Reality

Although some people who have never gone to graduate school regard it as a means of avoiding reality (“reality” seems to mean the business world, I guess), it seems to me that it is just one of many ways of entering the real world. For the sake of argument, we may suppose that college life as an undergraduate in the liberal arts and sciences is not part of reality (it is said that the modern college exists to provide three things: Sex for the students, parking for the faculty, and football for the alumni). One spends four years exploring many fields at a shallow level and at least one field at not much deeper a level. At the end of those four years, the student is at what was the frontier of knowledge in that field … 30 years previously.

That level of training is sufficient if the new graduate is not actually going to work in that field but only needed an undergraduate education to get practice at a certain level in research, in writing, in work in a lab, and so on. Basically, it prepares the graduate to be further trained within a specific real world setting to be able to do real, productive work. Graduate or professional school is one such setting. In the iSchool, we learn some of the current best practices in our chosen field. The internship gives us the time equivalent of our first four full-time weeks on a job, seeing how to do a job and complete a project that is actually useful to an organization. We will still need on-the-job training when we graduate, not because we have been trapped in some sort of intellectual time warp but rather because our training has only just begun while grad students.

 

But what about the money?!

A post from Lauren Marchisotto, a fellow SU student, about people’s impressions of librarians!

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While taking IST605 (Reference and Information Services) this semester, I learned a lot about the reference desk and had no idea that so much effort was put into it. My previous experiences with the reference desk led me to believe that some librarians are uninterested in their job, but I have since learned that some librarians just are not actual librarians. They are paraprofessionals who work in a library until they finish their schooling and have no real stake in the position. The problem with this is that not everyone understands this and can lead to a misunderstanding about the profession.

I also feel there are a few misunderstandings about the profession in general. As few weeks ago, I was on the train heading to work, when some man spotted me studying. He stopped me to ask me what I was studying and when I replied I was getting Masters in Library Sciences. His next remark was that I shouldn’t waste my time because “librarians don’t make no money.” I responded with, “I am not looking for a job that makes me money. I am looking for a job that makes me happy.” Luckily I got to my stop and had to get off. Besides his obvious poor usage of the English language, I was really annoyed that I had to justify my reasons to this complete stranger. Why do people feel they have the right to criticize your life choices? Was I asking this man to pay for my education or to support me? Is it so horrible to think that librarianship is a valid choice for people to make? More importantly, why am I still annoyed about some random man’s comment to me?

Has anyone else had an experience like mine? What misconceptions have you come across regarding the library field?

 

Why I am a distance student at the iSchool

In 511 during bootcamp, the class was polled on how many of us lived in the Greater Syracuse area (about 1/3), how many lived within an hour of SU (another 1/3), and how many lived too far away from Syracuse to commute (the remainder). Since I live in Cortland, I’m among the middle third that could actually come to campus if there were no online program available. Moreover, I already commute daily to Syracuse since I work at University Hospital at Upstate Medical University, so I’m certainly used to a daily drive up I-81. Why, then, did I choose to be a distance student rather than an on-campus student?

Part of the explanation is that, for various reasons, I have had to continue to work at the hospital while I have been in the MSLIS program. However, the iSchool tries to take into account that many of its students work during the day, so on-campus classes often start at 5 PM or later. Since the hospital is within walking distance of Hinds Hall, if I got off at 4, I could easily walk to class. Unfortunately for any prospect of my being an on-campus student, I start work at 4 PM and work til midnight. My shift kind of ruled out showing up in a classroom (it also made Syracuse’s asynchronicity valuable to me).

That said, even if I worked days, I think I would have chosen the distance program. Since high school, the classes that I have learned the most in have been those in which I worked independently on my own schedule. Not to put down the lecture format since it works well in many ways, but I have long related to an episode of the comic strip Herman in which a child is asking their parent, “How are we supposed to learn anything when we have to listen to the teacher all day?” Give me a textbook, some additional readings, and some assignments, and I’ll learn the material. And a professor and other students are available to talk with online about the it? Even better!

Another advantage of the distance program is that the students in the classes aren’t just from all over the country (or even the world), but they live all over the place. The multiple perspectives they bring to the class from their locations, their jobs, their internships, and so on make a broader mix than they would if we were all living in Central New York.

So being a distance student fits my lifestyle, my learning style, and my desire to learn from many points of view. For anyone of a similar inclination, I would recommend distance learning wholeheartedly.

 

5 Things I Thought I Knew But Didn’t

Now that I’m about halfway through my first full-time semester, there are a couple of thoughts I had about distance learning that I hadn’t considered before jumping in. None of them are things that would have changed my mind (and certainly not things that make life unbearable) but they are things that while I thought I knew what it would entail, I now realize I had no idea.

1. Class discussions take place on a discussion board.

What I thought this meant: We would post on a discussion board.

What I now realize this means: In addition to all of the readings for class, I also have to read my classmates’ observations, thoughts, and questions.

Explanation: Some discussion posts are easy to read and understand and, therefore, easy to reply to and become involved in the discussion. Others are less so. In a live class discussion is fast-paced and people will generally talk for a few sentences before the person feels they have sufficiently made their point or the professor chimes in. This is not the case on a discussion board and some posts can be quite involved or long-winded. There are benefits to having discussions posted on a forum, however, and I do find myself going back and re-reading previous posts for reference, which obvious can’t be done in class without a recording device. Also, I can read the discussions at a time where I am alert and able to best communicate. For me, this is rarely before 9am but some campus classes can meet as early as 8.

Advice I would give to someone considering distance learning: If you don’t like reading, this is not going to be pleasant but then again, if you don’t like reading, any sort of higher education is not going to be pleasant. On the plus side, that one jerk in class (you know the jerk – everyone has that one jerk) isn’t live and in-person so it’s easier to deal with frustration because that person can’t see you or hear you cursing at your computer screen as you try to decipher what it is they are saying through the piles of extra paragraphs and excessively large words.

2. Your peers are also at a distance.

What I thought this meant: Classmates would not be local.

What it actually means: Classmates are not local, available at the same time you are available, and quite often, have full or part-time jobs.

Explanation: I was expecting to feel as though I was pushing through this on my own without any real classmates to relate to and finding myself clinging to names I recognized but this isn’t so. While I do find that I have to work much harder to connect with my peers, especially if there is any sort of group work that needs to be done, there is a definite sense of community and this is multiplied when you log onto Facebook and see that everyone’s status is, “Freaking out about my paper for 605!”

Advice I would give to someone considering distance learning: Join any and all social networking groups that relate to your program. While it may seem like a cheesy thing to do and I know a lot of people aren’t comfortable putting a lot of information about themselves online, you can control who can see you and who to friend as well as what is seen on your profile. For me, I’ve found FB to be a comfort when I felt I was the only one overwhelmed with work. Don’t be afraid to talk to “strangers” because they’re in the same position you are in. Take advantage of the “boot camp” courses over the summer – I know others have said it before but even meeting people face-to-face once is enough to make a connection. Technology has just helped to keep that connection intact.

3. All of your work will be on a computer.

What I thought this meant: Since we are no longer in the 1980’s, we will be using personal computers.

What it actually means: I spend a lot of time sitting at my desk on the computer watching and reading lectures, reading discussion posts, checking links professors have posted, and doing my homework.

Explanation: Yes, my computer time has increased three-fold but this was something I expected. What I didn’t fully grasp was that I never realized how ergonomically incorrect my desk chair is. Also, while I knew assignments would be turned in electronically, it didn’t phase me that this negates the need to print out a paper or assignment, saving trees, but also, preventing you from having a hard copy backup of your work.

Advice I would give to someone considering a distance program: Get a comfy desk chair. You’ll be in it a bunch. Also, invest in a thumb drive. You never know when your technology will crap out on you and it WILL inevitably be the day a major assignment is due. It’s already happened to me – hard drive failure hours before an assignment deadline.

4. Your schedule is your own.

What I thought this meant: I would be able to continue to work and go to school.

What it actually means: It’s my responsibility to figure out where to squeeze everything in.

Explanation: Life doesn’t stop for school and school doesn’t stop for life. In fact, the constant overlap is what makes distance learning so great – nothing has to stop for the other. This does require some juggling and I find that being organized helps but does not alleviate the feeling that I’m always playing catch up at school, at work, or in my personal life. The three will never mesh easily but since school always wins out (for obvious reasons), something else has to lose to an extent. This does mean that I sometimes feel as though I’m squeezing in a discussion post in between my drive home from work and the start of a friend’s birthday party.

Advice I would give to someone considering a distance program: ORGANIZE! The more organized you are, the easier it is to find time to do (most) everything you want to do. You’re still going to have to make some concessions but the more you are aware of where your priorities need to be, the better. Your day planner will be your best friend.

5. This is going to be fun.

What I thought this meant: Claiming that graduate school will be fun is a crock. This is the sales pitch that pushes those teetering on the edge of deciding whether or not to go to school over the edge.

What it actually means: No, this is actually a lot of fun!

Explanation: Yes, it’s a lot of work and yes, I’m tired and stressed but at the same time, I have a great network of supportive friends I’ve met through the program and I really do feel like we’re in this together. While there are subjects I enjoy more than others, overall each class I’ve taken has had a great deal I’ve enjoyed learning about and I’m constantly jotting down ideas for implementing what I’ve learned in the real world. I’ve found that the mental workout really enjoyable (admittedly, I am a self-professed nerd) and I’ve never once regretted my decision to continue my education.

Advice I would give to someone considering a distance program: Go in with an upbeat attitude and allow yourself to get excited about going through your program. The hard work really does pay off when you look back and realize how much more you know and how useful it will be.

Originally published on Sharon Kowalsky’s blog, Adventures in Library and Information Science.

 

Distance Learning: How it is Easy, How it is Not

Juliet, who blogs over at Vivarium, kindly has allowed me to re-post this entry from her blog about her own experience so far with the iSchool distance program. Although I think she’s a stay-at-home mom, as a fellow parent of a young child, her experience certainly resonates with mine:

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Since it’s about the middle of the semester, at least according to my syllabi and to people I know at other schools who have fall breaks, I’ve decided to do a couple of mid-semester inventories. This will be about the distance learning experience, which is entirely new to me.

What do I like about it? At Syracuse, courses are taught in an asynchronous format, which was a great selling point to me, because it means I don’t have to be at the computer at any particular time. (If I take an online course from another school through WISE later in my program, which is certainly a possibility, I will have to conform to the requirements of whatever school offers the course, so this might be different in the future, at least for a semester.) This was a huge selling point of the iSchool for me; I have a two-year-old daughter and I do most of the childcare in our family, at least for the time being, so I appreciate the flexible schedule. I particularly like the asynchronous format of discussions, because I can give more time to formulating my contributions and considering those of my classmates than I would in a traditional class, and this gives quiet people such as myself an opportunity to speak (or write) more. Nobody sits in the front or back of the classroom, and while I can go a day or two without posting, I know my absence will be noticed. I’ve also found my instructors engaging and accessible, and assignments are well thought out–I’ve spent a lot of hands-on time at my local libraries, both public and academic, observing librarians for reference and examining books for information organization.

What’s hard? Well, time management is paramount, and it’s always been a skill I need to improve; it’s easy to go a day or two without getting anything done when real life intervenes, and nobody I see in my daily life is involved enough with my coursework, as on-campus classmates would be, to remind me about the project that’s due next Tuesday. It is also, I am not going to lie, really a challenge with a kid. I know I’m not the only one in this situation by any means, and thank goodness my primary responsibility outside of school is child care and I don’t have a paying job on top of that (wow, gratitude for no income!), but two-year-olds require a lot of attention and mine is no exception. So I do most of my work during naps and after bedtime, and during those times when my wonderful and helpful husband watches her for an afternoon so I can go to the library and work or interview a real live librarian. I am feeling this out as I go along, and so far I’ve managed to do my work, if barely, without additional child care. I am really looking forward to preschool next year, I can tell you that.

My last post was about the NYLA conference, which I’m really glad I attended, and I think I’ll really need to attend conferences or SU events periodically (fortunately I am well enough positioned, geographically, to do so), in order to have real-life contact with other library students and librarians and concentrate exclusively on librarianship for at least a short period. Distance learning, augmented by social networking, has proven to be a lot more personal than I had expected, but it is still really nice to be around other like-minded adults once in a while, and of course the long-term plan is that I will be around them every day!

 

Why I’m a Distance Student

My husband and I spent the last five years in Manchester, England and moved back to Seattle last summer. Although I already hold an MA in art history from UT Austin, I discovered quite rapidly that unless you have quite a lot of experience, a degree in art history is a marvelous asset but doesn’t help you get many jobs, even if you had a great GPA, fantastic recommendations, and can tell someone all about the St. Catherine fresco cycle from Sant’Agnese fuori le Mura in Rome, or describe the genealogical intricacies in the Triumphal Arch of Emperor Maximilian.

The question was, of course, how to turn that love of art and research into something that could help me escape from the endless cycle of working in office administration, where I love the people I work with but frequently feel the desire to do more. Library & Information Science seemed like the logical choice but, as someone who already has student loans from both my BA and MA, the specter of taking on more loans was troubling, especially when my husband and I also have a three-year-old who needs those little frivolities, you know, like clothing, food, and minor surgery on a broken arm when he fell off the monkey bars earlier this autumn.

The solution in my situation has been online learning. Because I can work full-time and have parents who are generous enough to allow us to live in their downstairs apartment, I’m able to afford to study. Although it can be stressful to juggle all of my responsibilities, without the benefit of not having to attend classes in-person several times a week, there would be no way that I could pursue my MSLIS. I love that I have all of my resources accessible to me online! I connect with my classmates via IM, Facebook, and e-mail.

I’m in my second semester at Syracuse University and, while I am still learning the ropes, I don’t regret my choice to attend as a distance student rather than studying on-campus. The flexibility of online learning allows me to provide for my family and meet my other obligations while still pursuing the degree that I want.

 

Been there done that.

Richard Murillo had a great experience as a distance learning student during the first year of his Telecommunications and Network Management program at the iSchool. For NDLW 2009, incoming TNM student Bijaya Khanal interviewed Murillo on his experience in the program.

Distance learning is as good an experience as you make it. You can create a great relationship with people you have never met face-to-face, and at the same time it is a good way to open up and build new relations. “I like challenges, and the distance learning program was one of them” says Murillo.

The best part of distance learning is the flexibility; you can work full time professionally and you don’t have to relocate. You can study your desired degree program without having to be away from your family. Murillo noted that the freedom was also a major benefit. You decide when you want to study and you are not constrained by time. If you are a morning person you can study at 6am in the morning or if you prefer working late at night you can. You have the freedom to schedule your time of study.

“Basically the reason why I liked distance learning program is that I could take education and fit that in my own schedule rather than having to conform to the education” says Murillo. He also benefitted from tuition benefits available to him while studying as a distance student.

Having said that, Murillo did mention some of the disadvantages of distance learning. You don’t get the constant on-campus experience of meeting people face to face and having in-person contact with fellow student on daily basis. Richard says “I missed out on attending on-campus career and internship related sessions. You also don’t get the same hands on lab experience that you get on-campus. I found it challenging to work on projects remotely, and as a current campus student I’ve found it easier to build relationships with faculty members. However there are ways to tackle these situations and I have suggestions for prospective and current distance learning students.”

It is a good idea for distance learning students to establish a weekly schedule with time dedicated to school work. When learning online, two things are very important- discipline and a structure for how you do your work. If you are going to start an online course, it is extremely important to know about the online system, course structure and syllabus. There are good online courses and bad online courses. What distinguishes them is the consistency of the structure of the course throughout the semester as it was presented at the beginning. Richard says “It is very difficult for student to get into the flow of the course if the course is not structured well and presented at the beginning. For example, I had a great problem with one course because I did not know how much time I had to allocate for that week because the syllabus was not broken down week by week. I had no idea whether it was 5 or 10 hours of homework. I did not know what the professor would expect of me. You want to know what is to be expected of you before that week starts.”

Murillo noted, “My best online course was Database taught by Withro H Wiggins. He established the goals and structure of the course at the very beginning of the semester so that I was able to set up my schedule and work week by week as per the syllabus structure. He requested student feedback on the pace of the course so that he could make changes as necessary. He was not only approachable and easy to contact but also responsive to questions. I consistently received timely replies to my questions. After 3-4 weeks of the course, he paused to reflect on what was working in the course and what was not. He would welcome students who were having trouble with pacing to talk to him and adjust the pacing to better fit their learning styles. In my opinion the Professor and students were in sync in this online course “says Richard. “My suggestion to Professors of online courses is that they should establish upfront the goals for the course and have a complete syllabus for the whole semester detailing what material will be covered each week available at the beginning of the course. They should detail specific course work and what is required of the student so that students can figure out their personal schedule for allocating time for the course.”

Group projects may seem difficult to work for distance students. However, Skype and Google docs are good tools for collaboration. Distance students can also take advantage of the residency programs that are held every summer on campus. That is the best time to bond and network with peers. These programs build strong sense of a community which makes distance learning community-based.

 

Distance Student FAQ

Rebecca Buerkett is a fellow distance student at the iSchool, although she’s finishing her final semester and I’m only beginning!  She posts at the MSLIS News blog and has posted a few messages about distance student experiences, which I will pull and re-post here (with permission from the iSchool!).

I’d like to create a Distance Student FAQ here on this blog – do you have any questions that people ask you about what it’s like to study online? Do you have any suggestions for incoming students? Please comment!

In the meantime, Rebecca’s post on Library Distance Student FAQ…

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A fellow MLIS – school media student, Karen Cawley, has a great blog called Karen the Librarian, where she periodically posts witty and entertaining tales of her library school studies and horror stories of her Starbucks barista job. Her latest post, Library School f.a.q., pretty much sums up the conversations that most of us distance library students have had with people who are not familiar with our particular type of program. For example, at my student teaching job, when people hear I am a Syracuse student, I either get, “Where are you staying while you’re here?” or “Do you drive that far EVERY DAY?” Considering I live about four hours from Syracuse, it’s a pretty silly question, and apparently Karen has been asked the same thing. Many times.

My favorite part of Karen’s post is when she discusses how people don’t consider her a typical librarian type, and says, “I know about a hundred future librarians who are working every day to shatter your preconceived notions of what librarianship is. We’re not cardigan-wearing, pencil-in-the-hair, shushing types.  We are activists, fun-loving teachers, and technological whizzes who just happen to have an insatiable thirst for information and want to share that thirst with everyone – even though I’ve been known to wear a cardigan and put writing utensils in my hair.” Well put.

Even though I don’t see my fellow students every day (some of them, Karen included, I’ve only met in person once!), I do “talk” to them nearly every day on the message boards, facebook, IM, or however we can get in touch. I consider these people my friends as well as classmates and I enjoy virtually spending time with them. And I consider myself lucky to be in the virtual company of so many smart, interesting, creative, passionate people!

 

Welcome!

Welcome to OrangeLearners, a place for Syracuse University students to connect and share thoughts and experience on life and learning as an online student.  This blog is an initiative of Heidi Rempel, iSchool Leadership Scholar and online MSLIS student, whose goal is to provide an open forum for student-centered discussion about the joys and challenges of distance learning.

We are excited to unveil this new resource during National Distance Learning Week 2009, November 9-13. New content will be posted throughout the week, and in the meantime check out the blog roll and feed of LIS student blogs!