Week One - quick reflections

SO much work to do. I don't know where to begin. I wasn't able to make it to any face-to-face lectures this week and I think that's set me back. Despite the dual teaching mode, I think that I'm more attentive when attending lectures in a physical capacity so one of my goals this semester is to work on creating a better learning space at home.

Aside from being behind in some lecturers, I'm also already behind in my readings for the first couple of weeks. Last weekend I wrote out a day-by-day action plan but I was unable to carry out most of these tasks because my "free" weekend filled up. And that's just an excuse for the most part. Yes, my days were busy but I could've also better managed my days during the week and done readings in between dog walks and birthday planning. I need to get on top of it this weekend otherwise I'll be setting myself up to head down a tough road.

Week One has also been challenging because different classes do similar but not identical things and there seems to be some overlapping of ideas and conflict of others. I'm hoping that it's first week adjustments and a rhythm will emerge.

Something that I think will help with my studies are Personal Learning Networks (PLNs). I see PLNs as being digital networks you set up among peers and people within the industry so that you can expand your knowledge base and seek guidance from those in the same boat. I'm pro-collaboration and I think it's becoming more and more necessary in the LIS profession (the GLAM concept for example). I believe being exposed to people's insights and unique opinions and being able to bounce my thoughts off other people will be great for broadening ideas and I think PLNs will be valuable for this reason.

Time to hit the books!

Before semester 2...

Last semester I found it challenging to stick to deadlines and stay on top of the work load. This boiled down to poor task management. This semester I am aiming to turn this around by completing assignments ahead of time and completing weekly class tasks as assigned. Currently, I am attempting to go through each unit and get a handle on the content before week one. As there is a terrific number of resources to sift through I'm going to set myself some boundaries. I am going to split up the content into manageable pieces over the next three days and ensure that I write reflectively on each element in order to keep track of what I've learned and hopefully effectively apply it to the course content. This is a rough idea of what I'm hoping to get done over the weekend:

Thursday (today): 
- Print off highly important documents to read over and make notes on, on the train.
- Write important dates into diary.

Friday:
- Do Week 1-3 readings for INN533.
- Review assessment literature for INN533.

Saturday:
- Go through INN333 Learning Resources -> Week 1: Let's get going! -> Personal learning networks.
- Go through INN333 Assessment -> Assignment 1 and assignment 2 resources.

Sunday:
- Go through the first three weeks of readings and tasks for INN540.
- Listen to the lecture audio captures that are currently available for INN540 in the Weekly Resources.

As outlined by one of the classes it is advised that we invest in a headset for our collaborate sessions so I will be shopping around for a cheap set over the weekend.