Hi Daniel,
I’ve taught the introductory information organization course at Syracuse for several years now, and I have gotten away from students using OCLC Connexion in this course. I felt that too much time was being spent explaining a single piece of software, which was not one of the goals of this course. Currently, my students perform MARC cataloging during one in-class activity and one major assignment, and when they do so it is with a custom Excel template that I developed for them. I demonstrate OCLC Connexion for them in-class so that they are familiar with what it is and what it is used for. They have access to it if they wish to explore on their own. General database searching strategies are covered in a separate course more focused on reference services.
The cataloging and classification course, which serves as an elective follow-up to the intro info org course, makes extensive use of OCLC Connexion for coursework and assignments. They perform both searching and record creation with it. When I have taught that course I have made pre-recorded tutorial videos that the students have access to in order to become familiar with various aspects of Connexion.
Brian Dobreski
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From: Discussion List for issues related to cataloging & metadata education & training <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Daniel Joudrey <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2019 2:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [eduCAT] Do you teaching OCLC searching?
Hello fellow LIS Org/Cataloging/Metadata instructors,
At Simmons, in our core Info Org course, for years we have been giving the students a searching assignment in OCLC Connexion for a couple of reasons: (1) they get comfortable with MARC that way, (2) they learn the back-end of WorldCat, and (3) they learn to search in a variety of ways (numeric searches, derived searches, keyword searches, scanning titles, etc.). I am debating whether I should continue using this assignment. It has a steep learning curve. The students need time to work through my OCLC searching tutorial before they can work on the assignment. I am wondering if maybe I should put this in one of my cataloging courses instead.
Do you have your students search OCLC Connexion in your entry-level class? In later classes? At all?
I'd really like to know.
Thanks,
Danny
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