The week 8 assignments really helped pull everything together that we have learned so far. The discussion topic was thought provoking and an interesting topic to discuss and read about. The alternative sources assignment gave me some more resources to use for my topic, and again showed me some other ways to research something that I had never experienced or known about before.
The source selections and research process draft was challenging to put all together and I found areas where my research so far was lacking. I feel that I have some more work to do before those are finalized for the pathfinder project.
I look forward to finishing my pathfinder this week and completing the course! It's been fun!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Week 7
Week 7 was an informative week. I had never used the many advanced features of Internet search engines and other various methods of searching on the Internet. I use Google frequently, but didn't even know of the advanced options and other search features that Google has.
I feel more confidant writing annotations and evaluating websites as well. I now realize that just because something is on the Internet, that does not always make it accurate and true. It is important to know the source and background information of the website and its author.
I look forward to week 8!
Finally, attached is a picture of recent addition boy number five. Welcome Gabriel!
I feel more confidant writing annotations and evaluating websites as well. I now realize that just because something is on the Internet, that does not always make it accurate and true. It is important to know the source and background information of the website and its author.
I look forward to week 8!
Finally, attached is a picture of recent addition boy number five. Welcome Gabriel!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Week 6
This week's lesson was learning how to use periodical databases and making search plans and strategies. I found the search strategy useful for mapping out which terms could also be used to find the desired results. I feel that it helps organize your thoughts better then randomly trying our various keywords.
Through developing a search strategy, I came up with several new key words to add to my research plan. I found that the search results that I was coming up with were often too general or not in the right direction that related to my topic. Searching more specifically, such as NAFTA and its advantages/disadvantages, helps narrow down the search results and receives more relevant results.
Through developing a search strategy, I came up with several new key words to add to my research plan. I found that the search results that I was coming up with were often too general or not in the right direction that related to my topic. Searching more specifically, such as NAFTA and its advantages/disadvantages, helps narrow down the search results and receives more relevant results.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Journal Week 5
Another fun week, this week we learned about MLA citation and annotations. The first assignment was on MLA citations. I found this fairly easy in concept, however making sure I had all of the right information in the right spot was a little trickier then I thought it'd be.
The second assignment was on annotations, which I found pretty straight forward and helpful when doing my third assignment.
The third assignment was citing sources from my topic on free trade and writing annotations for those sources. I found that the first two assignments helped me greatly with this and made it easier to understand.
In closing, I'm very happy to say that I'm all caught up on my assignments. I can't wait until week 6!
The second assignment was on annotations, which I found pretty straight forward and helpful when doing my third assignment.
The third assignment was citing sources from my topic on free trade and writing annotations for those sources. I found that the first two assignments helped me greatly with this and made it easier to understand.
In closing, I'm very happy to say that I'm all caught up on my assignments. I can't wait until week 6!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Journal Week4
Well this was an interesting week of assignments for me. You can probably tell as this post is a little late. I started out doing my week 3 visit to an academic Library and that went pretty good. I learned a lot and most importantly I became comfortable and familiar with the Library again. I can not believe that I haven't been in a library since 1994.
Starting week 4 assignments went pretty good I was able to do the research on the word Canuck and completed the first part of that assignment on time. I liked that assignment because I grew up on the border and used that word a lot. The second part of that assignment was late because of some reasons I will state at the end of my blog. I like this second part because it reminded me not to take things at face value and to always seek the truth in all things so that I might be better educated.
The assignment in week 4 to develop a research plan was an easy one foe me. When we were first told about our Pathfinders I had written down an outline for the idea that I had. So some of this assignment was already done. It was funny though, I ended up revising most of my originkl outline to better suit my topic as it has changed a little from the beginning.
The next assignment and the last one for week four was on selecting information resources. It had us watch a program on the computer frompenn state that was to teach us about an information cycle. The example that they used for this was Columbine and how the media coverage and articles on it changed over time. I found this example disturbing, but I did learn what was being taught and that was to think about what kind of information you need within the information cycle so that you can know where best to find that information. I appliesd that to my pathfinder topic.
Now the reason that I have disappeared off of the face of the earth for that last four days was that I was out of town unexpectedly until last night. My uncle had overdosed on some diet pills and was in the Hospital here in Wenatchee, and then my employer had to leave all of a sudden to the coast because he has a dear friend that is now in the hospital. For those of you that do not know what I do for a living, I am a personal care giver for an elderly man with MS. All of this going on and two of my kids have come down with strep throat and I have been trying to quarentine them form the new baby. I had to call my mother in law to come and help while I was away on the coast. Well I am back the kids are better, my uncle is going to be better, and my boss's friend is stable. I know that this next week will be better because I don't think anything could have been as badf as this week. Thanks for being patient with me everyone.
Starting week 4 assignments went pretty good I was able to do the research on the word Canuck and completed the first part of that assignment on time. I liked that assignment because I grew up on the border and used that word a lot. The second part of that assignment was late because of some reasons I will state at the end of my blog. I like this second part because it reminded me not to take things at face value and to always seek the truth in all things so that I might be better educated.
The assignment in week 4 to develop a research plan was an easy one foe me. When we were first told about our Pathfinders I had written down an outline for the idea that I had. So some of this assignment was already done. It was funny though, I ended up revising most of my originkl outline to better suit my topic as it has changed a little from the beginning.
The next assignment and the last one for week four was on selecting information resources. It had us watch a program on the computer frompenn state that was to teach us about an information cycle. The example that they used for this was Columbine and how the media coverage and articles on it changed over time. I found this example disturbing, but I did learn what was being taught and that was to think about what kind of information you need within the information cycle so that you can know where best to find that information. I appliesd that to my pathfinder topic.
Now the reason that I have disappeared off of the face of the earth for that last four days was that I was out of town unexpectedly until last night. My uncle had overdosed on some diet pills and was in the Hospital here in Wenatchee, and then my employer had to leave all of a sudden to the coast because he has a dear friend that is now in the hospital. For those of you that do not know what I do for a living, I am a personal care giver for an elderly man with MS. All of this going on and two of my kids have come down with strep throat and I have been trying to quarentine them form the new baby. I had to call my mother in law to come and help while I was away on the coast. Well I am back the kids are better, my uncle is going to be better, and my boss's friend is stable. I know that this next week will be better because I don't think anything could have been as badf as this week. Thanks for being patient with me everyone.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Journal Week 3
Well, week 3 is here and gone. I have had an eventful one too. My fifth baby boy was born this last Thursday at 5:03 in the morning. We named him Gabriel Guy Byington. He is so perfect. We have been truly blessed. Because of this unexpected arrival as he wasn't due for another two weeks, I have not been able to visit an academic library yet. I plan on doing that this next Thursday , but I won't be posting about it this week.
As for the rest of the assignments, I have found them interesting and straight forward. I have to say not to sound like a brown nose or anything, but the assignments in this online class are by far the easiest to follow. Professor Walls does an excellent job lining them out for us.
The first assignment this week was on Organizing information. It wanted us to understand and think about different ways to organize collections of data or any other collections we could think of. This assignment for me was fun as I have collected Basketball cards since 1991. I was able to share some of the ways I have collated my collection over the years and through this process I was able to think of a few new ways.
The second assignment was concerning the world of the database. We were required to like at our academic libraries periodical database as well as Proquest which is a database of articles from magazines and different sources of that nature. I found this assignment a little difficult at first until I became familiar with surfing the different databases. I also learned the value of keywords and which fields to use to narrow your results for researech. These lessons are going to come in handy for our pathfinder.
The third and las one that I can write about this week is the Library catalog assignment, which I found to be pretty easy. It was a great way to see what was out there on my pathfinder topic so that I could see if I needed to revise my topic or not. Guess what I do.
I enjoyed this week and hope as things calm down at home and become more routine that I will be able to concentrate on my studies the way that I like to. Thanks for reading everyone.
A Happy Father,
Billy Byington
As for the rest of the assignments, I have found them interesting and straight forward. I have to say not to sound like a brown nose or anything, but the assignments in this online class are by far the easiest to follow. Professor Walls does an excellent job lining them out for us.
The first assignment this week was on Organizing information. It wanted us to understand and think about different ways to organize collections of data or any other collections we could think of. This assignment for me was fun as I have collected Basketball cards since 1991. I was able to share some of the ways I have collated my collection over the years and through this process I was able to think of a few new ways.
The second assignment was concerning the world of the database. We were required to like at our academic libraries periodical database as well as Proquest which is a database of articles from magazines and different sources of that nature. I found this assignment a little difficult at first until I became familiar with surfing the different databases. I also learned the value of keywords and which fields to use to narrow your results for researech. These lessons are going to come in handy for our pathfinder.
The third and las one that I can write about this week is the Library catalog assignment, which I found to be pretty easy. It was a great way to see what was out there on my pathfinder topic so that I could see if I needed to revise my topic or not. Guess what I do.
I enjoyed this week and hope as things calm down at home and become more routine that I will be able to concentrate on my studies the way that I like to. Thanks for reading everyone.
A Happy Father,
Billy Byington
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Journal Week 2
This week was an interesting one for my assignments. First I learned how to make this blog. I found that it was easier than I thought it would be. I am concerned though because I am not on the master list of blogs on our Angel classroom web site. My email says that I emailed the Professor , but for some reason I am not on the list. Oh well, I might as well quit worrying about it. I am sure it will get worked out sooner or later.
For the next assignment I answered the question of what I thought global compared to international. I felt that I answered the question fully and to the best of my ability. I also came up with three global issue ideas which came pretty fast to me. I have found myself throughout the week though thinking of better topics such as the decrease of agricultural goods in this country compared to other countries. This assignment really got into to my head and made me think about the world's problems.
The next assignment after that was to come up with a global topic that I would want to do my research on. Again I had a topic come to mind fairly quickly. I have always had strong opinions about my topic so I am excited to research it more if I find that it is acceptable to my Professor. I hope it is.
The next assignment was how my local academic library was setup for distance learning. I found this very helpful. I have always just gone into the library in the past to get what I needed, but through this assignment I have learned that I can accomplish the same thing from home if I so choose. I can also order books from other academic libraries which I did not know.
Finally the last assignment was this journal in this blog. At first I found this to be actually hard, but after writing a little it became easier. I know that I am only in the second week of this class, but I already feel like I am learning something. I can't wait until next week.
For the next assignment I answered the question of what I thought global compared to international. I felt that I answered the question fully and to the best of my ability. I also came up with three global issue ideas which came pretty fast to me. I have found myself throughout the week though thinking of better topics such as the decrease of agricultural goods in this country compared to other countries. This assignment really got into to my head and made me think about the world's problems.
The next assignment after that was to come up with a global topic that I would want to do my research on. Again I had a topic come to mind fairly quickly. I have always had strong opinions about my topic so I am excited to research it more if I find that it is acceptable to my Professor. I hope it is.
The next assignment was how my local academic library was setup for distance learning. I found this very helpful. I have always just gone into the library in the past to get what I needed, but through this assignment I have learned that I can accomplish the same thing from home if I so choose. I can also order books from other academic libraries which I did not know.
Finally the last assignment was this journal in this blog. At first I found this to be actually hard, but after writing a little it became easier. I know that I am only in the second week of this class, but I already feel like I am learning something. I can't wait until next week.
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