ETL 501 - Task C

I feel as I am in a separate category to many other students completing the ETL 401 course this semester as I have already completed ETL 502 and ETL 504 in second semester 2009. Even though I had a twelve month leave of absence I did not start this course completely unaware of the role of a teacher librarian. In saying this, my perception of the role of the teacher librarian has changed from my prior learning. This course would have been ideal for me when I first started my masters as it had been a good introduction to the wide role of the teacher librarian.
My initial thoughts of a teacher librarian was one who had many roles within the school as a librarian who taught research from both books and technology, ICT coordinator and as an expendable person who would be able to complete any role within the context of the school as a teacher when people were away. This was formed from my own knowledge of the school I work at and how the teacher librarian was used before the role of teacher librarian was collapsed and she became a classroom teacher. When I first began the course readings my knowledge grew even further of the role of the teacher librarian. Herring (2007) and Purcell (2010) opened my eyes to the roles I was not previously aware of, that the teacher librarian needs to fulfil concurrently to ensure the library runs effectively and efficiently such as library manager, collaborator, teacher, ICT teacher, curriculum leader and literacy leader.
The topic and assignment forums provided me with an informal learning from other people’s experience as teacher librarian as well as their own view from their readings. Even though I did not regularly post on the forum I still participated through reading the posts and reflecting myself. My post on 11 April discussed how teacher librarians need to continually adapt to new technology and change their teaching approach to cater for such (Ianna, 11 April, 2011.
http://forums.csu.edu.au/perl/forums.pl?task=frameset&forum_id=ETL401_201130_W_D_Sub3_forum&message_id=5077944)
The ultimate question that needs to be answered is if I could have learnt more throughout the course. It is true, that I could have learnt more during this semester if I had of completed every essential reading that we were provided with and researched and analysed further reading on each topic instead of the basics. Even though I enjoyed participating and learning throughout the course I found lack of time due to a full time teaching commitment meant that I did not have enough time to do so and continually forgot to post on my blog.
I especially enjoyed learning about information literacy and ISPs and have thought about how I can use Big 6 (2006) in my classroom and teach it to my students. Prior to topic 4 and the second assignment I was unaware of what information literacy was and had not heard of ISPs before.
Overall, the course has increased my knowledge over semester from knowing a small proportion of the role of the teacher librarian to being more aware of the multi faceted role they play within the school as well as what information literacy is and how I can use the ISPs in my classroom and eventually in my library to introduce and teach the skills needed to be information literate.