Did you miss me?...I’ve been MOOCing…and more

David Hopkins
http://bit.ly/16rKrWl

In conjunction with trying to actively participate in this Metaliteracy MOOC, I joined the Leadership forReal MOOC, two weeks into its start. This joint experience has provided additional insights into the skills required of a Metaliterate individual. [Or should I say Metaliterate learner, since, if we are not learning, we are not living?]

I’m a great ‘juggler’ (or multitasker) – it was one of the requirements of my various librarian positions. However, a successful ‘juggling’ act requires time management (or project management) skills. [And I must admit that I’m not the world’s greatest time manager! I compensate by starting early in the morning, by staying at work until I complete the task, or by taking work home with me and doing it on my own personal time, thus putting off some of the things I should have been doing in terms of personal responsibilities. “Do as I say, NOT as I do.”]

Among the week’s activities were webinars for both MOOCs on Wednesday (10-2), a webinar on Social Networking, and one on Instructional Design on Thursday (10-3) [these are personal research interests]; numerous discussion posts to read (and possibly respond to); and a host of RSS feeds and aggregator emails to investigate [from sites I’m monitoring/following as part of my PKN].

EVERNOTE: Bookmarking? Downloading/Saving? Finding it Again!

I’ve just started using Evernote and have 15 folders and 193 notes created since downloading this tool to my laptop on 19 September! I’m overawed by the plethora of tools that the 21^st century offers us. But I definitely recommend Evernote if you’re looking for a way to save and tag emails, webpages, and even ‘to do’ lists in one consolidated format. Rather than bookmarking, this tool allows me to include an image prompt (taken from the image on the blog page or website) in addition to ‘tagging’ items. Since I’m an ‘informavore’ (consumer of information), you should not take this recommendation lightly!

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

It’s all about ‘Professional Development’. [And for those of you who are still in school, it’s never too early to initiate your PD plan. I found a great set of goals on a blog post by CatherineLombardozzi (a ‎Learning and Development Consultant and founder of Learning 4 Learning Professionals). I’m trying to follow her recommendations:

• Declare your intentions. [Identify what you want to learn.]
• Follow the leaders. [Identify them then look for their blogs, tweets, online presentations, journal articles, and conference appearances.]
• Make friends. [Classmates, colleagues, mentors, or role models can help accelerate your learning.]
• Read. [Books, if you can afford to buy them or have the time to find them in your library, professional journals, blogs, or articles that ‘pop’ from your RSS feeds or aggregators.]
• Write it down. [Blog your insights... “capture electronic articles and your comments on them on a bookmarking site…” For some ideas, look at Steve Wheeler’s “Blogging asConversation”.
• Take a vacation. [I’ll be going to Myrtle Beach for Thanksgiving and to Israel at the end of the year.]

REFERENCES:

Lombardozzi, Catherine. "13 Resolutions for Professional Development in 2013." Learning Journal: The Learning 4 Learning Professionals Blog. N.p., 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2013. <http://learningjournal.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/13-resolutions-for-professional-development-in-2013/>.

Wheeler, Steve. "Blogging as conversation." Learning with 'e's. N.p., 14 Sept. 2013. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. <http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2013/09/blogging-as-conversation.html>.