Summary 6th October 2011 – #CPD23 Chat

The 6th October #UKlibchat session was a tie in with #CPD23 and focused on the experiences of those who have been following the programme.

Basic info about CPD23:

23 Things is a self-directed course aimed at introducing you to a range of tools that could help your personal and professional development as a librarian, information professional or something else.

[http://cpd23.blogspot.com/2011/05/all-about-23-things.html]

We have a guest author this week! Full credit for the write up, and a MASSIVE thank you to Annie_Bob!

1. If you took part in #CPD23, which Thing has been the most rewarding for you?

• Reflection was a common answer as it is a very practical skill which can be used immediately for CPD purposes, including chartership (CPD participation is great evidence for chartership portfolio)
• Getting more into Twitter/social networking generally
• Getting more involved in face-to-face networking
• Useful advice on job applications/interviews
• Learning more about chartership
• Reading about other peoples’ roots/routes
• Advocacy – several people enjoyed the debates that sprang up on Twitter and in comments on blogs
• Considering your brand
• Podcasts
• Prezi and screen capture tools
• Got something out of all of the Things, even the ones they didn’t expect to
• Rewarding experiences that weren’t technically ‘Things’ included getting into the habit of reading and writing blogs – putting your view out there. Many people have started following new blogs as a result of CPD23, though some are using Twitter to keep tabs on the programme instead.

2. Which Thing was the least rewarding, or the most challenging?

• Evernote – didn’t see any point
• Pushnote – ditto
• Prezi is challenging to use (4 people)
• Stepping into the “bright light” of having a named Twitter feed and blog – resisted having Twitter and blog for a long time as disliked idea of having a public voice. Becoming a CILIP blogger makes you thinks twice before posting, and can be a good exercise in staying professional
• Similarly, one person found writing about their library roots challenging as they didn’t want to put too much personal information out there
• Library routes/roots was duplicated
• Several people were unable to download software at work which was frustrating
• It is hard to imagine a use for some of the tools
• Some apps aren’t useful at the moment, but if needs change they might be in the future
• ‘Thinky’ things were more challenging than techy things, but were also often more rewarding (2 people)
• Overcoming late summer slump, things ground to a halt as work got busier
• Chartership/mentoring as forced me to face up to not having kept up with chartership stuff
• Would rather programme focused on other issues, e.g. search engines
• Remembering passwords is a nightmare! Suggested using LastPass to manage multiple passwords

3 and 4. What are the pros and cons of online self training programmes such as CPD23?

• Pro’s: of self-led training, go at own pace, no pressure. Cons: go at own pace, no pressure 🙂
• Good to learn at own pace but can feel lonely/overwhelming at times
• Pro is that I actually feel like I’m in a room with participants some of the time, much better than some distance learning
• Pros: can fit in around work etc, informal so feels more like fun. Cons: easy to get behind!
• Friendliness and encouragement a great help
• Upsides:being able to go at own speed, “meeting” new people, learning about things heard of but were too afraid to try out!
• Pros- it fits in around my life, and can be put on a back burner if I’m too busy. Cons- I now have a lot of catching up to do, but no mass rush to get them done on time is a definite bonus
• I’m more likely to revisit bits, rather than think of it as something that’s handed in/done with
• Breadth – so much CPD is directly related to work, rather than broader issues
• CPD23 has been great for feeling like part of a wider community engaging with the same issues (3 people)
• Dropped CPD23 in the end as got too far behind. Problem with going back to it now is there won’t be the same support network. Suggestion of launching a second cohort?
• Pros = Structure, because there is a list it makes you want to complete it
• Promise of a certificate would guarantee completion! (2 people)

5. Do you think online training courses like this will become more common in the future?

• Would like to think so
• Formal training seems to moving towards blended learning, e.g.Prince2 which was 90% online. Informal training would be on a case by case basis
• Online courses will grow. WebEx/Webinars
• MIT gives free access to lectures via the internet
• There are some interesting Open University podcasts available
• It is a good way to get informal training when work doesn’t provide it. Can do something for yourself
• Yes, more convenient & less costly way to update skills than face to face training
• Would be good if Aberystwyth course had embraced online learning more (2 people)
• I think the way webinars/online programmes fit in with real life is bonus. Everyone is always so busy for formal courses
• eLearning getting popular on work intranet

6. Lifelong learning for career development – what should we be learning? How do we go about doing it?

• We should be learning about all the things we don’t know that we need to learn about yet!
• Do as medical pro’s do: re-validate, re-evaluate knowledge, disregard once accepted knowledge for new, though easier said than done
• Learn to accept change – never do something just because it has always been done that way, but then again shouldn’t change for change’s sake!
• Combination of directly work-related and more widely based training (like CPD23) to keep current & interested
• Lifelong learning is essential for living, not just for developing careers

7. What challenges have you met whilst working through CPD23?

• Getting over fear of blogging and tweeting (2 people)
• Having to face up to being a novice where techy things are concerned (2 people)
• Finding time to do it/keeping up (5 people)
• Work not allowing social media/not being able to download anything (3 people)
• CPD23 blog not working well with Internet Explorer 7 at work

8. What advice would you give to future participants?

• Spend time engaging with other participants (2 people)
• Don’t be daunted by the technology and make sure you allow yourself plenty of time to try out new things
• Get stuck in. Be prepared to be both practical – and give yourself time to play and time to think/reflect
• Be prepared for it to actually change the way you work/do things.

9. What advice would you have for future organisers of similar training programmes?

• Try and intersperse the “techy” with the “thinky”, as some of the weeks were more trial intensive than others, though the balance of the two types is about right
• I’d like a central place for Thing discussions, that also points to great blog entries, ‘blog post of the week’
• Would have been good if the LinkedIn group was more active
• For something so ‘new’ at this scale & how its been runCPD23 has been a fantastic success (2 people)
• Would prefer the programme to be longer and not have 2 Things in a week, as it is hard to keep up (2 people)
• Some Things which required you learn and evaluate new tools needed more than one week to complete
• It might have been good to have a few ‘official’ debates on Twitter along the way
• Might be worth having a WordPress version of the CPD23 blog as Blogger does not work well with some browsers (as does WordPress)
• Possibility of having a wiki to make it more collaborative

10. What ‘six word story’ would you use to sum up your experience of CPD23?

• Pushnote is pretty damn shit 🙂 (5 and a smiley…)
• “Stepped into limelight, world didn’t end.”
• “Out of comfort zone into open”

About Sam (LibWig)

Chartered London law librarian

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