Theme three, in my opinion, is the nitty gritty of the course. Theme one was about establishing a foundation, theme two was about management and evaluating, but theme three is about the materials themselves. In lesson 8, we discussed the deep web and learned about grey literature. In my opinion, the grey literature aspect was the part that most resonated with me as I had never encountered the term before. There was some discussion going on in the forum about the existence of the dark web, which I also found interesting. I watched a Buzzfeed video a few months ago about the dark web (How Scary is the Dark Web?, 2018) which I didn't find particularly appropriate or adding to the discussion on the forum, but was nevertheless reminded of it based on the discussions which were going on. My main takeaway from lesson 8 is the importance of the teacher-librarian in any school to be mindful and practice appropriate search terms. So often we forget that our students have not yet been taught how to search for information, and the responsibility falls on the teacher-librarian for guidance. Lesson 9 focused mainly on databases for the purpose of understanding how important their role is in our schools. I have never worked in a school which has provided students access to electronic databases, mostly because in the schools I have worked in there has been very little support of teacher-librarians, and very little emphasis on the teaching and learning which takes places in the school library learning commons. In all honesty, by not providing our students with access to databases, we are setting them up for failure - and this mostly applies to students in the upper grades (9-12), as a significant number of them are headed toward post-secondary institutions which do not consider Wikipedia or a google search to be an adequate source for research. I found the cost associated with a number of quotes for databases to be extreme. I requested a quote and a trial from EBSCO, who recently got back to me, which quoted the school at $1000 for the use of four databases. When I approached my principal about it, he said there was no way we could afford a yearly subscription. Image source: http://www.onlinereferencecentre.ca/ What I did appreciate is that many of the databases available to schools are available free of charge by the Alberta government, as they have an Online Reference Centre where a teacher can log in with their information and obtain resources from a variety of sources. After a number of different questions, and a few different reminders, our Alberta Education representative gave us the information we need to be able to access the resources, and my whole school is thrilled! Lesson 10 was an excellent reminder about using bibliographies, biographies, and directories as reference materials. In the discussion forum, we discussed how at times we as students may go to the bibliography of a text and search out materials to keep reading. I often find myself looking toward the authority of sources before considering a source reliable or unreliable. We were also reminded Riedling's mention of evaluating the cost, accuracy, comprehensiveness, currency, and ease of use of reference materials. The activity we completed in lesson 10 was exploring the different formats of databases. I generally find using databases easy and well-refined, however, I do get frustrated when the results page takes me to a whole host of other sites with different layouts. I did comment in the forum that I prefer PDF results, which is even better if it is searchable. I was frustrated (and remember my frustration vividly) with how one e-book was available to download only by separate chapters. Again, I understand why (because one file could be too large), but am frustrated with the choice that was made. Lesson 11 brought us to generalized and specialized encyclopedias, where we discussed in the forum at length established vs. citizen-built encyclopedias. I appreciated the back-and-forth in the forum, as I also felt at a loss for which is truly "better". The conclusion I came to (among others) is that if the purpose of the encyclopedia is for academic research, the established encyclopedia would be the appropriate research material. However, if using the citizen-built encyclopedia is used as a springboard to access other materials for research, it may be put to good use. Lesson 12 was a wonderful learning opportunity for me as we examined physical copies vs electronic copies of dictionaries and thesauri in the discussion forum. From my opinion, there was very little reason to say one was "better" than the other, but that it is important to provide access to students to ensure they are able to participate with others. I appreciated the note that was made about alphabetization, especially since we often put items in alphabetical order as adults without realizing that is what we are doing. I also appreciate how other teachers see the value in having both kinds of resources available to students to compare and contrast. My favourite part of our discussion was the adopted game that one of my colleagues mentioned: to have a word of the week and students can look up the definition in the dictionary, write it down, and enter to win a prize.
References [BuzzFeedVideo.] (2018, November 10). How Scary Is The Dark Web? [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGAV7MPw0_U
Bookselfpublishing. (2016, January 17). Ebook vs print book [Digital image]. Retrieved March 30, 2019, from https://visual.ly/community/infographic/business/ebook-vs-print-book Government of Alberta. (n.d.). Online Reference Centre. Retrieved March 30, 2019, from http://www.onlinereferencecentre.ca/ Government of Alberta. (n.d.). Online Reference Centre. Retrieved March 30, 2019, from http://www.learnalberta.ca/OnlineReferenceCentre.aspx?lang=en National Geographic. (n.d.). Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada [Digital image]. Retrieved March 30, 2019, from https://www.amazon.ca/Indigenous-Peoples-Canadian-Geographical-Geographic/dp/0986751626/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531148078&sr=8-1&keywords=indigenous peoples atlas of canada JustScience. (2018, February 12). How is google search changing us? [Digital image]. Retrieved March 30, 2019, from http://www.justscience.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/how-is-google-search-changing-us.jpg Riedling, A. M. (2005). Reference skills for the school library media specialist: Tools and tips. Worthington, OH: Linworth Books.
2 Comments
Aaron Mueller
3/31/2019 07:49:44 am
Well done reflection and tour through theme 3 of our course. Your key highlights, new learning and reinforced ideas were shared well with good comments and discussion. You've linked up many of our course texts and other useful online resources and references to support your reflections and goals moving forward. Overall, a good look back at your experiences and new learning the last few weeks.
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Raquel
4/4/2019 05:48:16 am
Hello Krista,
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