From Summer to Fall
Posted August 15, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
It. Is. Over. My summer class is done. The class (LIS 415: Information Organization) was interesting, invigorating, and utterly exhausting. I know I’ve said this before, but one of the reasons I really enjoyed the class was because even though it was an online class on an accelerated schedule, we had so many opportunities for discussion. Additionally, the new concepts I learned will be useful to me throughout my career. I learned so much about why and how we organize information. The class challenged me to think in new ways, and I am walking away with a valuable set of new skills which I will use in future classes and in my profession. However, I did struggle with the accelerated timeframe of the class. What really helped me was setting aside designated hours of each day to work on schoolwork. Admittedly, that didn’t always help, because I underestimated the amount of work in the beginning (it’s double the work of the normal semester because it’s done in half the time), so there were a lot of late nights. Even though the class could be stressful at times, I’m really glad I took this class during the summer.
As my summer class is now over, I have about three weeks before the fall semester starts. Unfortunately, it will not be all fun and games during the break. Next week, I’m getting surgery. Doesn’t that sound like a fun summer activity? I have this big list of everything I put off doing while I was in class, and I’m now trying to get everything done before my surgery date, so it will be smooth sailing and a nice easy recovery and transition into the fall semester.
I am a bit nervous about my fall class (LIS 488: Technology for Information Professionals). Even though I am a millennial and am pretty technology-savvy, I know nothing about coding and programming. When I started at Simmons, my plan was to take this particular class in person, so I could get as much help as possible. However, I am taking this class online. My work schedule for the fall semester is not flexible, and I know I’ll be travelling again during the semester, so I must make my school schedule flexible, and the way to do that is to take an online class. While I’ve heard nothing but positive things about this class, and I know this class will be good for me personally and professionally, it doesn’t make me any less nervous. I am always ready and willing to learn new skills though, and I go into each class with an open mind. I’ll be sure to tell you all about my journey throughout the fall semester!
Just around this time last year I was starting my application to Simmons, and after this fall, I’ll be done with my core LIS classes. I took LIS 407 (Information Sources and Services) this spring, I just finished LIS 415 (Information Organization), and I’ll be completing LIS 488 (Technology for Information Professionals) in the fall. I can’t believe how quickly time has gone by!
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