#2 Lifelong Learning

Introduction

Well, I've just started the '8 and a half' week course Victorian Public Libraries Learning 2.0 Program arranged by the State Library of Victoria in order to teach 1000 library staff across the state about emerging technologies that may be of benefit to libraries and their staff.

Some of the stuff seems interesting (photos & images and podcasting), some rather boring (RSS) and some I have already had a play around with (online word processing/spreadsheet tools...I love you Google docs!) Although it sounds the most boring, I'm hoping to learn a bit about RSS because I have not the faintest what any of it means...here's hoping I learn!

Hopefully I won't embarass myself too much by sounding like a bit of a dumbarse (or a lot of a dumbarse)...I know a little bit of most of the Web 2.0 stuff but nothing in depth.

Week One Work

My first task was to listen to the 7 & 1/2 Habits Online Tutorial which was all about how I could do things to encourage myself to learn.

The thing I think I'll find easiest is the play part (habit 1/2). I'm quite happy to play around with online tools with little or no instruction in what they can do or how to use them. Look at me, haven't read any of the blogger stuff and already I'm typing away (hopefully it'll look good...I'm shallow enough to want it all pretty, even if there's no content).

The hardest part for me will be keeping myself motivated (well, actually it is habit 2 which is 'Accept responsibility for your own learning' which actually means 'Do the work and stop whinging about how boring it is'). I did my Masters degree by distance education and I found that motivation was by far my biggest obstacle. Even when I enjoyed the material, I'd usually find an aspect that I didn't enjoy so much and that was the end of that. Assignment time = clean house. Exam time = mowing/spring cleaning/autumn cleaning/learning how to cook Moroccan food/etc. Hopefully I'll feel a bit more motivated to do this because I'm scheduling some time each morning to do a little bit instead of attempting to write an assignment the day before it's due.