Thing 23 - Reflection, what next?
So the final Thing is finally here and it's time to reflect on what has been done so far and make plans for the future. I think for reflection in the interest of not repeating myself and boring people who have already read yesterdays post it will be best to direct readers to my previous post - Integration I did things a little out of order and ended up doing Thing 19 yesterday.
SWOT analysis
As I've already started Chartership I have a SWOT analysis and PPDP for that, I'm not comfortable showing my PPDP publicly so here is my SWOT analysis:
Strengths
Commitment to professional development
Enthusiasm for my field
Commitment to service improvement
5 years experience in an academic library
MSc Information and Library Management
Articulate written communicator
Self motivated and can work alone
Competent and practical
Flexible approach to work/learning new tasks
Good interpersonal skills
Can handle responsibility
Weaknesses
Lack of recognised enquiry skills training
No formal teaching qualification or experience
Lack of variety of experience
Fear of public speaking
Underdeveloped critical analytical skills
A small network of contacts
Opportunities
Job cuts create opportunities to volunteer in other departments to gain skills
Networking events for opportunities to expand my network of contacts
CDG opportunities, for example, attending National Council for personal and professional development
Support for personal and professional development
Threats
Current economic climate
Service restructuring
More experienced colleagues
I work mainly after core opening hours (after 5pm) so am less recognisable to senior staff
PPDP
I have found the process of writing a SWOT analysis and developing a PPDP from that to be quite rewarding, having goals and ways to meet those goals is a good approach towards development. My PPDP has also made me think about where I want to go and how I want to get there, I have a development map rather than a plan. I have been able to achieve most of my goals, the ones I haven't are ones which I will work on in the future, while it's important to have a plan it does need to be flexible as situations change regularly.
The Future
My plans for what to do next involve getting my portfolio together to submit for Chartered status, I'm currently working on my personal evaluative statement so will hopefully be ready within the next month or so. After that I will work on completing the goals I have not reached on my PPDP and getting a teaching qualification. I think that I will be inclined to use Prezi when using presentations in interviews as it's nicer to look at and gives a dynamic presentation.
I will continue to develop my use of Prezi and Jing so that when I get the dream job I will already have some useful skills, which will also (hopefully) help me to pick up the next tool that comes along. I will make an effort to keep my online presence cohesive and up to date so that my personal brand will reflect who I currently am rather than who I am when I started CPD23.
Showing posts with label reflection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reflection. Show all posts
Monday, 10 October 2011
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Integration
Thing 19 - reflecting on what's been covered so far and how I have integrated the Things into my work flow
Reflection
I am now a regular user of Twitter, I have found that to follow trends and people more effectively I have had to download Twitter to my phone as this is the quickest and easiest way for me to access Twitter. I now monitor who I follow to unfollow the people who post random nonsense to better control what I can see in my feed.
I am much more confident at blogging and make more of an effort to follow blogs, this is useful for current awareness in areas I am interested in. I find Ned Potter's blog to be particularly informative, and from comments I have read on other posts so do a lot of other people.
As far as events go I think I am still more comfortable attending them I feel like I lack enough experience to consider presenting at one although I often man a stand at events and this is building my confidence.
Volunteering is something which I will consider, I am fortunate that my employer is willing to let me volunteer for events which are usually staffed by a different department, this has allowed me to work at open days and events like Mini Umbrella. I will continue to actively participate in CILIP SIGs to improve more professional skills like networking and liaising.
I have already identified my strengths and ways to improve my weaknesses as part of the many job applications I have made so I was already happy with Thing 21. Although it never hurts to revisit it!
One drawback I find from CPD23 is that it could have been split into 2 sections, one which was aimed at people at the start of their career and were looking for ways to gain skills to advance in the field, and another aimed at people who were already at a higher level and wanted to increase their awareness of what was available to them. I have managed to create development opportunities as best I can and have managed to volunteer for library events and provide training after developing a training checklist, but, there is only so much I can do and I worry that if I push too much then the answer might become 'no'. There are Things which I won't get the chance to use as part of my job if I don't advance soon such as Prezi and Jing, even the personal brand would be more advanteous to those in a professional post, although it is useful to consider at this point. Thing 20 on library roots/routes was interesting and gave me things to consider for advancing in the field.
Integration
Twitter has been the most integrated Thing as it was something which I had not liked to use previously. I quite often check it out on my breaks now if something I want to follow is happening. I will continue to attend events and volunteer for CDG and UC&RG. I have considered my personal brand and changed my online presence to reflect this. I have used RSS feeds to set up alerts for new jobs so I can be more aware of them and save time.
Reflection
I am now a regular user of Twitter, I have found that to follow trends and people more effectively I have had to download Twitter to my phone as this is the quickest and easiest way for me to access Twitter. I now monitor who I follow to unfollow the people who post random nonsense to better control what I can see in my feed.
I am much more confident at blogging and make more of an effort to follow blogs, this is useful for current awareness in areas I am interested in. I find Ned Potter's blog to be particularly informative, and from comments I have read on other posts so do a lot of other people.
As far as events go I think I am still more comfortable attending them I feel like I lack enough experience to consider presenting at one although I often man a stand at events and this is building my confidence.
Volunteering is something which I will consider, I am fortunate that my employer is willing to let me volunteer for events which are usually staffed by a different department, this has allowed me to work at open days and events like Mini Umbrella. I will continue to actively participate in CILIP SIGs to improve more professional skills like networking and liaising.
I have already identified my strengths and ways to improve my weaknesses as part of the many job applications I have made so I was already happy with Thing 21. Although it never hurts to revisit it!
One drawback I find from CPD23 is that it could have been split into 2 sections, one which was aimed at people at the start of their career and were looking for ways to gain skills to advance in the field, and another aimed at people who were already at a higher level and wanted to increase their awareness of what was available to them. I have managed to create development opportunities as best I can and have managed to volunteer for library events and provide training after developing a training checklist, but, there is only so much I can do and I worry that if I push too much then the answer might become 'no'. There are Things which I won't get the chance to use as part of my job if I don't advance soon such as Prezi and Jing, even the personal brand would be more advanteous to those in a professional post, although it is useful to consider at this point. Thing 20 on library roots/routes was interesting and gave me things to consider for advancing in the field.
Integration
Twitter has been the most integrated Thing as it was something which I had not liked to use previously. I quite often check it out on my breaks now if something I want to follow is happening. I will continue to attend events and volunteer for CDG and UC&RG. I have considered my personal brand and changed my online presence to reflect this. I have used RSS feeds to set up alerts for new jobs so I can be more aware of them and save time.
Monday, 11 July 2011
Thing 5 - reflection...
So I have to admit to a little confusion here, are we writing about reflective practice or actually reflecting?
To me reflective practice is becoming a greater part of my role at work due to the competencies framework, I personally like this as I now find it easier to identify any training needs which, coincidentally, is how I began 23 Things, I tend to lean more towards Kolb's model (see picutre below). I think like most things reflective practice is something which gets easier the more you do it, assuming you can find enough time to dedicate to it, otherwise it appears as a massive mountain to climb but never conquering!
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http://www.serviceuserandcarertoolkit.co.uk/steps.html accessed 11/07/11
As for the actual reflecting...
I am finding this style of learning to be particularly interesting, previously a lot of my learning has been attending a course where I sit with a group of people, people who have often been told this must attend this course and therefore have no enthusiasm for it, and sitting in a room for 3-8 hours taking notes or participating in group activities. However, I like having a new task each week, I like having to write about my experiences (the reflection is built in!) and being able to share experiences, although I do find it odd that I don't know who's reading my blog and I have not necessarily met the persons blog I am reading. Overall, this method of delivery is very much working for me :)
To me reflective practice is becoming a greater part of my role at work due to the competencies framework, I personally like this as I now find it easier to identify any training needs which, coincidentally, is how I began 23 Things, I tend to lean more towards Kolb's model (see picutre below). I think like most things reflective practice is something which gets easier the more you do it, assuming you can find enough time to dedicate to it, otherwise it appears as a massive mountain to climb but never conquering!
As for the actual reflecting...
I am finding this style of learning to be particularly interesting, previously a lot of my learning has been attending a course where I sit with a group of people, people who have often been told this must attend this course and therefore have no enthusiasm for it, and sitting in a room for 3-8 hours taking notes or participating in group activities. However, I like having a new task each week, I like having to write about my experiences (the reflection is built in!) and being able to share experiences, although I do find it odd that I don't know who's reading my blog and I have not necessarily met the persons blog I am reading. Overall, this method of delivery is very much working for me :)
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