Belated Thing 5: Reflective Practice

Image by Kevin Dooley on Flickr, used under CC licence

Nooooooo I can't believe I'm so behind already! It's been a busy few weeks what with being off for half term, going to a brilliant librarian wedding in Nottingham, the Gower Folk Festival and then a very long day trip to Gregynog to give a presentation. Unfortunately preparing said presentation hung over all the preceding fun stuff and took up way too much time! Anyway it's all done and dusted now...

In fact it's a useful event to discuss for this Thing. Ever since doing my chartership, I have tried hard to reflect on stuff: it really reinforced the value of it for me. I tend to write notes (using Evernote) on events or training, then add some ideas I want to follow up to my ever-expanding list (I use Remember the Milk). So after Gregnog, I scribbled down what I got out of attending as well as quickly writing up the notes I'd jotted down on the day. What emerged for me in particular was how the little incidental comments that people made were often as useful as the main event. Just catching someone saying what they were doing or a tool they'd found useful. Then I also focussed on the good and bad things about my presentation: how I should have done things differently, things I hadn't thought of that came up in discussion, bits of it that didn't quite work or come out right etc.

I do find a blog has limitations for reflecting as I often find my completely honest thoughts aren't always suitable for broadcasting and it's often the outrageous ones that I want to remember the most as a spur to action! However a blog invites shared experiences and alternative viewpoints which can send my reflection in new directions. So clearly I need private notes AND public thoughts for best results!

Thing 2: Being a Social Blogger

It's POURING here in Swansea this afternoon!

Well I soon discovered I could spend all afternoon happily reading all the CPD23 blogs...had to rein myself in! I'm not usually much of a commenter unless there seems something that glaringly needs to be said but I enjoyed feeling part of the CPD23 community so therefore with a licence to be a bit more chatty.

My most useful finding was courtesy of Veggie Haggis who shared the 12 blogging mistakes to avoid post. These struck me as extremely sensible suggestions and I'll try to take note...
I soon realised I ought to set up my Blogger profile properly to be public so I've done that now too.

Thing 1: Blogging the start of CPD23 2012

I've been reading about CPD23 for a couple of years now and delighted I can finally take part, hopefully at the same time as everyone else as I like the idea of sharing ideas and comments and having the momentum of that to keep me going. I'm dead keen on all social media / web 2.0 and have my little set of tools I use to keep my professional life ticking along. This is my chance to think about some alternatives, to see what others are doing, to think about the bigger picture, how everything fits together, to pull everything together perhaps - and I'd like my blog to be something I keep on and use on a regular basis. Time will tell!

The other angle for me is that I believe we should be able to educate our students (and staff) in how to use all this kind of stuff - it's all part of Digital Literacy, having the skills for 21st Century living, making sure they know how to use some handy little tools to make life/work/study easier or more fun. Doing CPD23 will be a great opportunity to be a student myself and I hope to learn a lot from that too!