The Trials and Tribulations of my Capstone Project
It's taken me a long time to write this post. In fact, I was supposed to publish this in December 2017 and it is now being published in May 2018...
via GIPHY
Back in December, I had a kernel of an idea, but it wasn't as well-formed as I hoped it would be. I knew that I wanted to focus my capstone project on my own library system and create opportunities for my library colleagues to learn more about OER.
In January 2018, I sketched out a plan for achieving this. Originally, I wanted to conduct a survey among York University Libraries' (YUL) librarians, archivists, and staff and find out what pre-existing knowledge they had on the topics of OER and open education. I was hoping to then interview a cross-section of my colleagues, analyze the results from the survey and interviews, and finally use this content to help me create 2-3 OER educational sessions for staff.
However, after working with my capstone mentor, and consulting with a number of trusted YUL advisors, I realized that my plan of conducting a survey and follow-up interviews would not be a successful approach. The survey draft I prepared did not seem to be a useful way of creating conversations about OER. Instead, I was encouraged to switch directions and focus on creating 45-minute to 60-minute presentations on OER topics and deliver them at various YUL departmental meetings. While this drastically increased my workload, I realized that this approach made the most sense for my library's context and learning needs.
Therefore, I set out to deliver as many departmental presentations as I could during March and April. I aimed to keep my presentations informative and introductory, while also providing opportunities for discussion to take place throughout. By the end of my capstone project, I delivered 10 departmental presentations and then synthesized my findings into a presentation for the Dean and Associate Deans for YUL. While I had planned on running 2 to 3 in-depth drop-in sessions on OER topics after completing the departmental presentations, I realized that it might be more valuable to draft a succinct, high-level report on OER trends and opportunities for key department heads at YUL. Once the report is finalized, I will share it with my Dean and Associate Deans. After they provide feedback and advice on how to strengthen the report, I will then send the report to relevant department heads and hopefully start the wheels in motion for developing my strategic, long-term OER initiatives at York.
Overall, my project plan had to be revised and reworked many times, but at the end of it all I'm happy with the results I achieved. I still receive comments and questions from my colleagues at YUL about OER and I think that shows that my outreach plan had a positive impact on library staff. I'm excited to continue building on this momentum and eventually develop a working group at my library!
This blog post, authored by Stephanie Quail,
via GIPHY
Back in December, I had a kernel of an idea, but it wasn't as well-formed as I hoped it would be. I knew that I wanted to focus my capstone project on my own library system and create opportunities for my library colleagues to learn more about OER.
In January 2018, I sketched out a plan for achieving this. Originally, I wanted to conduct a survey among York University Libraries' (YUL) librarians, archivists, and staff and find out what pre-existing knowledge they had on the topics of OER and open education. I was hoping to then interview a cross-section of my colleagues, analyze the results from the survey and interviews, and finally use this content to help me create 2-3 OER educational sessions for staff.
However, after working with my capstone mentor, and consulting with a number of trusted YUL advisors, I realized that my plan of conducting a survey and follow-up interviews would not be a successful approach. The survey draft I prepared did not seem to be a useful way of creating conversations about OER. Instead, I was encouraged to switch directions and focus on creating 45-minute to 60-minute presentations on OER topics and deliver them at various YUL departmental meetings. While this drastically increased my workload, I realized that this approach made the most sense for my library's context and learning needs.
Therefore, I set out to deliver as many departmental presentations as I could during March and April. I aimed to keep my presentations informative and introductory, while also providing opportunities for discussion to take place throughout. By the end of my capstone project, I delivered 10 departmental presentations and then synthesized my findings into a presentation for the Dean and Associate Deans for YUL. While I had planned on running 2 to 3 in-depth drop-in sessions on OER topics after completing the departmental presentations, I realized that it might be more valuable to draft a succinct, high-level report on OER trends and opportunities for key department heads at YUL. Once the report is finalized, I will share it with my Dean and Associate Deans. After they provide feedback and advice on how to strengthen the report, I will then send the report to relevant department heads and hopefully start the wheels in motion for developing my strategic, long-term OER initiatives at York.
Overall, my project plan had to be revised and reworked many times, but at the end of it all I'm happy with the results I achieved. I still receive comments and questions from my colleagues at YUL about OER and I think that shows that my outreach plan had a positive impact on library staff. I'm excited to continue building on this momentum and eventually develop a working group at my library!
This blog post, authored by Stephanie Quail,
is available under a CC BY 4.0 international license
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