Reflections

To begin the Rudai 23 course I was guided through a number of tasks.

Establishing this blog site was the launching pad. It provided the platform to expand and explore a number of key tasks that included the use of Photofunia, to personalise photographs and images. It is also the site dedicated to beginning the art of blogging and facilitates a personal step for me to share and exchange links and posts between new social media and my private facebook account.  As the course has progressed I have chosen to open and develop a Flickr account and “dabble” with Powtoon to investigate the creation of animated slide shows . 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rebelette/

Part of my work in the library at the Institute of Technology Tralee involves using the new Yodecking System for TV presentations and I have begun using features from Photofunia to enhance powerpoint slides by creating my own photographs and images.

Using the new material everyday has been of tremendous help to boost my confidence

when tackling new tasks being assigned during the course and becoming familiar with the new system.https://www.yodeck.com/

For the first time I have explored the experience of blogging and began on this site by featuring reflective pieces on my experiences on the first few weeks of the college term particularly mindful of my interactions with first year students. I have been aware of the important role that reflection “in” and “on” working with patrons requires for clear understanding of their problems and to be able to answer their questions (Schon,1983).

Writing on what I know and experience is a very reflective exercise on how we life and work.

I have enjoyed the fun of sharing photos, recreated in Photofunia, with family and friends.

Marking special occasions and events in our personal lives I can clearly see that these fun aps can play a big part in creating material for marketing and recording the “living library”, our staff and students and having some laughs along the way.

Working online I was conscious throughout the tasks of sharing them on the wider web and anxious around the prospect of using them in presentations in work and on my private face book page with my friends. To date my account has been private and facing the task to post and represent the material has been up to now a key challenge for me and certainly a learning curve when it comes to multimedia use and exposure.

Whilst completing each element of the course I was conscious of engaging in reflecting practice and would have used my experiences in past studies in counselling to facilitate my learning. Having reflected on these experiences now at the end of stage 1 I know that I have shifted from being extremely anxious around media to a place where I understand that the knowledge and scope of these tools far outweighs my fear of world wide exposure !!!  Dare I say it, I am beginning to relax and enjoy experimenting in new ways in my private and professional life and I hope I will continue to surf the waves !

I am left at the end of these tasks hoping, nay excited , to earn my first Badge. I am at times in awe of the amount of  creative ingenuity available and the shared selflessness of the open access policy of many of the creators of these apps, and indeed the facilitators of this course. There is learning here too ….about our giving of our time and sharing our knowledge in an open way and sharing our human experiences as we journey on and off the web. I enjoyed immensely setting up my Badge account and the thrill of opening my first badge …all be it a “SAMPLE " ….!!

The most difficult task for me has been the Powtoon Tool. But it was not until I had sat down to attempt to write my feelings on this experience that I have truly realised my reactions have been part of my learning experiences and fears throughout my life. The simple but complexed age old question "Would it be good enough?" Put another Way …Would I be good enough?  Would I be exposed…..horror !

As Schon points out (1983, p.69) “for some uncertainty is a threat, its admission a sign of weakness”.

Trying to wrestle with my engrained “suspicions “ of the web  and this old  mantra of “not being good enough” has been a challenge during the course.  One experience this week, while I was toying with this reflective exercise demonstrated clearly how integrated this doing method of learning has weaved itself in my working life and exemplified how I have always learned.
It has been a great source of joy to me… I was amazed at how quickly I was aiding a nursing student to embed posts on “Pebble Pad” for his eportfolio…..

This is a tool I have no experience of and I was confident to help and enthusiastic to learn from his limited knowledge as well. Being “present” to this student it was nice to be on what Stephens calls “the Edge of what’s happening”(Stephen, 2014, p.2). I am beginning to accept that seeing the student at the centre and the technology as just tools does not have to change.(Stephens, 2014). 

This has always been one of my problems with the wider world web…will we loss the person centred approach to our private and professional lives?

Slowly this is being answered for me as I engage with the " Rudaí eile" and return to writing reflectively on my own actions and learning.

Web technology and reflection would in my “old way of being” not been easy bedfellows but I am

struck by the amount of learning there is in the design of this course. I am determined to return to the Powtoon App and incorporate it into my designs and slides for Yodeck presentations before the term is out. It will be a great addition to my portfolio for screen displays.  My experience with the Adtraxion System should be of great use here and years of creating powerpoint presentations will certainly help.  I just need to spend time at it and allow myself make mistakes…

Not easy when 19 TV Monitors are stationed around college waiting to be fed...Fake news need not apply...............thank goodness...

ACTION PLAN

I am delighted that this reflective exercise has directed me to read more literature on the areas

of learning styles and  web technology.

I will certainly prioritise my time for the course in the next stages and set out a planned study time.

Life teaches us that we must always give time to all our tasks and learning, and that reflecting on past learning experience though important can sometimes be far less helpful than concentrating on the tasks at hand. Powtoon here I come.!

I shall continue to apply mindful techniques I acquired through participation in a MBSR course last year with Susan Barrett to all aspects of my living and learning.
http://www.susanbarrettmindfulness.com

In the past few years I have been involved in the background team gathering course content for use in the design of  online learning courses.

Exposure to creative commons content along with copyright and privacy issues was a great help in understanding these areas of the course. Jasper (2013) talks about making connections between pieces of information and it was only through reflecting  on these experiences that I began to relax around posting photos on My Flickr account and found solutions to my uncertainly around privacy and usability issues. Reflecting on past learning experiences is definitely a source of help into the future. Certainly I see the need to be less critical of myself...on this learning curve.

It has only been in the past few days when I had begun writing this reflective piece that

I have openly discussed the material with other colleagues and certainly this has helped to complete this task.  It is good to talk. …! In the next exercise I will make a greater effort to engage more with others around their expectations and learn from their experiencing of the course.

I can create a post that while personal is not invasive… .. Evan Williams, the father of blogging, spoke about Frequency, Brevity and Personality and I will try to use these signposts as I continue blogrolling  through the bibliologsphere  and learning the skills involved.

The world wide web is as private or public as we want it to be ..a mere tool (Stephens, 2014)...just like our own reflective processes…ever changing but always striving to help us live, laugh and learn ….…mindfully……..

References

Jasper, M., 2013. Beginning Reflective Practice. 2^nd ed. Hampshire: Cengage Learning.

Moniz, R., Eshleman, J., Henry, J., The Mindful Librarian Connecting the Practice of Mindfulness to Librarianship. [kindle edition] Elesvier.

Available at: Amazon.com.uk< https://www.amazon.co.uk>

Schon, D., A., 1983. The Reflective Practitioner How Professionals Think in Action. USA: Basic Books, Inc.

Stephens, M., 2014. Reflective Practice. Library Journal. [ejournal] 139(1),p1-1. Available through: Institute of Technology Tralee Library website<http//www.ittralee.ie/en/library>