(What) to blog, or not to blog, that is the question…

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but I am currently working towards Chartering and a part of the portfolio is a reflection of where you are at the beginning of the process and where you are at the end…now, I found out I’m not very good at this type of study while I was doing my teaching portfolio. I can write descriptively, but not particularly analytically. Part of the reason for this blog is to set down my thoughts on issues that affect/stimulate/annoy me, and to reflect on them – as I used to in my diary as a younger person (but without the wistful sentiments about a certain rock god, music and boys in general! )

So to help me with this, I’ve decided to start a reflective journal, as well as this blog. However, I immediately hit a stumbling block: what to transfer to my blog? If the idea is to be able to organise my thoughts for my blog, and to use that as a tool for reflection, what should I blog and what should I avoid?

The impetus for this musing was one of the issues I tackled in my reflective journal last week: a sensitive issue regarding a member of staff who I manage…so, having made the decision to stay away from such sensitive material, is this defeating the idea of my blog? Given that my posts go straight to my twitter and FB feeds, I think I must be very careful of what I transfer to my blog.

…and, as usual, this has sent me off on the tangent of how we teach information literacy to our students! We teach them how to construct effective search strategies, but it has only become apparent recently (after some high-profile cases in the media) that we need also to teach them how to use social media responsibly.

…and, also as usual, this task has fallen on the library profession (because we are innately responsible or because we are at the cutting edge in technology terms?). As mentioned before, we have problems getting our students engaged in social media for study, but we can turn it on its head and show them how to behave sensibly online. Recent research suggests that potential employers now look at our online presence before they even meet us and so giving a good impression very important.

BUT…this then leads to debate about freedom of speech, prejudice, etc. Should we really be so wary of stating our beliefs for fear of such reprisals? My initial answer is no, but I believe we can be honest about our values without compromising our online presence…something that’s just a bit alien to me is tact (on occasion!) but I know I can be true to myself and my values and opinions in a way that isn’t offensive and wont compromise my future career! Watch this space…

The Joy of Facebook…

This is going to be a really quick post, due to the fact that I am preparing for my interview on Thursday and so should be reading rather than playing on social media. But that’s just it. Social Media is as much a learning tool as anything else. If we look at it in the terms of a classroom it goes something like this: you post stuff (you are telling the digital world something you have knowledge of…albeit possibly only a little and maybe second hand); other people comment on it (classroom discussion of the topic in hand, maybe increasing your knowledge thereby); you reply (question and answer sessions); you ask for opinion (homework, possibly?); other people post stuff and you engage in the same process in reverse (you are the learner). If you follow the right people, subscribe to the right groups, get in on the right conversations you can learn a lot from something that doesn’t seem at all like a learning process!

I mention this because we have tried to engage our learners using social media, but it seems that they don’t use it for learning, perhaps for the very reason stated in the last sentence. But I strongly believe that we can work with this and, even if we only use it for very specific issues (such as finding that naughty journal that should be on the shelf but isn’t!) that’s still valid learning engagement.

Anyway, it’s turned into a not-so-short post, so here’s what I was actually doing on FB. I think you might like it! (Oh, and you can find me on FB by following the link at the side of this page).