(I wonder if that post heading got a few people doing double takes? 😮)
The course selection meeting was this afternoon and even though I'm finished the program in a couple weeks, I thought about going just to hear what the profs said and hang out with some of the students. Then I realised this was sort of an O'Bannion move (that's the guy in Dazed and Confused who graduates high school but still hangs around) so decided not to. Also I fell asleep. 😊
But anyhow, I thought I'd do some more hypothetical reality (I'm really getting to like that phrase!) and pick the courses I would take if I were still here.
570 – Instructional Strategies – J Noon. (Monday afternoon)
650 – Information Entrepreneurship – L. McKinnon (Wed evening)
OR
762 – Enterprise Content Management – M. Debicki (Wed evening)
756 – History of the Book – B. MacDonald (distance)
758 – Publishing, Media & Librarianship – T. Oliphant (Fri morning)
760 – Communication Technologies and Connectivity: Current Trends and Researches – A. Quan-Haase (Monday morning)
So what's that give me – Monday morning, Wed afternoon, Wed evening, Friday morning and a distance course. Yikes! That's a pretty bad schedule to be honest.
I'd probably try to massage things a bit – maybe pick a different class that interests me equally to a couple of these (Advanced Info Sources, Services for Children and Young Adults, Information Policy, Managing Vendor Relations, maybe I'd even take the plunge and take that one course that I know I should take but which I avoided all year – government documents.) Maybe do another independent study or a research proposal.
Hmm, on second thought I'm glad I don't have to pick. My last two semesters things worked out really well, both in terms of classes I got into and when they were scheduled. I only got bumped once (into Genealogy this term) which sounded good and useful but turned out to be not as good or useful as I hoped. (At this very minute, I'm finishing up a presentation AND a paper that are due tomorrow and isn't that like illegal or something? Probably the most work I've done for 25% in this entire program!)
Comments 5
Are those courses that you haven't taken before or ones that you've experienced and liked?
sorry, i posed that question in the middle of the night after working on a project for 7hrs. another question: how do you find the course-ranking system? do you generally get what you pick?
Sorry I wasn't very clear. Those are all classes I haven't taken but would be interested in if I was still here next semester.
I'm sort of breaking my own rule because I've talked a lot on this blog about how it's important to find good profs, even over classes that sound good, but many of the profs I list are ones that I don't know much about. Jennifer Noon has a reputation as an excellent instructor and Tami Oliphant is a PhD student teaching her first course (at this level anyhow) who I think will be excellent as well. I don't know much about him but the guy from Dal teaching “History of the Book” has a very impressive resume – most recently as a fellow at the Smithsonian Institute.
The course ranking system is a think of great mystery but basically, I tended to get my Top 3 picks and then it was a crapshoot. In summer when I was also taking 506 (required) and doing an independent study, getting my next top three picks meant I got everything I wanted. This term though, it meant I got my top three but got my sixth and seventh alternate picks instead of my fourth and fifth picks. But to be honest, it wasn't that much of a disappointment because, at least for me, when you get down to that level, they're probably efw differences between how much you want the classes in those final spots and your ranking will come down to things like “If I get #5, I can sleep in but if I get bumped to #6, I'll have to wake up early” or “If I get #5, I get a long weekend every week but if I get bumped to a lower pick, I'll have a class on Friday.”
I have heard horror stories of people not getting any except their very top pick but I think that's pretty rare.
I can say without any reserve that Library Entrepreneurshop was by far the shittiest waste of time in my life. Though I did have fun getting wasted at the grad club and playing mario brothers during it. I just HAD to say.
Okay, okay. I take back my intention to take this class! It sounds like it could be something useful and with potential for use in the future – even if you're in a publicly funded library setting. I know a couple students who took this before who didn't enjoy it but I didn't realise the extent of the dislike for the class.