Our CP2Tech01 workshop has ended. It was one of the fastest five week experiences I can recall. I am certainly a bit sad to have such an active few weeks of posting and reading and searching come to an end somewhat abruptly (and now I am forced to further it all on my own), so thought I would reflect a little on the experience.
- I struggled to keep up. Reading, posting, new tools, conference calls, and lots of wonderful new people, many of whom I only started to know on a very high and almost surface level. With all that said, I wish there would have been some way that more of a sense of community and (dare I say?) friendship begin to develop? Yes, it takes time, but with so many interesting and generous and wonderful people out there in the area of communities of practice, I think I will need to make more of an effort to remain in touch with some of these fine people. This has always been a struggle for me (out of sight, out of mind), but here is a new opportunity to work toward improvement.
- I learned that I am not alone in not understanding or processing things at times. When I feel overwhelmed, perhaps (as I learned) others feel the same way but just do not say it as loudly. While this is not misery loves company, it is nice to hear that I am not as alone as being overwhelmed makes me feel at times.
- I also learned that I do not have to master every new Web 2.0 tool out there. We looked at lots of programs and technologies out there, and while some people gravitated to some and others to others, I do not need to know everything about all of them to use one or two that I did not use before. Look at the buffet, and choose what works best (rather than stuffing on everything!).
- Finally, I learned how generous people (colleagues) can be when we are sharing toward a common purpose. The amount of time John Smith and Bronwyn Stuckey and Nancy White and Sus Nyrop and Caren Levine and LaDonna Coy and Shirley Williams and Nick Noakes and Sylvia Currie and Steve Gance and Barbara Dieu and numerous others helped me to understand my own learning, communities of practice, technology stewardship, and working collaboratively on such important areas between scholarship and practice. I appreciate all of them making me feel welcome and part of the conversation.
Always looking for the practical application, I am wondering where all our work will lead us all?
What a nice reflection piece, Jeffrey. I’m feeling the same way. It went by so quickly and in my life there were so many others things going on that it seems like a whole series of missed opportunities. Busy times! (I fell asleep sitting up at my computer TWICE in May! LOL) The best part about a learning opportunity within a community environment is that the people don’t go away. 🙂
Sylvia, I hope you are right. I fell asleep twice at my computer last week, as I had too much on the docket.
What will be a new experience for me is to remain in contact with people after such an event. I have done this somewhat with Northern Voice and the AHRD and AERC conferences I attend over the years, but I have never done so (or really found a reason to try) with such an online-only event that focused upon the sharing and stewardship and community as the focus itself. Perhaps most of the online sessions I have attended did not have the support from a wide perspective or fellow learners working together? Even the best ones often are more expert / learner focused, where this one was more learner / learner focused.
Ahh, even new learning opportunities after the session itself ends!