Week 2: Introductions

I am a former English teacher who discovered library science at the beginning of the technological revolution.  My school had just been hooked up to the Internet, although I had had it for about ten years at home, and I enjoyed teaching students how to research on the Internet in the library.  We devised research strategies, we discovered what plagiarism is, and we typed our research papers on the new computers the school installed in the new computer lab at school.  It was all very exciting!  What was not exciting was the increased paper load that my school was requiring that English teachers assign;  three essays per six week grading period per college prep class.  I was grading 90 papers in a weekend and was very fatigued.  I started exploring my options.  I figured I could be a guidance counselor, a principal, or a librarian.  I thought back to the fun I had when I taught computer-based research, which is what they called it then, and decided to pursue my library science degree at the University of  Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

I have always been an early adopter of technology.  I had the Internet before any of my friends did and trained my colleagues at my workplace how to use it to research.  I like the newest technological toys and I like to figure out technological problems.  With this in mind, I rated myself quite competent in the technology experience paper.  Although I don't know everything about technology (and I am using the term loosely to refer to both hardware and computer Web 2.0 sites), I think that I have the best attitude that anyone can have towards it.  This attitude is a "Let's figure this thing out and if we can't, find someone who can" sort of attitude.  This attitude and openness to figuring things out has led me to be considered a technology leader at my school.  I encourage this thought because I want the teachers at my school to come to me with technology questions because then the library becomes a central place for knowledge and problem solving and I think that is a valuable place to be in today's schools.

About the topic of blog posts

Hello fellow technology enthusiasts!  Like many of you, I have never created a blogger account and I am trying to figure this new site out.  We will be working on it more in class during session #1.  Prior to that, you need to have your account created.

When you make a blog posting, remember that you are a student in a graduate program.  Your posts need to be  substantive and academic in nature. You need to personal examples to support your point.  You need to use correct APA style; in other words, you need to cite from whence you have gotten your information.

There is not a paragraph limit; however a good paragraph is a nice start for a blog posting.

If you have any questions, make sure to email me or respond to this posting and I can help you further.

Cheryl