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Week 13: Thoughts on the Course
Social software is huge, and has immense potential in libraries. What I don’t understand is why library schools such as this one are letting so many students graduate without any training in this area.
Almost everyone I talk to here wants to enrol in this course. There is a huge demand for it. The course needs to be offered every semester and there needs to be more sections of it. Why is it not mandatory? I can’t understand why a course such as “Research Methods and Statistics” is required but not “Social Software and Libraries.” Many of the professors here don’t seem to know much about social software. This needs to change.
This is the first distance ed course I’ve taken, and I have enjoyed it so much that I have enrolled for a second one next term while I’m on co-op. There are a number of features about this course that have made it work really well. The weekly blogging forces me to think through the articles and synthesize my thoughts. I like the fact that the learning outcomes are posted at the top of the readings; I can see what I will be learning each week. The case studies put theory into practice and combine the two effectively. What I really love about the course is the fact that it has introduced me to an online community. I have learned so much from reading other students’ blogs and chatting with them online. The chats are particularly informative; I like the instant feedback to ideas that is possible with them. I have never created a prototype before and have totally enjoyed the experience. I have shortcuts to my social bookmarking site and my wiki on my desktop, and it is so satisfying to click on them and realize that I have created something unique and useful.
Check out my reflections on my experience with social software in the accompanying blog. I will be back next week with my thoughts on Social Software and Libraries.
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Hi Pauline,
First of all, congratulations on getting a co-op!
I totally agree that a course in social software should be mandatory. In one of my courses, the topic of folksonomies and social bookmarking came up and I was surprised to discover that many students feel negatively about it. For many people in the class, it was their first time hearing about it, so were quite wary. One student commented, "I just don't know how to feel about all this Web 2.0 stuff." This course would help that student learn about it and discover how he feels about it.
I've spoken to several students who have done co-op interviews and it seems that many interviewers asked a few questions concerning social software that students said they knew nothing or very little about. This does need to change.
Hi Pauline,
I agree! There are two ways that I think learning about social software could be incorporated into our courses: either by dedicating a lecture in each course where social software is relevant or offering this course more regularly. Or, maybe both! Social software is relevant in so many areas of library service. I think it is important not only to discuss it in classes, but also to see it in action and to get some hands-on experience with it. Too often in the past I have been overwhelmed (and sometimes confused) by discussion of web 2.0 without understanding its practical relevance.