Week 9, Thing 23 Reflections on the Journey

Real learning should change the learner, not just fill their head with content or teach new skills, and Learning 2.0 has changed me in some unexpected ways. I am now critically aware of the need to structure the library experience of my students and faculty to their needs as "users," which means that if it takes too much "training" for them to be able to acquire the information and experiences they are seeking in my library, I'm doing something wrong (see comments on article by Michael Stevens in previous post)! Consequently, I met with the head of the English department and we are revamping the way we do freshman library orientation. I met with my IMS guy, and we are revamping my library web page (once fiber optics is up and running, supposedly in April). I am going to actively participate in the freshman academy at my school so that I can be a part of creating a learning experience for the students that isn't the "same old, same old" in a block schedule. My main goal is to use technology to create active learning, collaboration, and engaged readers in my library and beyond in my school. Can you tell that I LOVED Learning 2.0?! Thank you, 2.0 team! I hope to be able to thank you in person at CSLA in the Fall. P.S. -- A quick apology to the readers who kept up with me for inundating you at the end -- my online exploration and learning were ahead of my blog postings, and when I realized that I was going to have to finish by April 1st, I had to catch up on the postings. ANSWERS to the 6 questions, in reverse order:
#6 - My learning experience in one sentence: The format of this online learning experience allowed me to explore web 2.0 applications at my own pace and on my own time, integrating them into my life and my library as I learned.
#5 -Would I choose to participate again? Yes, definitely - bring it on!
#4 - How could the format or concept be improved? My only suggestion would be to make the Weekly Tips portion interactive by posting it on a Wiki where others could quickly post answers to questions (technological difficulties) which sometimes slowed me down, especially when working from home.
#3 - Unexpected outcomes from this program - a shift in my perception of my role as a librarian from "user friendly" to "user centered", and new confidence in myself as a "techy" person
#2 - How this program has affected my life long learning goals - I now have at least a beginning familiarity with a whole online world of knowledge, reflection, commentary and interaction which will allow me to take charge of my own learning experience and collaborate with others as I grow.
#1 - My favorite exercises or discoveries on this learning journey - it was very fun and confidence building to acquire the skills to use these web 2.0 applications on my own and see that I could make them work, so I did enjoy the practical "how to" exercises where I actually created something (my blog, my igoogle page w/ reader, a flickr account, a zoho account, my rollyo search bar, etc.). But I also very much appreciated the inclusion of thoughtful reflection and commentary on these applications, reading online articles, journals, and blogs about them. That balance made this a very worthwhile journey for me.