Thing 23 - Reflection and completion at last!!!

What a relief to finish this in time - my impending vacation added a little pressure to finish early - but who am I to complain? I'll be playing in the snow or ice or puddles as the case may be. As my staff will tell, I am a big supporter of Learning 2.0 I think this has been a great opportunity to learn, play and understand what is available out there. I am very glad that administration has supported this endeavor.

There has been lots of frustration - but that is technology for you. Frustrating - but then you get some really cool stuff, too. I have learned all sorts of interesting programs that will help me both professionally and personally. Out of this program I have now created my own hiking blog, which has been a lot of fun.

I am an archivist, journal writer and tracker of details by nature. I've learned several online tools that can keep track of a lot of these things for me. I will be exploring Wikkis and Library Thing, I am using Delicious regularly and my RSS feeds are keeping me up to date on what's going on. It is all about connection and community and Learning 2.0 showed me the possibilities and expansion available through the internet.

I have not had a computer at home, because I spend my workdays on the computer, but I am now inspired to buy a laptop. There is just too much to explore that I need to do on my own time.

One of the things that I have enjoyed most about the program is reading the blogs of the staff in my department. It's given me a new appreciation for them. I laughed, I cried, I closed my eyes. I learned many interesting things I wouldn't have known otherwise. Ashour has taught me about middle eastern geography and history; I saw great pictures of the Azores from Danny and learned about Francis' family background. I enjoyed seeing Tamara's wedding photos and knowing she is the proud owner of leopard geckos. I liked Randy's wry, humorous observations, Femi's concise summaries and enjoyed watching Judy bloom through the program - struggling, but persevering and finally finding some fun at the end. Neil's blog was entertaining and creative throughout and it was fun to follow the twists and turns of his mind.

I appreciated how the staff came together and helped each other. Neil helping Femi and Randy; Ashour helping me. I think our discussions during staff meetings were helpful as well.

Technologically, I feel I am always running behind and with Learning 2.0 I feel I actually got ahead of the curve - or at least caught up to the ball - for a moment. I know I've just scratched the surface but I'm excited about starting to do more digging and 2.0 gave me some good tools.

The one downside of the program was it's shortness in length. Rather than a 9 week program, it should really be a 9 month program with time to really explore the tools in depth. Having group discussions about how it is relevant to us personally, as a unit, department and library is also very helpful. Keeping track of all the signons was a constant problem for me.

I will be coming back to Learning 2.0 and exploring the exercises in more depth. I am going to explore creating a Wikki. I would definitely encourage you to offer programs like this all the time. I appreciate the efforts of the Virtual Services Team in reading the blogs and answering questions. Great job.

I have more to say - but I am out of time and out the door - so for now. I'm done!!!!!