Thing 5: Reflective Practice

As far as work is concerned, I've never done much reflective practice. At least, none that I've ever taken the time to write about. I keep a personal journal on general life reflections, which I do find helpful, so I see that reflecting on work or projects specifically might be beneficial as well.

I perused the model choices in the Thing 5 post as well as those in other blogs and presentations, but I ended up going with the "Recall It, Evaluate It, Apply It" model outlined within the post. In regards to CPD23, the questions in the Evaluate It section allowed me to have more focus in my reflection. Whereas, with some of the other models, I kept thinking of a lot of things at once. I can see Greenaway's "Plan, Do, Review" working well for me in the future as well.

Evaluate It:
What did I learn?
I've learned a lot! And I've also learned, or feel, that I'm way behind in some respects. Well, obviously, in updating my blog, but we'll get to that later. However, I'm reading from so many other people how involved they already are in what we've been learning, and I feel way behind. "Better late than never" applies to me here. Yet, with technology, I really need to remember that "better late than never" can mean completely out of the loop.

What did you enjoy?
So far, pretty much everything. Blogging has been fun (even if I'm not doing it as regularly as I should). I love learning, and this has given me the opportunity to learn a lot that I, sadly, haven't taken the time to do on my own. Though I mentioned above that I feel way behind, I'm glad that this has kind of thrust me into this technology world that I was somewhat familiar with but not entirely comfortable with. Mainly, I knew about a lot of these programs, but I never took the time to use them. Lastly, I've always loved working in libraries, and this has solidly confirmed that I'm in the right place. It's an amazing feeling appreciating what I do everyday, and I'm grateful that this program has given me a stronger awareness of that.

What worked well?
RSS Feeds = love, love, love. Setting up the blog was easy. Though I don't update as often as I should, I do work on or think about CPD23 everyday. I'm totally aware of where we currently are in the program. I have ideas floating around in my head about future blog posts. Of course, if I blogged regularly, I could get those ideas out and not have five Things floating around in my head at once.

What, if anything, went wrong?
Given that I've mentioned this in the previous three questions, it's probably no surprise that blogging is my first response to this question. And, yes, I said first because there are multiple wrongdoings on my part. My reason: I've got a lot going on. Lame excuse, yes, but that's what I got. With work, preparing for a move, spending time with family because I'm moving, finding a new job, and CPD23, life kind of got a little crazy. Thankfully, I do have the option of posting late because this is, basically, extracurricular for me. Though, in my mind, I'm pretty hard on myself about missing a deadline because it looks completely unprofessional. So, I'm playing catch up right now, and I'm confident that I'm going to catch up. I'm not going to give a deadline on when I'll catch up, but I'm still going to remain confident. I thought about giving a deadline, but I'd have more guilt about falling behind.

Not commenting. I'm horrible about commenting. Not that the very few comments I write are horrible, but I just don't do it. I read a good amount of blogs, but no one would know because I don't make my presence known.

Twitter and I went wrong, and it was all my fault. Way too much overthinking. About my name, my photo, my bio. Okay, about every flippin' detail. However, I did it. Finally did it, I should say. I don't have much going on right now, but it's up. @BookishSandra

So, basically, what went wrong? Me not doing things. It's that simple.

What would you change?
With all the craziness, I wouldn't change much as far as the program is concerned. As far as I go, I'd blog more consistently. Not only should I be blogging in a more timely manner, especially in regards to the program and the Things we are covering, but I also have an idea about a blog post unrelated to the program and don't do anything about it. Oh, I could also stop overthinking. I don't see that happening anytime soon, though...

What (potential) impact could this have in your workplace?
So far, not much. We haven't covered anything that I can really see being applied to my workplace. However, with Google Reader, I catch up on my library blogs much faster, which give me ideas for my workplace.

Apply It:
What can you practically apply from the experience you've had?
Easy answer! Become more involved. By being in cpd23, I've taken one step of becoming more involved. However, I need to comment more and post regularly, obviously. I've also set a personal goal for myself to try to tweet at least once a day. Now that I've set up a Twitter account, I actually want to use it. Well, use it for more than just following people and reading their tweets, which I'm already guilty of and could continue doing.