ASSIGNMENT:     INB/N335.3 Reflective Learning Journal

TO BE CONDUCTED:    Individually

DATE DUE:    Fortnightly submissions (Weeks 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11), due Thursdays
Completed Journal Week 14 (Monday 29 October)

WEIGHTING:     20%

OBJECTIVES:     1.    To begin to explore the concept of self assessment and reflection as an academic and professional skill.
2.    To develop professional writing skills utilising a reflective journal format

REQUIREMENTS:     6 Reflective Journal Entries (between 2 and 4 pages in length each).
Please note the page length is provided as a guide only!   If you have any concerns about the journal length, please speak to the unit teaching staff.

SUBMISSION METHOD:    Upload through Blackboard

Assignment Details
A Reflective Learning Journal is a means of encouraging you to think about and reflect upon the material we are considering in the unit. Your task is to critically reflect upon and summarise the content of lectures, guest presentations, tutorials and readings.

The purpose of the Journal therefore is:

o    To help you to maintain your awareness of how well you are keeping up to date with the required or enrichment readings each week.

o    Enable you to keep track of any Lectures, etc. missed so as to plan ahead for “catch-up”
o    study requirements.
o    Provide you with a means to identify any difficulties you may be experiencing in the unit. Provide you with an opportunity to analyse your own “information” received and how it may
o    relate to your future career, both in preparation for your career and in possibly developing an ongoing information resource handling style.

o    Provide you with a feedback mechanism where you could suggest “constructive” adjustments to the subject unit that you think might be helpful for the learning experience or for your future careers.

o    This is a Reflective Journal – think about the unit’s content each fortnight and stretch your own mind. The best marks are given to those students who can CRITICALLY REFLECT UPON the materials they have studied each week.

What You Need To Do

1.   6 Journal entries need to be submitted during the semester. The first Journal entry should be submitted in Week 3 – Thursday 9 August.

2.   To submit your 6 journal entries go to:  INB335 Blackboard Site >> Assessment >> Assignment
3 Reflective Learning Journal

3.   Entries will be read after each submission, comments added by the lecturer and returned via Blackboard. Individual entries will NOT be marked. A mark will be allocated at the end of the semester when all 6 entries have been completed

Journal Entry Due Dates

Journal Entry Number    Due Date    Coverage    Submission
Method
Entry 1    (Week 3) Thursday 9 August    Lecture, Tutorials & Readings for
Weeks 1 & 2    Blackboard
Entry 2    (Week 5) Thursday 23 August    Lecture, Tutorials & Readings for
Weeks 3 & 4    Blackboard
Entry 3    (Week 7) Thursday
6 September    Lecture, Tutorials & Readings for
Weeks 5 & 6    Blackboard
Entry 4    (Week 9) Thursday 20 September    Lecture, Tutorials & Readings for
Weeks 7 & 8    Blackboard
Entry 5    (Week 11) Thursday
11 October    Lecture, Tutorials & Readings for
Weeks 9 & 10    Blackboard
Entry 6    Week 14) Monday
29 October    Lecture, Tutorials & Readings for
Weeks 11, 12 & 13.    Blackboard

Please note an additional week beyond the end of semester has been allowed to complete this assignment, to enable you to have some clarity of thought after the immediate pressures of Week 13 to distil your ideas about your learning over the course of the semester.

IMPORTANT NOTE
Do not attempt to submit individual Journal entries late as they will not be accepted. Each non-submission will result in a 1 mark deduction

Some Tips on Compiling Your Journal

?    Maintain your Journal on a regular basis (i.e. after each week’s classes).

?    KEEP THE MARKED (i.e. commented on) Journal in a safe place ready for resubmission of the final completed Journal at the end of the semester.

?    DON’T wait until semester’s end to alert your lecturer to any problems or difficulties you may be experiencing!

What to Include in Your Journal Entries

Each Journal entry should include:

A.  SESSION TOPIC(S)
Indicate the major points covered during the class room sessions.   Critically comment on anything you consider particularly interesting, controversial, or important.  Discuss the specific activities you undertook during the class – comment on how the session contributed to your understanding, and/or interest in the subject content dealt with. You may like to relate what you are learning, doing in the unit to other activities in your work, or academic lives or what you see or experience generally living your life.

B.  READINGS
Critically discuss the readings you completed. Whilst it is expected that you will complete the Set Reading for each week, at least one extra reading of your own choice is suggested as well, especially if you are eager to obtain a higher grade for the unit. This is also where you will discuss any ‘extra’ tasks you are assigned as ‘homework’ for the period.

C.  REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS
Reflect upon the following questions each fortnight.  For each question think about what strategies or approaches you used to try to learn these new things. Think about what worked best for you and what did not work.

1.   What was the most difficult thing to try to understand in this fortnight’s material? Why was this difficult for you?
2.   What problems or difficulties are you encountering with this unit? You may have nothing else to comment upon – that is you attended the classes, understood them, were able to complete at least the required readings, have no immediate problems about upcoming assignments, and are generally satisfied with the unit and your own progress for the fortnight!

Week 14 entry – for your last entry due in week 14 provide overarching critical discussion of your learning and general experiences in the unit, including questions you still have and areas you still need to develop further.

QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
INB/N335 INFORMATION RESOURCES

Assignment INB/N335 Completed Reflective Learning Journal
Marking Grid (weighted 20%, marked out of 20)
Criterion    Marks    7
85%-100%    6
75%-84%    5
65%-74%    4
50%-64%    Refer / Fail
0%-49%
CONTENT

The ability to”
– identify the major points covered in the lecture/tutorial components
–  critically comment on interesting, controversial, or important aspects from class and/or readings
– respond to reflective questions
– discuss the personal learning outcomes from the unit
/10    Has a sophisticated and well developed understanding of the major points covered in the lecture/tutorial

A high level ability to critically comment on interesting, controversial, or important aspects from class topics/discussion and readings

Answers Reflective Questions to a very high level.

A clear understanding of the learning outcomes achieved. Identifies specific areas of knowledge and searching skills to be developed further.      Has a good understanding of the major points covered in the lecture/tutorial.

A good to very good ability to critically comment on interesting, controversial, or important aspects from class topics/discussion and readings

Answers Reflective Questions to a high level.

Understands the learning outcomes achieved. Identifies areas for further development of knowledge and skills.
Has a sound understanding of the major points covered in the lecture/tutorial

A reasonable to good ability to critically comment on interesting, controversial, or important aspects from class topics/discussion or readings, but would benefit from further development.

Answers Reflective Questions to a good high level.

Recognises the overall learning outcomes, but is not clear about further development.
Has a basic understanding of some of the points covered in the lecture/tutorial

An acceptable ability to critically comment on interesting, controversial, or important aspects from class topics/discussion or readings, however this aspect needs much improvement.

Answers Reflective Questions to an acceptable level.

Begins to recognise own expectations and reservations about their learning in the unit but comments raised are not coherent or underdeveloped.
Limited understanding of the points covered in the lecture/tutorial

Inability to critically comment on interesting, controversial, or important aspects from either class topics/discussion or readings

Does not answer Reflective Questions at an acceptable level or
Does not attempt to answer Reflective Questions.

Inability to undertake the process of self evaluation OR begins to recognise own strengths and weaknesses, but lacks confidence in reflecting on own learning.

FORTNIGHTLY SUBMISSIONS
The ability to:
– submit all fortnightly journal entries on time    /6    Submits all fortnightly submissions on time and via correct method    Submits 4 out of 5 fortnightly submissions on time and via correct method    Submits 3 out of 5 fortnightly submissions on time and via correct method    Submits 2 out of 5 fortnightly submissions on time and via correct method    Submits 1 or none out of 5 fortnightly submissions on time and via correct method
EXPRESSION, PRESENTATION & REFERENCING
The ability to:
– use fluent language with correct grammar, spelling & punctuation;
– use appropriate paragraph, sentence structure;
– use appropriate style and tone of writing;
– produce a professionally presented document
– reference and cite correctly using APA style

/4    Clarity promoted by consistent use of standard grammar, spelling and punctuation.
Text is skilfully constructed: unified, coherent, forceful, varied.
Paragraph structure effectively developed.
Includes a high quality Executive Summary, introduction and conclusion.
Fluent, professional style and tone of writing.
No proof reading errors.
Polished and original professional appearance.
In-text citations and Reference list correct    Language fluent.
Includes a good quality Executive Summary, Introduction and Conclusion.
Grammar and spelling accurate.
A few (?3) proof reading errors. Tone and style of writing are fluent and professional.    Language mainly fluent, but some confusion in meaning. Includes an Executive Summary, Introduction and Conclusion, but the standard of these needs further improvement. Grammar and spelling mainly accurate. Several (3-6) proof reading errors.
Tone and style of writing are mostly fluent and professional

Meaning apparent, but language not always fluent.
Executive Summary, Introduction and Conclusion, are of a standard that need considerable improvement.
Grammar and/or spelling contain errors.
A large number (6-10) of proof reading errors.
The tone and style of writing are informal or conversational.

Meaning unclear as grammar and/or spelling contain frequent errors (? 10).
Inappropriate, irrelevant or exclusion of elements such as Executive Summary, Introduction and Conclusion.
Disorganised or incoherent writing.
Inappropriate vocabulary, style or tone for professional writing
TOTAL

/20

Comments:

Grade:

INB/N335 Information Resources:

Weekly Reading Schedule

Reading    Available @
Week 1
Set Reading
O’Sullivan (2002) OR Cheuk (2008

Cheuk, B. (2008). Delivering business value through information literacy in the workplace. Libri,
58, p. 137-143    http://www.librijournal.org/pdf/2008-3pp137-143.pdf

The Information Cycle – tutorial from Penn State University Libraries    http://www.libraries.psu.edu/content/dam/psul/up/lls/audiovideo/infocycle_2008.swf
or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwbyRvwSzSs

O’Sullivan, C. (2002) Is information literacy relevant in the real world? Reference Services
Review, 30(1), p. 7    CMD
Technorealism: With so much Information available, it is essential to think!    http://technorealism.org/

Week 2
Set Reading
Buhler (2002)

Buhler, P.M. (2002) Building the learning organisation for the 21st century: a necessary
challenge. SuperVision, 63(12), p. 20    CMD
Bawden, D. & Robinson, L. (2008). The dark side of information: overload, anxiety and other
paradoxes and pathologies.  Journal of Information Science, (35) 2, p. 180    CMD
Bates, M. E. (2002) A day in the life of an information broker; or, “so, you’ve tired of a steady
paycheck?” Searcher 10(7), p. 24    CMD
Kennan, M. A., Willard, P. and Wilson, C. (2006). What do they want? A study of changing employer expectations of information professionals.  Australian Academic and Research Libraries, 37(1), 17    http://www.alia.org.au/publishing/aarl/37.1/kennan.willard.pdf

Week 3
Set Reading
Albright (2004) AND QUT Pilot module.    Albright, K. (2004). Environmental scanning: Radar for success. The Information
Management Journal , May/June p. 39    CMD
Choo, C.W. (2004). Environmental scanning as information seeking and organizational
Learning, Information Research 7(1), p. 112    http://informationr.net/ir/7-1/paper112.html

Wall, B. (2002) Evolution in the forecasting process at Krispy Kreme, The Journal of Business
Forecasting Methods and Systems, 21(1), p. 15    CMD
Majid, S. & Choo, C. (2009). Environment intelligence: An innovative information service.
Singapore Journal of Library & Information Management, 38    http://www.las.org.sg/sjlim/SJLIM20092Shaheen.pdf

Hoe, S.L. (2008). Benefiting from customer and competitor knowledge: A market-based
approach to organizational learning. The Learning Organization (15) 3. p. 240    CMD
QUT Pilot tutorial – “Evaluate your information”.

You may even like to do the first two modules as they are particularly relevant to this unit and to Assignment 2.  Module 5 is also highly recommended for those of you who feel they may need some help with synthesising large amounts of information to write a good assignment.  You can find the Pilot homepage here: https://pilot.library.qut.edu.au/index.jsp

https://pilot.library.qut.edu.au/module3/index.jsp

Week 4
Set Reading
Read one (1) of the articles provided that is of interest to you OR use your search skills to find a journal article or conference paper exploring the latest developments in web search.    “Google is Polluting the internet” from The Guardian, 30 October, 2010    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/30/google-polluting-internet

Hochstotter, N. & Lewandowski, D, (2009) What users see – Structures in search engine results pages Information Sciences, 179(12), p. 1796

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0020025509000541

Warr, W. (2008) Social software: fun and games or business tools? Journal of Information Science, 34. 591-604.    CMD
Piper, P. (2000) Better read that again: web hoaxes and misinformation. Searcher, 8(8), 40-49.    CMD
Morris, M. R., Teevan, J. & Panovich, K. (2010) A comparison of information seeking using search engines and social networks. Proceedings of the 4th International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media.    http://teevan.org/work/publications/posters/icwsm10.pdf

Johnson, S (2003) Digging for Googleholes – Google may be our god, but it’s not omnipotent, Slate Magazine

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/webhead/2003/07/digging_for_googleholes.html

Keaggy. B. & Hurst. M. (2002) Face-off: are weblogs legitimate business tools? Network
World, 19(44), p. 40    CMD
Ganzha, M. Paprzycki, M & Standnik, J. (2010) Combining information from multiple search engines – preliminary comparisons.  Information Sciences, 180, 1908-1923.    CMD
Week 5
Set reading
See instructions provided.    You are invited to put your information searching skills to the test – find one (1) journal article, conference paper, or other quality resource on giving oral presentations and critically discuss it in your learning journal. As part of your discussion on the item you find you are required to discuss how you found it and why you believe it is a ‘quality’ or ‘trustworthy’ resource to use.

Week  6
No Set Reading
Assignment 1 due – not set readings this week.
Week 7
Set Reading
Large, A. Tedd, L. and Hartley, R.J. (2001)  Information seeking in the online age : principles and practice. London: Bowker. Ch 1. General Overview    CMD
Week 8
Set Reading
Basch, R. (1989) The seven deadly sins of fulltext searching, Database, 12(4), p. 15    CMD

Week 9
Set Reading
Derwin & Dewdney (1986) OR Owen (2006)    Dervin, B. and Dewdney, P. (1986). Neutral questioning: a new approach to the reference interview, RQ, 25 (4), 506-513.    https://faculty.washington.edu/jwj/lis521/zennezdervindewd86nq-1.pdf

Owen, T. B. (2006). Chapter 1 : What do you Really Want? How to Make Sure you Really Understand the Question in Owen, T. B., Success at the enquiry desk : successful enquiry answering – every time, London: Facet, pp.1-17     http://www.slate.com/id/2085668/

Week 10
Set Reading
Bates, M. E. (2001) Super searchers cover the world: the online secrets of international business researchers. Medford, NJ: Information Today.
•    Kyoko Toyoda, Asian Business Research Expert pg. 57-68  OR
•    Miranda van Roosmalen, Dutch Researcher and Trainer pg.185-200    CMD
Week 11
No Set Reading
Assignment 2 Interim Report Due – no set reading this week.

Week 12
Set Reading
Large, A. Tedd, L. and Hartley, R.J. (2001)  Information seeking in the online age : principles and practice. London: Bowker Ch 9. Information seeking – some practical issues pgs 239-255    CMD
Week 13
Set Reading
Your choice – either read an article from previous weeks that you have not read OR use your searching skills to find something relevant to your study major/preferred career path.