Online Study

This year is the first year I have studied online. I wasn't completely sure it was the best way for me, but decided to give it a go. As those two subjects are winding up now, I've had mixed feelings about how successful it has been for me, but would feel confident about tackling it again in the future.

One of the hardest things about online study for me was missing the comments, questions, and discussions that are part of face to face learning. I love it when I don’t quite get something and the person next to me can explain it in a different way to the teacher, and then it clicks for me.

In the classes I attended, the forum is intended to take the place of this interaction, but it didn't always work well. Some students are too reserved to contribute, or don’t put up questions because they worry it doesn’t show them in a good light. Others are just happy to read the forums but don’t want to participate.  When the forums (fora?) are not well used it can be quite isolating for students. I started to think no one else is asking questions because they all get it and I’m the only dumb one, or a more sinister line of thinking, the others are all emailing direct to the teacher and I am missing out. A successful online class fosters an active forum with wide participation, so jump on in.

Another aspect I found hard was linking up with other students. Although I didn’t have any group assignment work, I do love having a chat with other students, giving or getting tips about sources, and even just having a moan about something in the course. From some conversations I’ve had recently with Sydney based students studying at Charles Sturt, they also found that contacting and meeting up with other students locally to form study/support groups was an enormous benefit, and really kept them going. I was lucky enough that some of my online classmates were also in my face to face class in another subject. If your class isn’t fostering this type of interaction, then you need to be the one to reach out.  It’s worth the effort.

One final thing I found was that in one subject, I was just so focused on completing the work, that I really didn’t get a good sense of the whole subject. Keeping to the timetable took up a lot of my attention in this subject, and sometimes it just had to be as mechanical as that, as I had to balance other subjects too, and it wasn’t until I started the revision that I began to see the bigger picture. I always like to try to investigate widely on subjects I’m studying because I don’t just want to pass, I want to understand the subject well. Make sure you try to see the forest as well as the trees. Of course, an active forum, and a friendly cohort can help with this.

Have you undertaken online study? What are your best tips and what would you change?

Lauren Castan

Undergraduate studies through distance ed

For ALIA’s Blog Every Day in June, I thought I would write about my undergraduate studies through distance ed.

Many many years ago I was going to do Year 10 work experience in a library, but did not follow through. My decision to change careers and study library and information management was in part to fulfil that long ago desire. I find knowledge and information management and communication a fascinating area and libraries can still give me butterflies in the stomach at all the learning opportunities and possibilities they contain.

I undertook the Bachelor of Applied Science in Library and Information Management (LIM) through Charles Sturt University distance education starting in 2008 and finishing earlier this year. The course has since restructured as Bachelor of Information Studies with specialisations in Librarianship, Information and Knowledge Management, and Records and Archives Management.

The greatest benefit distance education gave me was the huge amount of flexibility, which enabled me to accommodate my family and work commitments with my study commitments. For a degree that focuses on information connectivity there were times that communication with lecturers was difficult but I feel that there would have been similar sorts of issues with face-to-face study, albeit slightly different ones. I believe that maintaining a positive outlook was an important part of getting through the course work; again would that have been any different with face-to-face study? Probably not; I have certainly learnt self motivation skills in the process.

Looking at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2006, 2009 and 2011 Household use of Information Technology in Australia confirms the impact on every age group of the growing use of the internet within our society. Distance education capitalises on this usage.

I experienced firsthand the shift in how online services are provided and how educational information delivery has shifted exponentially in the last decade. The way students manage their course material, study notes and study load are in a continual state of flux through the rapid change we experience through the ongoing development of the World Wide Web, and the services it provides - like social software and cloud computing.

Overall I had a very positive learning experience from distance education. I would not hesitate to recommend this mode of study. Subject and reference material were accessible anywhere and all the time. The library services were excellent. The skill of working 18 hr days to meet an assignment deadline has also been developed. 

There were a few very dry subjects (best not to elaborate) along with the really fascinating ones. The subjects that worked best were ones where the material was well structured and the subject coordinator interacted on the forum regularly. When posting a comment or response; if the coordinator consistently gave feedback to comments no matter how minor, it builds on the sense of being part of an interactive student community. When an opinion is acknowledged it goes without saying that forums work best when then their coordinator understands the subject material in depth or had input into the subject matter. 

Coming from a Tafe Horticulture Diploma as my last educational effort; the experience of the LIM degree was most marked by the currentness of the reference and resource material. When writing an essay on information services any books over 4 years were considered too old as a reference because of the rapid changes in the interaction of library and information services with the internet and online services. This contrasts greatly with my experience of horticulture design and utilising resources that though old are greatly valued. A good example of this is the way online chat services have developed and their importance has waxed and waned. Huge shifts in library programs and service delivery, as well as the advent of ebooks.....using social software like Facebook to interact with library users.....so many changes have occurred in this field since 2008. It reinforces the fact that there is a continual change process occurring in delivery of services for the library and information field.

When studying practical horticulture I remember a high point was when maculata species changed genus from Eucalyptus to Corymbia - a different pace of change entirely to that of the library and information field. I currently volunteer at the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens Library, and greatly value the chance to work on bringing records online with the faster pace of an ever-growing information environment.

I have certainly developed many skills that I am eager to put into practise, and am now on the journey of seeking work in the library and information management field; realising how useful a course on completing Selection Criteria for job applications would be!

Selena Douglas-Brown

Learning to Learn by Distance

By Amelia Carlin

Like many MIS students, I am conducting my studies online by Distance Education. After a rather
long on-campus university career, studying from afar presented many challenges and opportunities
to develop new skills. I want to share with you some of my experiences, and the resources I drew on
to support my journey in long distance learning.

The week I started my MIS degree was the same week I relocated to a country on the other side of
the world. Distance education carries certain requisites - primary amongst these being access to
the Internet. The best connectivity in my studio apartment was to be found about a metre outside
the window (I was on the 7th floor) which proved challenging in the rain (see photo). Sometimes I found myself trying to find hotspots waving the laptop around like a butterfly net trying to snag invisible butterflies. A low point was trudging to a local fast-food restaurant at midnight in the rain to use their Wifi to upload my first assignment after my connection disappeared.

That low point leads me to my main discussion: that distance learning can take a bit of getting
used to, but once you draw on and develop the skills and find the right tools, it can be incredibly
rewarding. Distance learning fosters a range of aptitudes such as self-discipline, self-motivation, time
management and the ability to create networks of peers. These skills are of course inherent in face-
to-face tuition but with distance learning, I feel that they become more pertinent.

As mentioned, an initial challenge was locating reliable Internet. That is where public libraries saved
me; I signed up for 5 public library cards in as many days and I was soon on greeting terms with the
welcome desk staff (greetings were all I could do at that stage!). Now with internetivity (= internet +
connectivity), I could focus on time-management.

I trialled a few methods but settled on the Pomodoro Technique. This helped me to breakdown and
prioritise work into tasks, structuring my time and prompting me to organise my thoughts when
it came down to the nitty gritty of assignment writing. Although a basic tool, I shouldn’t overlook
the importance of using online calendars to map out subject timetables and schedule assignment
reminders. Planning ahead becomes especially important with the time-difference being so great.
For example, email correspondence with lecturers and tutors can take place over the course of days,
as working hours and public holidays don’t coincide. In addition, 1 am scheduled university system
downtimes are in the middle of the day here, so it pays to be prepared.

I use bibliographic software (Endnote) to organise and link readings and research for assignments,
and I put articles onto my e-reader making study more portable and available whenever the
opportunity might arise (e.g. whilst waiting in lines to get library cards!).

Lastly, without the immediacy of physical classes, a big challenge can be self-motivation. For me,
this is where friends and colleagues in the library field came to the rescue*. They are an invaluable
resource as support networks, sounding boards and motivators. University online forums also
provide means to connect and communicate. Tapping in to these resources can alleviate the sense of
isolation that very-distant-education can engender and can help you stay on track.

The inherent flexibility of distance learning fosters new skills and develops old ones; preparation,
tools and peer networks can go far in enhancing the experience. It would be great to hear about the
tools and skills you have found indispensable in your learning journey.


Amelia works at the American Library in Paris

* And I would like to take this opportunity to give my profuse thanks to you all!