A Fall Outing
Posted October 3, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
I went on a wonderful fall outing this past week! Ever since I moved to Massachusetts I’ve been working on trying to explore the area more. I research things to do and places to visit online, I ask classmates and colleagues where to go, and sometimes I just stumble across places as I go about my day. One thing that several people told me was that I couldn’t go through a fall in New England without a trip to an apple orchard. I’ve noticed that there is an abundance of apple orchards near where I live, and it feels like there are far more here than there were North Carolina. This past week, I decided to take the advice that was given to me and I visited an apple orchard with my family. We went to Tougas Family Farm in Northborough, MA. At the farm it is currently apple and pumpkin picking season. During other times of the year, you can pick other kinds of fruit such as strawberries (early June to early July), cherries…
Welcome to a New Blogger!
Posted October 1, 2018 by Lindsey Clarke
Hello everyone! We’d like to introduce one of our two new student bloggers — Katie Carlson! Please read a little about her below. You will see her first post very soon! Welcome Katie! My name is Katie Carlson, and I live in Brighton, with my best friend from undergrad. We loving refer to our apartment as the Bachelorette Pad, and spend our evenings cooking elaborate meals and watching 60 Minutes. While my zip code reads Brighton, my heart resides in New Jersey, where I spent the first 18 years of my life. I attended Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA for undergrad, and received my degree in English and Art History. Seven sisters all the way! I stumbled into the field of library science after my childhood best friend suggested I apply for an internship at our hometown’s public library. Never had I ever looked forward to going into work every day — until work was a library. I knew I had to do whatever it took to keep being that happy, so here…
So Much Critical Thinking
Posted September 28, 2018 by Megan Ondricek
I was quite at a loss over what I should write for this week’s blog post, so I decided to write about something that seems to be emerging as a common thread throughout my classes and even my personal life this semester and that is… critical thinking. Bear with me. I realize that the notion of “critical thinking” ought to be familiar to anyone who’s been through any kind of formal education. I’ve literally spent years of my life looking at syllabi and assignments with “critical thinking” written all over them. Probably every teacher I’ve ever had has said something about critical thinking at some point, but I honestly don’t know if any of them ever sat me down and told me exactly what it was, or how I was supposed to “think critically.” As if it was something that I was expected to just pick up as a result of participating in class and doing assignments. (Apologies to any of my former teachers who are reading this thinking, “I definitely told her what critical…
Surprising Myself and Time Management
Posted September 26, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
The third week of my fall class (LIS 488: Technology for Information Professionals) just started, and things are going much better than I thought they would. I’ve mentioned several times before how nervous I was for this class because of how technology focused it is, but things have been going really well so far. I’ve really stepped up my time management skills and have devoted at least two hours a night to working on the material for this class, whether it be the readings, lectures, note-taking, labs, or other assignments. A part of the reason why I’ve been doing this is because I learned from the accelerated nature of the class I took this summer, and because of my overall apprehensiveness regarding the material for the class. Due to the way I’ve been managing my time for this class I’ve been finishing my weekly labs well in advance of the due date. However, this week we’re starting HTML, so I’m a bit nervous, but I’m hoping that I’ll continue to surprise myself with my technology…
Engaging Classes and Best Laid Plans
Posted September 20, 2018 by Megan Ondricek
I’m delighted to report that my new system for homework worked incredibly well last week. I methodically chugged through all my readings, got started on some future assignments, took notes on everything I read, and tracked how much time I spent on what. It was so efficient that I had everything finished by Thursday! Want to know my grand totals for the week? (Of course you do.) I spent 17 hours and 45 minutes total, of which I spent 11 hours reading (and note-taking), 4.75 hours on assignments, and 2 hours on review. I know this is incredibly nerdy, but I’ve ALWAYS wanted to know how much time I actually spend on homework, and how close it is to the 20-hour/week ballpark (10 hours per week, per class). Also, I thought it might be helpful for any of you out there still considering library school to get a realistic idea of the time commitment. My archival access & use class is down to only five people, but so far that hasn’t hindered discussion. I find…
A New Semester Begins!
Posted September 19, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
My fall class (LIS 488: Technology for Information Professionals) started last week. As I’ve mentioned before, while this is an online class, it’s a bit of a new adventure for me because there are a few “live sessions” incorporated in to the schedule. These live sessions aren’t in-person, they are GoToMeeting sessions where everyone is online at the same time and we can see and hear the professor. Our first day of class had one of these live sessions and it was very exciting! I’ve done videoconferencing for work and for group projects via Skype and Google Hangouts, but I’ve never done it for class before. I did have some technical difficulties connecting to the meeting, but once I got them ironed out, I really enjoyed the component of the live session. We had a segment where we were able to introduce ourselves and we could see and hear everyone, which is an element that I’ve missed from in-person classes. While I really love interacting with my classmates on the discussion forums, the live session…
Fall Beckons!
Posted September 13, 2018 by Megan Ondricek
My penultimate semester at Simmons has begun and the summer is officially over. I’m at this stage of my school journey in which things are beginning to feel very repetitive. Here I am: getting up before 6 am every Saturday, driving the same route to South Hadley, Mass., stopping at the same places for gas and a bite to eat, walking the same paths to familiar classrooms, seeing the same faces, eating the same lunches at the SlIS West office…. This is not to say that there’s nothing unique about this semester, just that it’s begun to feel very routine. In many ways, though, this semester is unprecedented. For the first time, both of my kids will be at school for some portion of the day, giving me chunks of dedicated homework time in the mornings. The kids’ school schedules force all of us to be up and at ’em fairly early so there will be more discipline and more routine. And I’m starting this semester with more planning, motivation, determination, and better personal organization…
Fall is Here!
Posted September 12, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
Fall has arrived! Well, technically fall doesn’t start until September 22, but it certainly feels like fall. The weather is getting slightly colder, the leaves are beginning to change, and the fall semester has just begun (my class literally just started last night). I must say, I really enjoy how classes do not start until September here. Even the elementary, middle, and high schools in Massachusetts didn’t start until last week (at least that’s when they started in my area). My entire life, school has always started in early-to-mid August, no matter what state I have lived in. I’m really enjoying waiting until fall to go back to school. As the seasons have started to change, I have been trying to partake in some fun fall activities. Last weekend, I went to the Autumn Arts and Crafts Festival at the Historic Wayside Inn in Sudbury, MA. It was a great outdoor craft fair with a ton of vendors and exhibits, and I bought some fabulous items! There seems to be a lot of festivals in…
The End of Summer
Posted August 29, 2018 by Sarah Callanan
So, I thought that my fall class started next week- I was wrong. Guess who gets two more weeks of summer?! That’s right, I do! The students in my class got an email from our professor a few days ago giving us details about the class (LIS 488: Technology for Information Professionals), and it said that our start date is September 11, which means that I get more time before school starts! Now that I have the syllabus and some more details about the class, I can see that this is going to be different than other online classes that I’ve had. There are going to be a few “live sessions” where everyone is online and interacting with each other at the same time, which I’m really looking forward to! While I’ve gotten to interact with my classmates during online classes before, it’s been mostly through forums, and we reply to each other at our leisure. With the live sessions (I assume) we will actually be able to see one another and participate like an…
The Last Week of Summer
Posted August 27, 2018 by Megan Ondricek
And just like that, our last golden week of summer is over. My, how golden it was. The kids and I spent our last full week before school starts enjoying some gorgeous weather and having all kinds of fun and leisure time. I could not have asked for a better summer send-off. We did all the things: nature center, aquarium, IMAX, libraries, parks, and playdates. I have LOVED being able to spend all this quality time with my two kids, unhurried, unburdened, and unscheduled. With my first child about to embark on his public school journey and the second starting preschool, it feels like we’re about to lose something that we can never get back. For all my reluctance to leave behind these lazy summer days, I am actually quite excited for the fall and the new challenges and opportunities it will bring. Remember that exciting news I hinted about in my last post? Well…the exciting news has officially been rescinded. I had been accepted for a reference and instruction internship at a nearby university,…