ETL 523 Assignment 2

It is always my aim with these posts to assist those who will do these assignments by sharing the shortcomings of my own. The following is written by the lecturer, Judy O'Connell to all the students in the course. It addresses an aspect of the assignment that I know I have not completed well. I suspected that my search strategies were weak, as I used many resources that came via the Diigo lists to which I subscribe. Sadly, this was an even more important part of the assignment than I realised. I also included a Ted Talk and a blog entry, both by high-profile commentators on social media in education, thinking that variety of media would be a plus. The feedback was that these were not academic enough resources.

Here are Judy's comments:

This assignment was very different from Assignment 1, and required a different set of skills, plus greater research, analysis and synthesis in each of the parts.

Part C required clear identification of your search strategies, beyond just the keywords you used in Google, search engines, or other sources. All students needed to use a range of sources, especially the CSU databases. This is the best resource to demonstrate that you know the difference between keyword, subjects, descriptors. While you may have felt that you had enough information, and wanted to 'get on ' with writing your paper, the point of this is to be sure that you know how to undertake 'thorough' searching. As an information professional you cannot assume that you have enough until you have search every option. A better resource maybe at the end of your next search string!!

Some students did this well, and some students didn't demonstrate good use of CSU databases or similar resources at all. In all that searching for preparation for your assignment, you also needed to keep your eye on the local, national and international scene - they are all important in development of information policy. This meant finding and referring to key information reports, research, or relevant policies. This assignment rarely justified the inclusion of informal sources, such as newspaper articles or blog posts, as it was an Information Policy assignment - which is formal and relies on authoritative sources. If your Annotated Bibliography had many of these sources then it was not satisfactory.

It was interesting to see how many students made use of Google Scholar. This is useful, and particularly useful if you have connected your access to Google Scholar to the National Library and the CSU databases, as well as to any other sources that you may have access to. If you don't know anything about how to connect Google Scholar to databases then visit http://scholar.google.com/scholar_preferences

In addition, you should remember that CSU also has another search point at Search@CSU which you will find on the home page of the library.

Some students simply indicated that they searched in Google. At the very least you should have indicated how you used Advanced search strategies e.g. narrowing by date range.
In future be very much more specific about the details of your search processes.

In developing a policy for a school remember to be mindful of the fact that you are dealing with a learning and teaching environment .i.e. policy can be formative as well as regulatory. Be aware that you can provide a positive focus to support and enhance curriculum programs and school projects. Also, remember that a policy is available for students, teachers and family. Sometimes words may be included that require definition within the policy or in a glossary. As a formal document it needs to be clear, succinct, and accessible to all.