Thing 30-- done!

Thing 30

Things 29 and 30 could almost be combined, I think. Certainly “discovery exercise 1” in 29 could be combined here.

And speaking of doing things differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

Fewer things. 30 is daunting. I know, I know, what do you leave out? Well, Combine a couple—Week 9 has 3 things about Flickr—are they all necessary? I found it hard to distinguish well among the discovery exercises. Week 5 IM. The two things could be combined. The two blog posts could become one.

I found a number of libraries in Va. that are doing Learning 2.0, most with fewer things. It would be interesting to know their rationale for this decision. Are the staff more advanced than us? Was this all the time their leaders could permit staff to devote to it? Are they planning a followup that includes the things they left out before?

I’m sure many people have commented on the surprisingly long time that it took to complete many of the things. This is very difficult to control. I know that many persevered because of the prize at the end. If I had had to fit this in with a desk schedule, I’d never have been able to finish it.

I doubt that similar incentives can be offered forever. So how about just offering one or two related things each month, and keeping them up for a long time. That way people will have more time to devote to it, and not feel pressured.


Unexpected outcomes:
I understood much more of what I was doing than I expected. The step-by-step, multiple approaches (read about what it is, then take and tour, then do it) worked for my learning style. If someone says “here’s how to change a lightbulb”, I want to know what a lightbulb IS, and how it might be useful to change it, first. As I mentioned in #29, there’s tweaking I still need to do for some things. But, on #29, I FINALLY successfully added a comment to a blog. I’ve been trying to do that off and on for months.

Semi-unexpected outcome: I really enjoyed blogging—or at least the opportunity to express myself in writing. Even though I know I’m mostly talking to myself (my blog isn’t going to grab anyone’s attention), I can at least believe in the possibility that I’m writing for someone. I’m not a diarist—I prefer writing for a presumed audience.

Would I choose to participate in a future program? Of course. We’ll have to have future programs just to keep up with the next steps. Not having been born with a mouse, I need a little more help with some of the newer things—even knowing they exist.