#23 Comments on Learning 2.0

I must admit that I really enjoyed all of the discovery exercises that were offered in Learning 2.0. The Technology Summit pumped me up to dive into the program. Self-paced learning is one of the hallmarks of a library. Now that I've completed PLCMC's 23 I'll go over to Stephen Abram's 43 things and explore what he mentions.

Everyone I've spoken with really seemed to enjoy adding avatars to their blogs. Whether they used Yahoo! Avatars or Meez.com it was a hit with everyone. This carried over to the Librarian Trading Cards mentioned as part of Thing #6 Flickr 3rd Party Tools.

With Thing #10 Image Generators I got to bring my Librarian Action Hero to life with movie poster! I can see that others enjoyed them too based on the latest entry in Learning 2.0 - The L2 Image Slideshow. I know that many enjoyed Thing # 20 You Tube, Thing #21 Podcasting and Thing #22 Netlibrary but there wasn't as much making them "your own expression" as with the others mentioned.

Now I'd like to take that "avatar happiness" and hopefully apply it to the next generation of Library 2.0 and 3D Online Reference. A personal creative outlet meets service where the patrons are! And with my sharable customized start pages that I discovered as part of Thing #19 Web 2.0 tools I can keep track of all of these cool Learning 2.0 "things" in one place. Keeping track of these tools easily is the key to using them for resources and projects.

One thing that I would like to mention is that in order to complete each of the "23 Things" I found myself exploring while I was at work but posting my blog entries while I was at home so I wouldn't be distracted. For those staff that do not have computers at home, finding time to complete each of the entries was very much a challenge. I was especially concerned for the circulation staff because the majority of the circulation workstations to not have access to the open Internet, only sites on the PLCMC "yes" list through the proxy server.

If we did the project all over I would recommend that we:
1-Allow more time to complete the "23 Things". Some staff I spoke with lost their motivation to complete the project when they fell behind.
2-Put all the websites we are going to explore on the proxy server "yes" list so that circulation staff can access them from their workstations or have open Internet available on those workstations for the duration of the program.
3-Consider offering workshops for the "23 things". Even though some staff thrive on self-paced learning, others prefer workshops where they feel comfortable asking an instructor questions. Some staff felt uncomfortable asking others for help because they didn't want to prevent the helpers from completing their "things" too. Having a classroom setting lets a staff member step away from the day-to-day tasks and be able to focus on learning in an undistracted environment.

At my branch I felt these elements were there but I also want to say that everyone was very encouraging to each other. Anytime someone had a question there were mentors who were there to help. We all shared our successes and urged each other to continue so they could receive their MP3 player too!

If there was ever an incentive program like this in the future I know that I would probably participate. I'm sure the motivation from Learning 2.0 will inspire many other projects for some time to come. Now that we know about so many collabration tools it will hopefully make our jobs easier by not having to recreate the wheel everytime for resources and programming ideas but learn from others who shared through these Web 2.0 Tools.

Now I can go and read and comment on what other participants are saying and do a little sprucing up on my own little blog. :)