Before this assignment I had never used the "Know it Now 24x7" website or the "Ask a Librarian" tool through Kent State University. I was excited to try both services, in hope that this could be something that I start to use more often if I am satisfied with the results.
First I went to the "Know in Now 24x7" website found at http://www.knowitnow.org/. I really like the fact that this service is 24x7, because I often do my research and homework late at night. The fact that there is a staff member ready to chat at any time makes this service very flexible. Here is how my chat went:
Megan: What educational implications does muscular dystrophy have on children?
ad.pat: Hello. You've connected to your 24x7 online reference service staffed by librarians across the state. Please wait one moment while I take a look at your question.
ad.pat: hi
ad.pat: let me see what i can find for you
Megan: Hello! Thank you!
ad.pat: this may help: http://www.slc.sevier.org/miscdisa.htm
ad.pat: still looking
ad.pat: another: http://www.mnlowincidenceprojects.org/documents/PIdisabilityBriefAdmin.pdf
Megan: Ok great I will check out both of those...thank you!
The chat was very brief and I left the chat before checking out the websites to see if they had the information that I needed. This was a mistake and I will know better next time. The first website gave a small amount of information about physical disabilities such as MD, but was very general and didn't really give me the information I needed. Only a few sentences even related to MD. The second website was about common physical impairments and adaptations that can be made for these students. This website gave me more than the first, but both were pretty general. This information was not nearly as helpful as the information I collected through assignment 4. I think part of the problem was in the way that I asked the question through the chat. Next time I will try to be very clear in letting the librarian I am chatting with know exactly what I need. I also should have stayed in the chat and given the librarian feedback so that they could try again to find information I needed.
After being a little disappointed in the results from "Know it Now," I went to Kent State University website to try to chat with a librarian. However when I got to the library's page I saw that the chat is only open when Kent State's library is open. This was a little frustrating to me, because the summer hours for the library are not very flexible. I decided that I would wake up early the next morning to chat with a KSU librarian. The website stated that a KSU librarian is available to chat when the reference desk is open. I checked the calendar for the hours to make sure the library was open, but I still ended up waiting on the KSU librarian to go online. This was very frustrating for me and made me feel like it would be a lot easier to just start looking for the information myself.
After waiting some time I did get to chat with a KSU librarian. I made sure that this time I explained my situation with tutoring the child with MD in detail and asked what I should know about MD before starting. I also asked what kind of modifications I should be making. The KSU librarian gave me resources that were a lot more helpful than the resources given by "Know it Now." I still don't think these resources were as "on target" as the resources I found on my own, but I knew exactly what I was looking for.
How did the two IM services compare to each other? Well, I think I gave the KSU librarian an advantage by explaining my situation and describing in detail exactly what I was looking for. I think I would have received information that was more relevant to my topic if I would have done that with the "Know it Now" librarian. I was very frustrated with the hours of the KSU librarian chat. A librarian was not online at the time that the website had posted. If I had to pick one of these to use in the future I would probably choose the "Know it Now" website, because I wouldn't have to worry about whether they are online or not. I would just make sure that I really explain what I need to the librarian.
Chatting online with a librarian was an interesting experience and one that I had never done before. Do I think the information I received from this experience was better that the information I found in assignment 4? No, at least in this case I was able to find exactly what I needed in a shorter amount of time. I was able to research at any time of the day and I knew the key terms to use to get the information I needed. I don't see myself referring to the online librarians unless I am having trouble finding information on my own. This is just my personal preference. However, I do give the library credit for having this kind of service available. It shows that the library is changing with technology and trying to reach out to all users.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Information Awareness Report: Muscular Dystrophy
A few weeks ago I was asked to tutor a child with muscular dystrophy. I was very excited to start working with the child, but I also knew that I needed to find out more information on muscular dystrophy before we started working together. I had a basic knowledge of MD, but I wanted to know how it affected learning if at all so I knew how to best serve the child. For example, how much writing should I ask the child to do? Are there modifications I need to make? My intentions, as always, were to treat this child just like any other child, but I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't asking the child to do anything that would have a long-term effect on his body.
First, I talked to the child's mother and teacher from the previous year to find out more information. This was a great, because I got information on the individual child instead of MD in general. The first thing I learned was that the child had a specific type of MD called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. I learned that the child had a stool for his feet and a pad that went on his chair so he could move around. The mother and teacher told me that writing was fine unless the boy's fingers started to get tired. I learned that MD usually starts in large muscles, such as the legs, and moves to smaller muscles, such as the hands. However, for the child I was working with it was the opposite. The mother told me that he was losing muscle strength in his smaller muscles first and this is why writing should stop if he gets tired. Talking to the boy's mother and teacher helped a lot, but it also made me even more curious.
My second step in getting information was through the internet. I used Google to search for these terms: muscular dystrophy, duchenne muscualar dystrophy, and duchenne muscular dystrophy and school. I was able to find out basic information about the disease, symptoms, and treatments. I also learned that the disease can affect adults, but the more severe forms usually start in early childhood. At this time there is no cure for MD, however treatment aims to control symptoms to maximize quality of life. Here are some of the sites I looked at through these search terms:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000705.htm
http://www.parentprojectmd.org/site/DocServer/EdMatters-TeachersGuide.pdf?docID=2403
http://specialchildren.about.com/od/musculardystrophy/a/MDschool.htm
I thought this was good information, but I wanted more information more specific to academics. Using Google again, I searched "teacher's guide to muscular dystrophy" and found this information to be exactly what I was looking for. I found reliable sites that told me about how muscle weakness affects behavior in academic settings and at home. I learned more about the adaptive equipment that are used at school or other similar settings and how teachers should respond to questions that classmates may ask. This was exactly what I needed to know! Here are some of the websites I used:
http://www.mdausa.org/publications/tchrdmd/dmd2.html
http://www.parentprojectmd.org/site//PageServer?pagename=understanding_professional_teachers
http://www.muscular-dystrophy.org/
I was lucky to have found the information I needed in such a short time. If I had not found what I was looking for my next step would have been to use a research database to find scholarly articles/studies or to go to the library and check out some books on MD. Why wasn't the library my first choice? For me it was more convenient to check on the internet first. I could do this at home with a few clicks. I was cautious in making sure that the sites I used were reliable and I checked several sites to make sure the information was the accurate. I also decided to use the internet since this was an infomational need related to medical health. I knew the latest research would be online and that there was a chance books at the library could contain information that is outdated. I learned that finding information about a subject or question is something I enjoy. It is a little like a scavenger hunt. I also learned that searching for this information was something I did automatically, without much thought. The search terms seemed obvious to me and if one didn't bring up the results then I just tried another one. Now that I am educated on the subject, I feel more confident in my tutoring sessions. Overall this experience was something that challenged and interested me. I learned a lot about the way that I go about finding information to questions and topics that come up daily!
First, I talked to the child's mother and teacher from the previous year to find out more information. This was a great, because I got information on the individual child instead of MD in general. The first thing I learned was that the child had a specific type of MD called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. I learned that the child had a stool for his feet and a pad that went on his chair so he could move around. The mother and teacher told me that writing was fine unless the boy's fingers started to get tired. I learned that MD usually starts in large muscles, such as the legs, and moves to smaller muscles, such as the hands. However, for the child I was working with it was the opposite. The mother told me that he was losing muscle strength in his smaller muscles first and this is why writing should stop if he gets tired. Talking to the boy's mother and teacher helped a lot, but it also made me even more curious.
My second step in getting information was through the internet. I used Google to search for these terms: muscular dystrophy, duchenne muscualar dystrophy, and duchenne muscular dystrophy and school. I was able to find out basic information about the disease, symptoms, and treatments. I also learned that the disease can affect adults, but the more severe forms usually start in early childhood. At this time there is no cure for MD, however treatment aims to control symptoms to maximize quality of life. Here are some of the sites I looked at through these search terms:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000705.htm
http://www.parentprojectmd.org/site/DocServer/EdMatters-TeachersGuide.pdf?docID=2403
http://specialchildren.about.com/od/musculardystrophy/a/MDschool.htm
I thought this was good information, but I wanted more information more specific to academics. Using Google again, I searched "teacher's guide to muscular dystrophy" and found this information to be exactly what I was looking for. I found reliable sites that told me about how muscle weakness affects behavior in academic settings and at home. I learned more about the adaptive equipment that are used at school or other similar settings and how teachers should respond to questions that classmates may ask. This was exactly what I needed to know! Here are some of the websites I used:
http://www.mdausa.org/publications/tchrdmd/dmd2.html
http://www.parentprojectmd.org/site//PageServer?pagename=understanding_professional_teachers
http://www.muscular-dystrophy.org/
I was lucky to have found the information I needed in such a short time. If I had not found what I was looking for my next step would have been to use a research database to find scholarly articles/studies or to go to the library and check out some books on MD. Why wasn't the library my first choice? For me it was more convenient to check on the internet first. I could do this at home with a few clicks. I was cautious in making sure that the sites I used were reliable and I checked several sites to make sure the information was the accurate. I also decided to use the internet since this was an infomational need related to medical health. I knew the latest research would be online and that there was a chance books at the library could contain information that is outdated. I learned that finding information about a subject or question is something I enjoy. It is a little like a scavenger hunt. I also learned that searching for this information was something I did automatically, without much thought. The search terms seemed obvious to me and if one didn't bring up the results then I just tried another one. Now that I am educated on the subject, I feel more confident in my tutoring sessions. Overall this experience was something that challenged and interested me. I learned a lot about the way that I go about finding information to questions and topics that come up daily!
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