Dairy 09/29

I'm ahead of the game! Sort of... I've just finished watching both 2005 and 2700 Panapto's and I answered the conflict resolution DB question for Alman's class. I still need to make my second response to the strategic planning DB but I think I can complete that by Friday.

I now must get back to my hot topic research, start writing my portion of the white paper for group review during fast track weekend, start my expert guide and find a book for my end user assignment.

Hmmm, maybe I'm not as far ahead of the game as I thought. Sigh...

Diary 09/28

I had a long weekend trying to catch up with my DB's in 2700. Three down, two to go. I'm not going to feel joyous yet because today a new lecture is being taped for 2005 and 2700 which means hours of viewing pleasure (if one can all it that) and I'm sure another DB to respond to. My goal is to get the final two DB's done today and be "caught up" to the standard I hold for myself.

Diary 09/24

My digby never worked :o( My counters are no longer working :o( So, I've gotten rid of both of them.

Right now I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. Almans class is non-stop work. I feel like I'm falling behind. I still need to make my second response to the Red Carnation DB and also do an initial response to the two strategic planning questions. I am hoping to get to the strategic planning Friday. Red Carnation may never get done...

I just finished watching the Panapto for organizing and retrieving. This quiz has me a bit antsy. I have read and highlighted most of the chapters from the intellectual foundations book but now I am noticing that they want us to read chapters from fundamentals of collection development. WTH! That book is not even a required reading. I have the book but I hadn't planned on reading it just skimming. I am so confused. We have the lectures, PPT's, and two books to worry about for this quiz. Supposedly it will be 20 questions and we get six hours to answer them. Hopefully that will be enough time for me to rattle through all of the papers/books I have and find the answers.

My groups are going okay.

Everyone in the White paper group has completed their interviews. We are now working on doing 500 words a piece discussing the similarities and differences between our institutions.

My hot topics group is plugging away. Annotating these bibliographies is harder than I remember. I don't think our group did it correctly last semester.

The person in my organizing group responsible for criteria is doing an excellent job so things are going smoothly there. God willing they will continue to go smoothly. This is the group that has the dynamic that worries me the most.

All in all, I feel like there is a smidge less work than last semester but still not enough time to read a book, watch a good movie or go for a walk. I'm already looking forward to the December semester end. We still have @ 11 weeks. Arg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diary 09/22

I am watching week three video. It has only been 18 minutes. Arg! I have never been so happy to be off campus. I don't think I would be able to sit through these lectures weekly. The on campus weekend will be challenging enough.

Diary 09/20

Who is Susan Geiss? Her DB postings and what she individually responds to others DB postings lead me to initially believe that she was a TA but when I read her introduction it sounds like she is an on-line student who has a management type position.

I cannot wait to put a face to the name during on campus weekend. I love seeing if my intuition about people is correct. Susan is my LS (initials for someone from summer) for the fall term.

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Diary 09/18

I've been watching the taped class sessions. Never have I been more happy to be off campus. Even with the on and off campus divide, I think being in class at my age and at this time in my life might be against the Geneva Conventions torture guidelines.

I think I see the light, finally!

I am starting to gain some understanding of the research paper in Tomer's class. The team is gelling together. I still have one determined, passive agressive, member but I am ignoring her at this point since the rest of the team are working hard.

My hot topics team in Almans class has figured out the angle we are taking for the group project and every single person is doing their part. We seem to be a good mix/fit.

And, my white paper team is meeting soon to go over our project. I have already gotten my interview done and am truly happy to be done with that. I'm not exactly sure where to go from here...We'll figure it out.

11908

Diary 09/15

Recently I had an online conversation with a fellow cohort member about how on-campus students seem to find it difficult to work in an on-line environment. She was very PC. Me, not so much.

I think that on campus students are unwilling to compromise and come together as a team when doing group projects with on-line students. There is a divide. I am currently trying to bridge one such divide and lord it is tie-er-ring.

If you put a batch of completely on-line or campus groups together, I'm sure there is some friction but it can be worked out due to similarity of situation. It is not that I do not understand the frustration. If I were an on-campus student needing to meet/get information from someone in Timbuktu I'd be dismayed too. But, I would also make every effort to work with the person(s).

I notice this lack of willingness to cooperate and snippy behavior with the younger college grads (under 25 years of age). Older folks, like myself, go more with the flow.

I might need to start vetting the groups I join by age... I'm too old for this stress ;oD 11906

Diary 09/13

I am tired. Being "group leader" is not all it is cracked up to be. I have a couple of seemingly rebellious members and one member that I cannot find at all. This organizing and retrieving class is teaching me more about management than the management course. Both classes are making me wonder if I want to manage people. It is so hard trying to say things diplomatically when you just want to call someone a bad word. I can only assume this is making me stronger.
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Dairy 09/11

Have I told you about my two new friends Skype and Google Docs (GD) ? With Skype I just might be able to pull all of these groups together.

With Skype and GD's sharing feature my second team is now on a roll. That is two teams working and one to go.

I am starting to feel positive vibes.

11901

Diary 09/10

I am currently attempting to get all of my LIS groups signed up with Skype. I really hope that this forum will make meetings for on and off campus group discussion easier.

I am starting to wonder why I signed up as group leader. Thus far I have been trying to lead the team to water but the watering holes are dry.

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Diary 09/09

My assigned LIS 2005 team is giving me the blues! The on-campus and internet components do not seem to be gelling. I really dislike having to depend on a group for my grade. I am really starting to sweat here... I've sent all of them invitations to Skype so we can do a group chat. Hopefully this will work. One member has written back giving the impression that he would rather get together on campus and share what is said with us internet students. I don't care what they do as long as we get those titles in to Mahoney by the Monday deadline. I knew it wouldn't be easy. Maybe the thought became self fulfilling. Well, it is still early in the semester maybe I'm being overly anxious. I sure hope so.

On to the next team, my LIS 2700 hot topics team is not responding to my emails! We haven't even decided the angle we are going to take with this assignment. I'm ready to start annotating some bibliographies. Good lord!

The only team I see any movement with is my white paper team. I have a good feeling about our group. We're all from cohort 9, have met and have a general understanding of each others personalities and strong points. We are going to R O C K this paper!

Hopefully everyone else and everything else will fall in place soon.
11,894

Diary 09/08

I am so excited. I just added instant messenger to my blog. What I'm going to do with it or when I am going to use it, I have no idea but it looks fun and technically advanced!

I am currently working on my LIS 2005, organizing information, assignment. It is a lot more complicated than I first imagined. I guess I thought these 25 points were going to be a snap. Hmph! I finally called one of my professors to get more clarity. Well I'm a bit clearer but lord who knew getting an MLIS would be this time consuming and complicated? I guess after last semester I knew but I was told it would get easier. Was I mislead?

New this semester for this class Q U I Z Z E S! Arg, I hate tests. I prefer hands on assignments where I learn as I work. I chose Pitt because I was told no tests. Sigh...I know I'm going to need positive thinking, prayer, correct positioning of the moon, everything/anything to get me successfully, success to me is an "A" grade, through this semester.

TTYL (maybe by IM if I figure it out)

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Diary 09/01

Surprise. Surprise. I'm back! I missed blogging. I no longer have to blog for a grade but I still need a place to vent. I am currently enrolled in LIS 2700 and 2005. They both sound daunting looking at their syllabuses. Thankfully each course has only one book. The daunting part is that each course has a number of group projects. Last semester I had one group project that started off VERY rocky. We persevered but I think the group grade could have been higher if we had done a few run throughs prior to speaking in front of the class. It's tough being out of state/away from the rest of your group. Oh well hindsight...

I have just completed watching both Panopto class lectures. I have gained a bit of clarity. I am now going to jump in and PRAY! (251)