Thing 23 – What Next?

So I am finally at the end, a little late but not too bad.

Reflection of the Programme

I have mostly enjoyed the programme and found it very useful. 
 

I liked the things that dealt with new tools and although I have found that I haven’t taken on the tools I didn’t already know about, I have learnt more about the tools I did know about; and I have taken the opportunity to experiment. This means that our library blog now has a few widgets on it, hopefully providing our users with a more enriched experience when visiting our blog.
 

My enjoyment of this aspect of the course reflects some of my strengths – comfortable with technology, willing to experiment, focused on the practical, looking to improve the user experience.
 

I perhaps had less interest in the aspects that looked at professional networking. Perhaps I need to pick my head up a bit more to look at professional issues in a wider context.
 

Some elements weren’t useful at the moment to me as I’m not looking for a new job and there was perhaps too much focus on new professionals starting out. CPD is after all intended to be continuous. I have gathered together some of the resources that appealed to me most in a Scoop It topic. Hopefully I can refer back to this for useful resources and sources of information. 
 

Sometimes the course felt slightly that CPD was something carried out in isolation, as an independent activity, an end in itself rather that something embedded in a deliverable service.
 

It has been interesting to read other participants reflections and experiences in their blogs. Though slightly disappointing to read that so many are not considering going on to gain professional qualifications. Perfectly understandable given the rising costs but I do wonder where this will leave us in 10 years time.
 

It was a well-paced course and gave plenty of opportunities to catch up which was helpful.

6 word story

Curiosity satisfied :: Experimentation achieved :: Ambition hopeful

Thing 5 Reflection

Thing 5 looks at reflective practice, so cue lots of lovely images of reflections.

Lake Louise, Canada

This is the part that I am having most difficulty with. It all sounds a little touchy feely, with lots of navel-gazing (yuk!) and self-expression through toe-painting thrown in. I’ve started the blog, so that means I’m talking to myself or trying to talk to strangers – I’m sure if I was doing this off-line I’d be having nice cups of tea with a different sort of professional.

So I’m looking to pin reflection on something more concrete. Back in the day, when I worked in computing we followed a quality management process. It went along the lines of:

Plan it; review it, Do it; review it

So this equated to:

• Write a specification; review it (with others), implement it; post-implementation review (with others). Reviewing the plan, preferably with others, gave you an opportunity to identify whether you’d missed anything.

This feels much more concrete and related to work processes; and seems to be (a little) in line with the processes discussed (I’m feeling happier). I’m not sure that I agree with the suggestion that reflection is something you do away from work, in a nice quiet spot. I’m more inclined to think it should be part of your daily work / training linked to how you are delivering your service rather than something away from this.