Learning Blog 8 – "Reflection"

I have to admit that at the beginning of class I read about our Learning Blog Assignment and thought "uggggh".  I would just like to say that I take back every bad thought that I had.  I have LOVED this assignment, and it has forced me to really think about what we have been studying in class.  I was surprised at how easy it was to relate to different aspects of learning theory. 

When looking back on my posts I'm happy with what I've learned but then I also feel like I didn't even come close to accomplishing what I h
ad hoped for.  When I set my goal I said that I wanted to get back four generations.  At the time I thought it would be an easy goal to reach...hmmmm well yea... that didn't happen, but the good news is that I learned some important things.  I never would have learned all of the techniques that I have if everything had been easy.  Just think, I, yes me, can work with microfilm and know what indexing is all about!

I have learned that there are many aspects of theory that can apply to all learning experiences in my life.  Genealogy  has really made me focus more on cognitivism, because I have to constantly work to find solutions. I think socioculturalism is just as important because if I hadn't have had help from others I don't know what I would have done.  I also related my experience quite a bit to the readings that we did on experts.  Obviously, I'm not an expert but I have had an opportunity to work with a lot of experts that have now inspired me to learn more.  

I love learning.  If I could I would just be a professional student.  I have to say that this project helped me remember how much I actually do love to learn new things.  I like the challenge of having to try and work through problems to arrive at a solution.  It was very nice to force myself to take time out of the day to do something that I really like.  Although I know that I love to learn, I never realized how much I like to include others in my learning process.  This time I have included my training class at work and friends at home.  I never quite understood this about myself but as I look back on other learning experiences I realized that I always like to talk about what I'm doing with others.  I think it's because I can get new ideas from other people.  It was an interesting insight for me to see.  

So thank you to everyone for the wonderful experience and for reading through my blogs.  

Learning Blog 7 – "If only I had some extra room"

This week we have been reading about transfer and it has really resonated with me.  I've retaken the exact same course that I took when I first started doing genealogy. This time everything made so much more sense to me and I was able to apply it to what I've been looking at on microfilm.  Now I have a better idea of which microfilms I should be looking through first.  I feel more capable of going back to the Family History Library and applying what I learned from the tutorial. I think that my transfer wasn't as effective the first time just because the whole topic of genealogy was new to me.  Now I have some background knowledge to go off of. 

I also am relating a lot to intrinsic motivation. If it weren't for this I would have stopped looking a few weeks ago.  The interesting things is that I LIKE looking through microfilms.  I'm getting better at it too.  

The only problem is that I still haven't found what I need.  I have a lot of sources that I'm still waiting on which could prove to be fruitful.  Marlon's dad still hasn't given us the names of his siblings.  We're waiting for him to be in a good mood when we call :)

Hopefully I will find something this week but I've decided to accept that this is going to take much longer than I thought.  I just don't have enough time in my days to go downtown to the library as much as I wish I could.  Just out of curiosity I looked up how much it would cost for a microfilm reader.  I found some on ebay for a pretty decent price but I don't think my husband will be ecstatic if I haul in a huge machine that we have no room for.  It would also mean that I would have to buy all of the films that would be around $10 each.  Hmmmm but still he he he.......Maybe i could put it on a coffee table.