Career Post #6

Technological Innovation in your Chosen Field

Think of your own major for a moment. Consider the technological innovations that are happening in that field. Consider the following:

Personal cameras on police officers;
Streaming video for nurses in hospitals;
Legal databases for paralegals;
Coding academies for tech students;
Online learning for bachelor's degree students.

Do a little research online (find at least two articles dealing with tech innovation in your field), and then write a post of at least three paragraphs in which you discuss the types of technological innovations that you expect to see in the next ten years.

Career Post #5

Media Multitasking is Really Multi-Distracting:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110502084444.htm

http://www.webpronews.com/social-media-multitasking-attention-span-2011-04

Read these articles on your own, first summarize them both in a blog post, and then answer this question:

In this day and age, is it possible to avoid media multitasking? Why or why not?

Put your opinions on this subject into at least four paragraphs.

Career Post #4

Related to our discussion of Facebook addiction:

Search for this article in EBSCOHost: “Now on Facebook, Your Future Doctor, Partying.”

Read this, and find one other article online that addresses Facebook addiction. Write three paragraphs of reflection on these articles, and post it to your blog.

This can be considered a Career/College blog post (towards your twelve for the semester).

Job Strategy Exercise

The goal: To start thinking strategically about and to plan early for that career-opening position.


There are two parts to this exercise, Part I and Part II. Just put it all in the same Word document, broken up as Part I and Part II.


Part I: The Virtual Library


1. Using Bryant & Stratton's Virtual Library, search for three articles focused on job searching and formulating a job search strategy.
     Hint: Use EBSCOHost to search for these titles.
     List the three article titles you find in APA format.
2. Using the VL's campus pages (see the hint below), find at least four different online resources pertaining to your field.
     Hint: At the VL's homepage, go to the Henrietta/Greece page.
     Look under "Program Resources" tab to start.
     List these and for each, provide a sentence or two of information as to why it will be a helpful     resource.


Part II: Online searching and LinkedIn


3. Using a search engine like Google or Bing, search for and find three articles focused on job searching and formulating a job search strategy.
     Again, list these online articles in APA format.
4. Using Google or Bing, find at least four different online resources pertaining to your field.
     List these and for each, provide a sentence or two of information as to why it will be a helpful resource.
5. Using LinkedIn (you should all have LinkedIn accounts by now), search for at least two groups/organizations associated with your future career field. These may be open or closed groups. But seek to join them (it usually requires sending a note to the moderator/organizer of the group), explaining your current status as a college student interested in that particular field.
6. While still on LinkedIn, search for some of your professors, fellow students, advisors, or college administrators associated with Bryant & Stratton College. Ask to join their list of connections.


When this is all completed, save and send the Word document to me.

Career Post #3

We started discussion on this particular topic with a provocative question:

Why don't you read?

Studies are showing that reading rates are on the decline, likely because of the ubiquity of technology in our daily lives. This brought us to another provocative question:

Are you addicted to your technology?

To which we turned to this blog post on the subject of Internet and technology addiction:

The World Unplugged

So, after reading this blog post, for another Career Post, write at least four paragraphs of opinion/reflection on the subject of college students and technology/Internet addiction.

Thanks folks!

Databases

Again, what is a database?

It's an organized collection of data. Normally, we think of databases online, but technically, that doesn't have to be the case. (There were databases in computers before the Internet was around.) But for our use, we're looking at purely online databases. These are collections of data (think of an online library) that are easily searchable via a web-based search interface.

Now, we need to remember that database is not the same as search engine. The latter is often used to search the former, but there is a distinction.

What I want to introduce you to are certain major-related or career-related databases that may be of use to you. I'll only present a few right now:

Business/Accounting

The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics

Google Scholar

Microsoft Academic Search

Medical Assisting/Medical Administrative Assisting

WebMD

Medline/PubMed Resources Guide

Circumpolar Health Bibliographic Database (University of Calgary)

Human Resources

Google Scholar

Microsoft Academic Search

Criminal Justice
National Criminal Justice Reference Service

Technology (Database, Security, etc.)

Citebase Search (U. of Southampton)

CiteULike

CiteSeerX (Penn State University)

Liberal Arts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Lund University)

ERIC: Institute of Education Sciences

Graphic Design
Artcyclopedia
DeviantArt

Today, we'll be looking at a few of these. I'll be adding more throughout the semester. The goal: to get you to better understand what kinds of databases are out there and are available to you, and which ones can be helpful to you during your college career.

Career Post #2

We've been discussing the subject of website evaluation. (And we'll have plenty more to say in the coming weeks.) It's essential that you all, as college students, understand how to determine reliability when looking at online resources.

So, with that in mind, I want you to use your newly-honed research skills and look for at least one website, or online journal article (be it academic or otherwise) that focuses on the need for college students to better understand website reliability.

Read the article and/or browse the site you find, and when you're done, post the URL and article/site title, and write for me at least two paragraphs (at least 200 words) on why that site/article's information is important to you, a college student.

Remember, these blog posts require a few things:

-Stay on point.
-Make it relevant to your future career or your college experience.
-Make it a substantive post (meaning at least 200 words).

Any questions, let me know via email or comment on this post. Thanks all!

Website evaluation

Today we'll be starting an ongoing discussion related to website evaluation. We'll discuss where we go to find information online, and how we determine whether or not a particular website is reliable, accurate, and appropriate for academic use.

I will post a blog post exercise later on (either today or later this week) for you to research and write on, but for now, we'll just get introduced to the subject. So, here are some things to keep in mind:

-Reliability

-Validity and accuracy

-Source material

-Timeliness

-Bias

Here are some questions for class discussion:

1. Have you ever encountered information online that confused you as to its accuracy?

2. How did you respond in that situation?

3. How have you tried to determine reliability related to online information in the past?

Career Post #1

This exercise will help students to start tackling their first assignment, the Online Research Project. In fact, if you do this well, it's going to make the research project so much easier. So, here is what I want you all to do:


You will all engage in some online research related to your field. You will select a general topic (your major), using search engines, subject guides, and other online resources for appropriate resources. You will find five appropriate web resources, and write a sentence or two summarizing each resource. You will then post it on your blog. If the blog isn't up and running, you will type it into Word and send it to me.

See, not too tough! You can all handle this very easily. And remember: if you do this exercise well, you can use your findings as you start to put together your list for the Online Research Project (which is a list of twelve resources).

As always, let me know if you have any questions. Email me, or comment on this blog post. Now get to it!

SP

On Blog Entries

For this class, use of a personal blog is essential. But not only do you need to have a blog, you need to post to it. So, for this course, you will be required to post at least twelve substantive blog entries.

What constitutes a substantive blog entry?

I'm glad you asked!

-A substantive blog post consists of at least two-hundred words on a specific topic.

-Topics should be in some way related to your college experience or your future career interests. (Remember to put the topic in the blog post's title.)

-Some blog posts will be assigned by me. For example:

• "Find for me three websites related to finding careers in your field. Review each website in at least one paragraph (making a total of at least three paragraphs)."
• "Read the following article on the future of communications technology, and write a reflection of it in at least three-hundred words.

 -You may post as much as you'd like, as long as it's not off topic. (Don't blog about sports scores, or the weather, or politics, etc., unless it can be applicable to either your college experience and/or future career interests.)

So, in summary:

-At least twelve this semester.

-At least two-hundred words each.

-Stay on topic.

What is Information Literacy?

So, what is information literacy?

According to the National Forum on Information Literacy:

"Information Literacy is ... the ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem at hand."
So it is finding, deciphering, and using information.




Another definition (this time from our textbook):

"The adoption of appropriate information behavior to identify, through whatever channel or medium, information well fitted to information needs, leading to wise and ethical use of information in society." (pg. 6)

This describes a certain behavior, or habit of mind, necessary for "wise and ethical use" of information.

Questions:

1. Does information literacy only involve online information?

2. Why is this important for college students to understand?

3. Is this only relevant to your college careers? Yes or no?

Welcome to COMM 115!

Hello all!

Welcome to Bryant & Stratton's new and improved COMM 115: Introduction to Information Literacy. While we will use Blackboard as a sort of "home base" for this course, the use of Blogger will also be essential.

So take some time and get familiarized with the technology. It's all free! Be creative and get excited about creating a blog that fits you. I want this to be useful as a career-oriented tool, but that doesn't mean that you can't be creative!

This blog exercise will be a semester-long project, so don't feel like you need to get it all done--and make it all look pretty--in a few weeks or so. But the more you work on it, the better it will look, and the more comfortable you will get with this kind of technology.

And make sure to check my blog frequently too. I will post class-related materials to it, and I'll expect that you'll be able to easily access it.

So have fun with it, and welcome to COMM 115!