Declarative Knowledge
For the MRP I first learned that revising the essential research question and analyzing the support questions will give you a better understanding of what kind of question is needed for this project. I also learned that developing a well planned search strategy will ultimately give me the most accurate results when doing my research. Along with these things, I learned that it is important to analyze the key words in the essential question in order to revise the question in a more researchable way. Having a question that is either too broad or to narrow will not yield the best search results. Additionally, evaluation of different websites and information is very important when doing research. Looking at aspects such as accuracy and objectivity is vital when deciding if the information is from a reliable source and useful for projects like the one we will conduct.
In order to complete the weekly assignments I had to know several different facts. First, I had to be aware of the available databases that our library offers to find information for my topic. I also had to know that each database has subject specific articles. Since my subject is cochlear implants, I knew I would possibly find more articles in the medical based databases. Therefore, I used MEDLINE and then used ERIC. After finding the articles I needed, I then cited the articles using the APA format. I learned that this is the format we had to use for this particular assignment as well as most of our other assignments in this field. Next, I learned about what an annotated webliography is and the steps that allow me to create one.
I additionally learned what a project prospectus is, why it’s useful, and how to make one. The project prospectus is the plan describing how I will complete my MRP. Although this will undergo many changes as the semester progresses, it will give me a good place to start with the MRP. Along with the project prospectus and the search, I internalized the web evaluations about my own site. Keeping in mind the evaluations we used in a previous assignment helped me evaluate the credibility and validity of my site. I had to be aware of what credibility and validity meant and also what the evaluation consisted of.
I learned about some different forms of poetry. I have not had a lot of experience with poetry so I was introduced to a few different kinds of poems. One of the new forms was a found poem. The poem I chose to use and had some previous experience with was an acrostic poem. I also learned what I needed to know in order to conduct a peer review on two of my group mates 2nd genre that we made last week. I learned that I had to consider the voice, audience, say back, bless and address of the genre. I also learned that I would review Abby and Alyssa’s work.
My 3rd genre I chose was a journal entry. According to the MRP directions I noticed that I had to have two journal entries, and each had to be at least 150 words. I decided to write these in the voice of a teacher. I also made this my unifying genre which had to connect all of the genres into a story about a particular client. Next, I learned what a podcast is and how to make a podcast using gcast.com. The podcast was easier to do than I originally thought it would be in the beginning of the semester. I learned more about my mailing list/online community I have been observing since the beginning of the semester. I had not really thought of it as a community until this assignment.
For my 4th genre I chose to do an observation report which consisted of the reports we used to observe therapy. The report is written in the voice of an observer who is watching a cochlear implant client participate in speech/language therapy. Next I had to make a Preface page which consisted of explaining why I chose my particular research topic. I also had to have an About the Author page, which provided biographical information, and an Acknowledgements page.
I learned what we had to include in our Table of Contents page. I learned that I had to list links to my MRP and all of the different genres. I also learned how to revise my work with the SCAR method. I learned that S stands for substituting, where you substitute other words which helps with improving the clarity of the work. I also learned that C stands for cut, where you remove something to make the idea more clear. A stands for add, where you add something, and R stands for rearrange, where you rearrange the information.
Procedural Knowledge
In order to revise my essential question, I had to take each of the content words and think of how they could be more specific. Some examples are “implantation-pacemaker, cochlear, embryo” and “development-language, growth, physical, maturity.” After making a list of these, I had to choose which words to use in order to make my question much more specific; thus, giving me my revised question. Next, I took my revised question and made a list of the foundation questions, or questions that lead me to answering my essential question. Some of these included “what is a cochlear implant?,” and “who can be implanted?” After revising and coming up with the foundation questions I then had to think about search strategies. It is important to consider key terms/phrases and where I can search for these terms. I then had to conduct a search on my topic. Next, I learned how to evaluate a website using the Purdue Worksheet and then an evaluation guide on the internet for evaluating information.
In order to conduct a search for scholarly articles, I had to go to the library web page and click on the “articles” link. After finding the articles I needed, I then went to Knight Cite on the library web page in order to know how to cite my articles. I also referred to the APA Publication Manual to ensure the correct citing. Next, I created an annotated webliography. To do this, I went to wordpress, logged in, and went to my dashboard. Then, I had to click on write, and write page. I had to give my page a title and then insert the text of my webliography. I then came up with 3 different links for each category which were: fun/weird/zany/outrageous,sites for SLP’s/Audiologists, Research Resources for cochlear implants, Personal Interests, and Anything else we want. I then had to write 3-5 sentences (annotation) about each website and insert the links. In order to insert the links I had to highlight the words/phrases where I wanted the link and then choose the chain link in the formatting toolbar. Then, insert the URL and then click on insert. Once they are all finished then save the page and publish it.
To do the project prospectus I had to first create it as a page in my web log. I then had to follow a specific outline. I had to identify my essential question and foundation questions, list my tentative point I plan to make with my project, the genres I will include, how I will integrate my genres, and a list of tentative resources I will use. Four of the genres I included were already assigned, however I picked three additional genres. I then had to tell what voice they would be written in such as clinician voice, parent/caregiver voice, or client voice. Along with the voice of each I had to identify a potential audience for each genre and a discussion of why I chose that particular genre. After completing the outline I saved and published the page. Next, to complete the library search assignment I chose some keywords and phrases that I would search for. I then chose to search Academic Search Premier which gave me several useful results using the keywords “cochlear implant and language.” I then followed the same process with MEDLINE and received numerous amounts of information. When using PyshINFO to see what I could find I changed my keywords to “cochlear implant and language development.” I received several different articles from the other two datatbases using these keywords. I then posted the resource where I got the articles, the keywords I used to search, and the bibliographical information for each article. To site each source I referred to my APA manual fifth addition. I then saved and published my five sources on my weblog. I then had to view my site and evaluate it thinking about its validity and credibility. I kept in mind the evaluation outlines that we followed from a previous assignment. I also had to consider how other people would view my site and how I want to develop it. This made me realize that I need to work really hard for people to think my site is valid and credible. I saved and posted my thoughts from this assignment on my weblog. Next, I reflected on our group discussion, which to do this, I had to go to my e-mail and read the transcript from our discussion. I specifically had to identify my essential question I started with, the essential question I came up with during/after the discussion, how my group mates helped me clear my thinking, how I helped my group mates clear their thinking, and a list of recommendations for anyone who may participate in a similar activity in the future. I then saved and posted my results to my weblog.
In order to create my poem for my 2nd genre, I had to create it as a page in my weblog. I then had to choose the word/words that I wanted to use and creatively think from the perspective of a mother with a child who will receive a cochlear implant. I chose the words “cochlear implants” to be the starting letters of each line of my poem. I then thought carefully and went back and completed each line to add meaning to my poem. After completing my poem I then saved and published it as a page to my weblog. I then stopped by Mrs. McComas’s office and made an appointment with her to discuss my project. Next, to find information on photo-visual literacy since I did not know what it was, I conducted a search on the Internet. After finding what it was, I also provided the links to where I found the information. I then saved and published my reflection to my weblog and responded to my group mate’s reflections.
To make my 3rd genre, I had to look at my Project Prospectus and decide which genre I wanted to do next. I chose the journal entries. I then went to my weblog, created a new page and made two fictional journal entries from the perspective of the teacher. . I also made this my unifying genre so I linked each of my other genres within the text of the journal entries. I did this by highlighting the word/words I wanted linked and clicked the link icon, I then pasted the URL and hit “insert” and it linked the item. After doing this I saved and published the page as genre 3. Next I had to peer review Abby and Alyssa’s 2nd genre. I separately went to both of their weblogs, and read over their 2nd genres. I assessed both of them on the voice the piece is in, the audience it was written for, what I thought the author was trying to say, something specific that I liked about the piece, and something the author may want to address. I did this using the comment feature on their weblogs.
In order to choose which genre would be my forth, I had to look at the remaining genres for the MRP that I have not yet completed. To make the Observation report I referred to the Observation Reports that we use in our lab. Next, I had to create the genre as a page, save it, and then publish it. I then had to send the link to the class list for them to preview it. To peer review Abby and Alyssa’s I followed the same steps I previously stated and did this for each genre for the remaining weeks of the semester. In order to revise my project prospectus I first met with Mrs. McComas and discussed how to revise my essential and foundation questions. After the meeting I created a new page and made the changes that we discussed.
I first had to decide what my 5th genre for my MRP would be. I looked at the list of genres I had made and saw which ones remained that I have not yet completed. I decided to do the Interview Transcript so I referred to our Resource Manual for CD 424 to see the outline of an interview. Next I saved and published the genre as a page on my weblog and then sent the link to the class list. After this I conducted my peer reviews on Alyssa and Abby’s 4th genres. Next I reflected about my online community I have been observing. I used the post feature and commented on the people in the community, its purpose, whether it fulfills its purpose, and additional thoughts of mine about the community. I then saved it and published it to my weblog.
In order to complete my 6th genre I had to choose from the ones I had not yet done and then create it as a page. I chose to do my podcast. I wrote the text of my podcast and then went to gcast.com to record it. I called the number, recorded it and then pasted the link on my page. After completing it I saved and published the page, then sent the link to the class list for everyone to view. After this, I completed the peer review on Abby and Alyssa’s 5th genres. For my last genre I made a PowerPoint presentation by using Microsoft Office PowerPoint. I created different slides, saved the presentation and then linked the file into my page. I did this by choosing the file, clicking upload, and then inserting into the page. I saved and published the page for my 7th genre.
To make the Table of Contents page I used the page feature on my weblog. I provided links first in order of Preface, Acknowledgements, About the Author, Unifying Genre, References, and last the Reflection. Then I provided links to each different genre. I did this by highlighting the word I wanted the audience to click on to go to the link, clicked the link icon and typed in the pages URL. I then hit insert and this made the link active. After finishing each link, I saved and publish the page. I then sent an e-mail to the class list with the link to my Table of Contents page. Next, I reviewed Abby and Alyssa’s 7th genres. Next using the page feature on my weblog I cited all of my references and titled the page References. I did this by using the APA manual and the sources I have previously cited. I then saved and published the References page. I also sent a link to this page to the class list. To revise my poem I went to my 2nd genre page and clicked Edit. I then made the correct revisions using the SCAR method. I substituted words, removed words/phrases, and added a few ideas and sources to help make the work more clear. I then saved these changes and wrote a reflection about them in a post on my weblog. Last I sent a note to the class including the link to my revision.
Conditional Knowledge
Further using the databases from our library web page will ultimately assist me for finding important information for this particular class/project topic, other classes, and other projects I may have in the future on different subjects. It is good to know what resources are available to us as students, and what the resources can help us with. Citing our sources is something that I personally can use all the practice I can get. I’m sure I will never really memorize all the APA citation formats, but I am sure that I will forever need to cite different sources that I utilize. The webliography was very interesting to me because I have never created anything like it. Along with being part of our MRP, I think it will be a good way to learn about our classmates interests and will be interesting to look at a few years from now.
My project prospectus will guide me throughout the class and my project. Knowing it will be revised as we move on in our projects, it will still help me achieve the final product. This is a good activity for any type of project because it makes you think about the final draft, even though we are still in the beginning stages. The library search will continually help me in finding resources concerning my research question. Searching for articles and citing sources is very good practice for students like myself. Internalizing web evaluations is a good way for me to look at my own site and evaluate its validity and credibility. I want people who look at my site to rely on the provided information and see that it is in fact valid and credible. Reflecting on our previous group discussion allows me to look at, and still consider the suggestions that my group members made to me. It also makes me see how my own thinking process evolved in our discussion.
I am not very confident with writing poetry, but I tried very hard to come up with a good poem this week. I think poetry is a good way to express emotions and can be used effectively to display those feelings. Learning how to peer review our group mates 2nd genre will be beneficial to know what to expect with the remaining genres. This also gives us things to think about while creating our next genre, like another way to evaluate our work before we publish it.
Doing the Observation Report as my 4th genre will help me for completing my project, and give me addtional practice with writing goals, objectives, behaviors, and impressions. Completing the peer reviews will help with analyzing my own work. Revising my prospectus will help me think about the question in a different way. I now understand that essential questions should not contain any type of bias. This will help me in the future when coming up with research questions.
Doing an interview transcript will help give me practice for what types of questions to initially ask clients/caregivers. Knowing how to do a peer response is both beneficial to me and my group mates. Having someone else’s perspective on your work helps you look at it from a different point of view. I had never had any experience with any type of mailing list so I was not sure what it entailed. After observing one for a while, I have learned many different things and will continue to look for different mailing lists concerning different interests/subjects. I can use the mailing list both for educational and personal interests in the future.
Before this project I did not really know what a podcast was. I’m very surprised that it is so easy to record an audio file on the Internet. These could be used to enhance any type of project or just for your own personal amusement. I actually let my roommate listen to mine and she was impressed also. Having knowledge about making PowerPoint presentations is always useful. Like podcasts, they can be used to enhance a project or presentation or help outline information about different subjects. Knowing how to make a PowerPoint presentation can be helpful in both the educational and professional fields.
Knowing what and in what order to include in the Table of Contents page is very important for both the MRP and for future academic work. It is important to remember that the way you organize your work should/will ultimately help your audience have a better understanding of the information. I think this is important when doing any type of project. More practice citing sources for the References page is very useful. We have had some practice throughout the semester, and I feel like it is slowly getting easier the more practice I have. I understand citing more now and I think I will continue to cite sources throughout my education and career. Revising work is a long and ongoing process for everyone. I found the SCAR method to be very helpful and practical. Using this method made my work more clear and I hope more reliable to my audience. I think this method would prove to be effective for my MRP and for any other type of work no matter what subject area is addressed. I have never had anyone really explain how to revise work so having a method like this is very enlightening. No work is ever perfect, so knowing how to revise in an efficient way is very important and also beneficial.
