CPD23 Things Programme in 6 words!

A summary of the CPD23 Things programme of career development learning......

"Keep calm and never stop learning"

Now that's a record -my shortest post ever!

CPD23 - Thing 23 - Final Reflections and what next for this blog?

It's impressive how much we've covered throughout the CPD23 Things programme which has involved learning not just about new tools and services but also crucially about ourselves and our impact on others.

Throughout the progamme I've tried to be thorough and reflect as fully as possible on each topic, hence some exxxxxttttreeeeemmeeellllyyyy long blog posts (must surely have won the award for the longest posts!).

Overall, I'm pleased to have kept up my personal commitment and to have seen this through to the end of the programme. Surely that stands for something good!

As a specific result of CPD23 Things: I'm now using LinkedIn and Twitter more, have signed up to Google+, have created my first Prezi presentation, used Screen-o-matic and advised others to do the same, reflected (no stressed) over the concept of 'personal branding' - so there's a lot to answer for.

CPD23 Things has also helped make me feel more engaged with other information professionals (sometimes can feel isolating in my current role).

But is it really an end?

October is now mid-year appraisal review time so seems like an appropriate time for the programme to end.

However, I feel that there is much that CPD23 didn't cover and should have done - for instance, such as accessing information via mobile apps and analysing modern search engines - so potentially there is much that could be covered in a follow up programme.

I'm also quite sure that the CPD23 programme could be rolled out much further to other organisations and sectors. For instance, there is room for a dedicated CPD23 Things programme just for government information professionals.

My personal next steps though, are to follow the suggestions and do a SWOT analsyis which will hopefully make my thoughts clearer on where to go next (really don't know). I'm also still planning to revalidate, for what it's worth!

Now that CPD23 Things has come to an end, the question is should I carry on blogging?

For lots of reasons, the answer is yes. As I am increasingly coming to appreciate, blogging is a great (although scary) form of self-expression and dialogue. Being part of the CPD23 Things programme has felt like a community and I hope to continue with this feeling and sense of support.

In continuing to blog, I want to post meaningful thought provoking posts, so I've been thinking about some future topics to blog about on both personal and work related issues:

• Government consultations
• Stakeholder management
• Preparations for Government Libraries Conference 2012
• Managers - the good, bad and the ugly
• Internal communications
• Alpha.gov.uk project

As writers say, the best advice about writing is to write for your own pleasure first and from that everything else will flow....so onwards and upwards.

CPD23 - Thing 19 - Catching Up

Reflection

This is the second time that the CPD23 Things course has dedicated a specific time and space for participants to reflect (the first time being Thing 5 way back in July 2011!)

This time, however, we need to think about each of our previous posts and consider:

• what elements were most useful
• how you could integrate them into working routines

Throughout the course we have covered:

• social media tools (blogging, RSS feeds, Twitter, LinkedIn)
• productivity tools (Evernote, Google Docs, Wikis, Google Calendar, Mendeley, Prezi, Jing, Podcasting, Screencapture software)
• professional development (personal branding, reflective practice, advocacy, events, networking, mentoring)

Here are my thoughts in these elements:

• Blogging

The first element to reflect on is blogging, which underpins this whole course. Since Week 1, I feel more comfortable writing my thoughts for public consumption. Still not sure anyone is listening but like the therapy value!

Given the work I do, I am still not sure whether I will be to blog in an official work capacity although my department now have a departmental blog (which includes contributions from Ministers and policy officials) and there might be an opportunity to contribute to this in some way in the future.

I am now starting to think about what to do after the end of CPD23 Things ends and will share some thoughts separately.

• Social Media tools

I already used all of the social media tools (with the exception of Pushnote) before the course in either a personal or work capacity. I've started to use Twitter and RSS feeds more personally (both following others) and building up more own followers via my work and personal accounts.

Since Thing 6 about online networks, I've actually signed up to Google +. Not sure how much use this will be until friends, colleagues and family also start to use as well - I'm virtually billy-no-mates at the moment on there! I also noted with interest, the changes to Facebook's news feeds in early September (in response to the launch of Google+ beta version), and I have monitored some of the comments and feedback shared by others about these changes.

• Productivity tools

Most of these tools were unknown to me before the course. I've particularly enjoyed exploring using Prezi, podcasting and screen capture software which will be useful at work as part of my communications/awareness raising role.

I've downloaded a few of the tools including Evernote and Mendeley but not really had a chance to use them properly. I'm still most excited about using Mendeley to manage and group my PDF documents. I've also been recommended to download Camtasia (a premium screen capture software) which I intend to explore using as well.

• Professional development

The CPD23 Things programme generally has been a great opportunity to reflect on things I've achieved and where I can support others. I made a commitment to put my name forward to become a CDG Chartership Liaison Officer - something I've only just done - so great to be reminded.

In summary, I think most of the elements of professional development have a potential impact on my working routine in making me more motiviated and conscious of how I work with other people. Understanding your impact on other people is very important in helping you to progress and grow in life (professionally and personally).

CPD23 - Thing 5 - Reflective Practice

Some initial comments about reflective practice

I've been doing a lot of reading lately about how dog psychology - how man's best friend communicates and behaves (see Alexandra Horowitz's book "Inside of a Dog" - http://insideofadog.com/).

This has got me thinking about reflective practice.

Dogs (and other animals) famously live in the 'now'. (although cognitive science research has indicated that animals like dolphins and monkeys share a human's ability to think and reflect - see: Study: Some animals can think about thinking).

What makes us unique as humans is our inclinition as a species to reflect.

Reflective practice is defined as "the capacity to reflect on action so as to engage in a process of continuous learning" and this is "one of the defining charatertistics of professional practice" according to Donald Schon who coined the term in "The Reflective Practioner, How Professionals Think in Action"

Taking time to reflect

I try to reflect on what I do, through preparing thoroughly for annual appraisals and reviewing my professional activity to writing articles in the professional press (see article published in the Spring 2011 NGLIS journal). I wouldn't however say this comes naturally and often it seems easier to go ahead and do things. Often time and other activities will be an excuse not to sit and reflect (I was going say 'sit back' but that implies that reflection is not active which is not true). I work in an operational delivery area and the day always seems to come first (and I am not always good at managing my time!).

There seems to be a need for balance in this area (and possibly more reflection).

In my opinion, reflection on professional and work activities is about gaining confidence in listening to ourselves and others and valuing our own and others opinions and knowing which direction or elements of ourselves we need to develop more. We also need to be careful about what we see on reflection and be honest about areas where we fall short. Personally I like the simplicity of Borton's model - What? So What? Now What?


Reflection on the CPD 23 Things Programme so far

Specifically in terms of the CPD 23 Things for Professional Development programme, we've so far covered the following:

• Thing 1 - Start blogging
• Thing 2 - Explore other blogs
• Thing 3 - Consider your personal brand
• Thing 4 - Current Awareness

Looking back at what we've covered so far, deciding to participate in the programme (Thing 1) has been a great opportunity to re-look at blogging and gain a greater appreciation of how it might be useful from a work point of view, so this has been a positive activity. But more than this it has been an opportunity to reconsider my continuing professional development more generally and question which direction I want my career to go in.

Thing 2 was a step out of my comfort zone to explore other blogs. I still have work to do in adding meaningful comments and choosing which blogs to actively follow. Thing 3 about personal branding was thought provoking. As a result of this task I've updated the image of my blog to give it a sleeker look, I've added a CILIP Blogger tag and included a link to my Twitter account. These steps are just a start as branding is an ongoing process. Finally, Thing 4 was all about looking at the merits of Twitter, RSS feeds and Pushnote. It was good to step back and briefly consider these tools and why in the case of Twitter and RSS they are achieving wide acceptance. To be honest I have yet to explore Pushnote. This makes me ponder how I should be keeping on top of current trends and is an area I should try to get better at.

A final thought

Going back to animals and reflection, an Aesop's Fable  omes to mind called "The Dog and its Reflection". This is a story about a dog, who while carrying a bone, sees his reflection in water. The story's moral according to Jean De La Fontaine is not to be taken in by appearances. Building on this viewpoint, if we are not to be taken in, then we need to learn from such experiences and think about our actions and activities.