Thing 5 - Reflective Practice

Thing 5 already, wow. Where has the time gone? I’m really enjoying the programme so far and I feel as though I’ve learned loads already.

I’ve had a bit of head start with the concept of reflective practice, as I studied my MA in Librarianship at Sheffield and keeping a reflective journal was a compulsory part of the Management module. However, keeping an online journal read only by the person marking it is one thing; using a blog which can be read by anyone who wants to is something else entirely. I do want to use this blog for reflection as I hope to charter in the future.

I find the concept of the ‘recall it, evaluate it and apply it’ framework very useful although I don’t always use it well. Recalling it is usually straightforward (assuming I’ve made decent notes…), evaluating it is trickier. It is the applying part at which I usually fall down: I don’t always put what I’ve learned into practice.

Canal and Belfry, Bruges, Belgium. Library of Congress

So, in the spirit of reflective practice, here is some reflection on 23 Things so far:

I’ve made an effort to use my blog more effectively by writing regular posts, and I’ve come to realise that connecting with other librarians and information professionals makes it more worthwhile.

I’ve also realised that it’s important to reflect how I want to be portrayed online and give a good impression of myself.

I’ve confirmed that Twitter and RSS feeds are useful to me, though I could take steps to use them even more effectively. I wasn’t so keen on Pushnote, but I do think it’s always good to explore new things.

How can I apply what I’ve learnt?

I would like to continue engaging with other blogs – I’m going to try and comment on at least 3 blogs per Thing for the duration of the 23 Things programme (I will try to make only intelligent and thoughtful comments, but I can’t promise this!).

Also, I want to use my own blog more effectively, by making regular, hopefully worthwhile posts, and encouraging comments.

I’d like to unify my online ‘brand’ by maintaining consistency across platforms, particularly Twitter and Blogger – this will mean changing the design at some point.

I want to continue managing my RSS feeds to reflect blogs and websites I want to be kept up to date with. I also want to organise my Twitter feed, by putting those I follow into lists and/or trying out a third party client like HootSuite. I’ll also keep an eye on Pushnote to see if it turns out to be more useful than I’d imagined.

In an attempt to deal with the time management problem, I will try to schedule in at least one blog post per month (after 23 Things is finished) and fit it in around my other commitments.

To try and improve my reflective writing skills I’d also like to attend a CILIP reflective writing workshop, but this can probably wait until I begin Chartership.

By putting this list up here I will hopefully be encouraged to stick to it!