Tag Archives: participation

Don’t take it personally

Posted on by acrystelle
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I’m sure the participants, Matthias and I could have chatted well into the afternoon at our workshop at the New Librarians Symposium last month about building and managing a professional identity. I would have happily done so. Of course, we couldn’t cover everything in three hours, but there is something I’d like share now, my own challenge and small tip for those who are yet to discover the wonders of Twitter, the professional online community and personal learning networks. There have been times since I started venturing in the online space when I’ve had to tell myself, ‘Alisa, don’t take it personally’.

As a newbie entering the Twitter-verse and the engaging conversation to be found there, it can be difficult to grasp the fact that just because you follow someone, doesn’t mean they will follow you back.  There will be times when you follow someone who you genuinely think is awesome – as a person, professional, for their skills or knowledge, whatever that took your fancy, but they don’t follow you back. This can be disheartening at first. It was for me. Thoughts like I wasn’t good enough circled through my mind. You can feel stumped and struggle to try to figure out how you can “meet” this awesome person. It can be difficult to not to take this as a reflection of your worth in the conversation and online space.

There are people who I’d really like to converse with, get to know better but haven’t followed me back. In the few months when I first started using Twitter to communicate with the profession, I followed a particularly popular librarian from the UK. I followed this person because I was interested in what they had to say, what they’ve done and generally wanted to learn more about them. They didn’t follow me back. Well, not until recently, over two years later. There is a person who I met not long ago who I really wanted to continue our conversation and establish a relationship. I look up to this person, have a lot of respect for them. They didn’t follow me back on Twitter. I could possibly email this person, but I’m quite shy in these situations and need to muster a lot of courage to take this step. Even at work I sometimes don’t speak unless spoken to for fear of interrupting them (something I need to work on).

So try not to take it personally. It is not a reflection on you. Things will be as they’re meant to be. Let it go.

In the first few months, or even up to a year, it’s easy to get caught up in the buzz when you gain a new follower. I’ll say right now that the value of an online presence is not in the numbers – the number of people you’re following and the number of followers you gain. The value of the learning experience, learning from one another lies in the connections and strength of the relationships you build, not the number of followers. Don’t use the numbers as a validation for your professional worth. Numbers are no measure, believe me. Know thyself. My thoughts are to not take much notice of the numbers. I suggest worrying about the people and your relationships. Focus on the great people you connect with, converse with and exchange ideas with. Authentic connections count much more than simply the number of followers you gain.

My activity on Twitter is that I don’t tweet willy-nilly, most of the time. I tweet when I have something to say. I guess you could say I’m introverted in both my offline and online lives. I tweet when I find a useful resource I’d like to share. I tweet when I have my ‘Alisa’ moments, such as watching the footy or reading on the beach of a Sunday morning while my partner surfs. I enjoy sharing what I know, my thoughts and experiences and bits and pieces of my personality. If you seek authentic connections and relationships, you can only be yourself. Be genuine in your interactions. Mean what you say.

No matter what, at some point people are going to disagree with you. 

Don’t take it personally.

Disagreement is natural and healthy. Strength of a network and its resulting knowledge is in diversity. Different perceptions open new ways of thinking. Take it in your stride.

There will be times when you’re misunderstood, people may misinterpret what you say. It hasn’t happened often so far to me, but this is a really difficult thing to not take personally. I tend to take this as a reflection on me and poor communication. I get disappointed in myself for not communicating my ideas clearly enough. This is learning too. It is learning about your peers. These are opportunities to develop ideas further.

Don’t take it personally.

And finally (for now), find your own style. This takes time. I’m still trying to find my own. Be true to who you are as a person, the professional you are or becoming and your contributions.

But just remember, don’t take it personally. Take your time finding your feet. It’s all good.

CPD23: Thing 1

Posted on by acrystelle
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I’ve recently registered for ’23 Things for Professional Development’, a self-directed course aimed at introducing a range of tools and activities to boost continued professional development for librarians and information professionals. I’m currently completing my Master’s in Library and Information Science, so this course is ideal to become aware of and explore professional development activities which can help me grow skills, knowledge and experience beyond university.

I may have touched on my library beginnings before, but for the purpose of this post I’ll briefly outline my previous experience. I landed my first library job in aviation at a regional airline as a Technical Librarian. Since then I’ve learnt an enormous amount about the industry, my potential place in it, as well as embraced opportunities to apply what I’ve learnt throughout my Master’s course to my role and the technical library. I plan to stay in the aviation industry for some time, until my mark is made and my work is done…….there’s heaps to do. :)

My approach to career planning (which I think calls for a post of its own) is about preparing for opportunities. As this profession keeps evolving and job roles and titles constantly change, I don’t find a definitive career path, plan or goals relevant to me. Sometimes I wish I was an engineer or accountant, so I could say I’d like to be a commercial manager on a mine site or a project manager in civil engineering, and have a clear pathway. It’s not as easy as that in library and information science. The best I think I can do is prepare for roles and opportunities that align with my skills – what I’m currently developing, as well as those I’d like to acquire – experience and professional interests.

My purpose for participating in “cpd23” is to become aware of various professional development activities that can potentially contribute to my continual learning, and to try “things” out to find what will work for me. I already share my learning with this blog and will continue to do so. It’s likely I will not feel the need to reflect and post on every “thing” that is described and discussed throughout the course. I will however, share my thoughts and reflection about what is relevant to me and my learning.

I’m looking forward to reading and commenting on other participants’ posts. I hope to expand my personal learning network by involving myself in discussions and providing support to others. Whether participants are experienced bloggers, librarians or techies, or just beginning their careers, my advice is to get involved in the conversation. Don’t just post your reflections. Give advice, share thoughts and help each other. It may be daunting at first but the benefits are invaluable.

To other participants, you can catch me here or on Twitter @acrystelle. Join the conversation, follow @cpd23!

10 Must Reads for PLNs

Posted on by acrystelle
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A recently new follower on Twitter who is keen to learn more about PLNs contacted me last week, after being referred by another in my PLN who knew about my current research in PLNs and Connectivism. The final paper for the New Librarians’ Symposium has been submitted, so there’s no better time to compile and share resources and key authors resulting from my literature review.

While my research focused on the use of PLNs by library and information science professionals, a key finding from the literature was a concentration on the use of PLNs in an educational context. Discussion tended to centre on the evolving use and purpose of learning management systems. Other themes included attempts to distinguish between personal learning networks (PLNs) and personal learning environments (PLEs); prescribing tools to start a PLN, and tips on how to “join the conversation” and grow a PLN.

Must-Reads

Supporting concepts of PLNs are: -

  • Connectivism
  • Network Theory
  • Personal Learning Environments (PLE)

Check out other articles, posts and presentations by these authors: -

  • Alec Couros
  • David Warlick
  • Howard Rheingold
  • George Siemens
  • Stephen Downes

And these Slideshows…

Other tips and resources for learning more about PLNs (and connecting to others) include: -

  • Follow the #pln hashtag on Twitter
  • Set up a Diigo account and look for bookmarks for PLN resources

Principles of Connectivism and the PLN

Posted on by acrystelle
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Amidst attempting to work up some “headspace” momentum for writing my NLS5 paper, I thought I’d write my fortnightly post for the project….

During my literature review for the paper, I drew yet another link between the theory of Connectivism and the PLN concept. The “Principles of Connectivism” by George Siemens can be applied to the PLN context, in order to understand the purpose, characteristics and success factors of building and participating in a PLN. The eight principles (as stated in “Connectivism: a Learning theory for the Digital Age”) are: -

  • Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
  • Learning is a process of connecting specialised nodes or information sources.
  • Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
  • Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.
  • Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
  • Ability to see connections between fields, ideas and concepts is a core skill.
  • Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
  • Decision making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, does not mean it will be right tomorrow, due to the constant shifting in the information climate.

For a PLN to be successful – to thrive and for its collective knowledge to evolve – there needs to be a diverse set of people connected to the network. In the LIS community, this would involve cracking the echo chamber and include people who may not work in a traditional library per se, but who work in different sectors, information environments, and also those who work in varying degrees of information professional roles such as information/enterprise architects, educators, information technology and business management. What I would recommend to those contemplating establishing a PLN, new information professionals like me, is that it’s ok to select people outside of ‘library world’ to follow, to support learning goals and interests. Diversity strengthens a network’s ability to create meaningful connections between information resources and ideas by bringing together varying opinions and understanding. The key is have an open mind.

In the current “digital age”, it is becoming increasingly important to develop the ability to know where to find information, rather than know the information itself. This is due to the ever-changing and evolving information climate, in that connections are being formed every day, every minute. I believe this is where librarians and information professionals are ahead, we are already “connectivist” minded. Librarians and information professionals’ skills, are indeed, more valuable than ever in the current information landscape. It is then inherently clear that the need to continually fine tune information skills, strengthening our “connectivist” ability, is a key driver to establish and participate in a PLN.

PLN Participation Update

# of Tweets for fortnight     94

# of Followers gained     5

# of Mentions     71

# of People I started following     10

Total # of Blogs/Feeds     54 (down 2 from last fortnight)

Top 5 Blogs/Feeds I’ve found to be good reads recently

  1. Librarian by Day
  2. iLibrarian
  3. Alexandra Samuel
  4. Annoyed Librarian
  5. David Lee King

Personal Learning Networks & Environments – Same thing?

Posted on by acrystelle
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A few weeks ago I sent out a tweet to my personal learning network -

“PLN & PLE – Same thing? Or different? What do you believe to be definitions for these terms? Any opinions or thoughts?”

The reason for this is because during my literature review for my NLS5 paper I found that these two terms – Personal Learning Environment and Personal Learning Network – were used interchangeably by some and as separate concepts by others. I happen to agree with the latter, however I was curious of how other members of my PLN defined these terms with respect to their learning experiences and participation in their own PLNs. One member of my PLN responded to my question with a blog post, for which I’m very appreciative.

The discrepancies I’ve found in the literature tend to stem from the context in which the terms are used. That being said, I think its still important to note the differences between the two concepts, especially for a new information professional (or anyone), wishing to establish, develop and maintain a personal learning network and environment, to sustain a self-directed and collaborative, lifelong learning approach  to professional development. Understanding each concept individually can be the key to formulating the strategies and plans required to gain maximum value from personal learning activities.

Personal learning networks (PLN) are a subset within one’s personal learning environment (PLE). How? In my opinion, a PLN is the “people” component to a learning environment. PLNs are the social aspect; the “human connections”; “the entire collection of people with whom you engage and exchange information” (Klingensmith, 2009). A PLE is just that, an environment which encompasses your choice of tools, resources and artefacts, used to assist your continual learning.

Community vs Individual Learning – a PLE is constructed usually with the individual in mind to which the environment is designed for (there are goals, objectives and learning outcomes an individual seeks to achieve); with a PLN, participation is about give and take; contributing to the community of learners and adding value to the network by sharing reflections, perspectives, new ideas and new representations of and/or connections with existing knowledge. Active participation in a PLN is a step beyond passively receiving and reading new content and resources, but I believe you can only benefit your own professional development if you do so. (Part of me can’t believe I’m actually stating this considering my humble and nervous beginnings not even 12 months ago) Go on, take a small leap and post a thoughtful comment on a blog post – you’ll benefit from the reflective practice and your PLN will benefit from your value-adding contribution.

Interactions – in a PLE, interactions are personal, even internal to the individual, and are with the content that is collected, stored, processed or thought-through. A PLN involves interacting with people, connections with others and the collective knowledge base within the network.

New Ideas/Connections – a PLN is like a hub of engagement with and where the exchange and production of new connections and ideas take place. I guess this will depend what “engagement” means to you as an individual. To me, to gain the most out of engaging with content and resources (probably most of which will come from your PLN or PLE), you need to reflect and challenge pre-existing ideas and/or opinions, at the very least. Externalising thoughts on content would take the form of commenting on a blog post, responding to a tweet on Twitter and/or re-tweeting a resource URL with an opinion or comment.

Tools (blogs, Twitter, aggregators, etc) – okay, so there’s plenty of resources out there advising the most common and best tools to establish a PLE. But this is the area where I’ve uncovered most of the confusion amongst what I’ve read on PLEs and PLNs. Tools, just setting them up, does not equal a PLN. Tools are facilitators of PLNs. Tools used to communicate and collaborate with your PLN, such as Twitter, make up part of the wider collection of resources, that is a PLE.

Now here’s a thought to ponder – What develops first? The PLE or the PLN? Alec Couros (2010) views the PLN as being “the sum of all social capital and connections that result in the development and facilitation of a personal learning environment”. I tend to view this in two ways and both don’t exactly answer the question. On one hand, I think the PLE, the tools set up and being used, results in establishing connections with others in an online environment. But what about the people, your “in real life” PLN who help you set up a PLE?

PLN Participation Update

# of Tweets for fortnight     70

# of Followers gained     3

# of Mentions     35

# of People I started following     3

Total # of Blogs/Feeds     56 (down 7 from last fortnight)

Top 5 Blogs/Feeds I’m reading at the moment

  1. iLibrarian
  2. ALIA – LIS jobs
  3. Alexandra Samuel
  4. eLearnspace
  5. Librarian by Day