC records for Assignment 2, I was determined to apply what I’d learned in the first attempt to do better. Teresa and I collaborate to work through the process carefully, and ended up producing a set of records we were much happier with. Teresa included some reflection on our process in her response to the assignment. When faced with a similar type of information in lesson 7, which I completed after the assignment, I reflected on the discussion board and in my learning journal that “once I got started, I noticed that after doing the cataloguing project, understanding this stuff is getting much easier!” (DB Lesson 7 Mar 8, CIP activity)
Discussing my ideas with others supported my learning in this course. In lesson 10, I wrote a post that mentioned that my district catalogued centrally (DB Lesson 10 Mar 23). This is more expensive for the two French immersion school because all the French resources required original cataloguing, as no other school are buying French resources. This was something that had always struck me as problematic. One of the responses to my posting was by Doni, in regards to this issue. She expressed that it seemed unfair, and discussed possible solutions. Reading this, I realised that I has been annoyed by this disparity, but probably unjustly, and responded to her comments in a more balanced way (DB Lesson 10 Mar 24). Her response and discussing it with her helped me to frame my thinking, and temper my reactions on this topic.
In this course, I engaged critically with the material. I learned from the activities, reflected on my errors, and demonstrated improvement based on this. I was able to rethink issues and frame my thinking with the help of discussion with others. All told, I showed excellent participation, and I learned a lot from this aspect of the course.
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