Community of Practice...in the age of unlimited information

Communities of Practice are is needed in a professional world where we are all connected, but don't take or have the time to share our experiences.  Social media, the open access to your personal thoughts and ideas are a bit frightening to most of us.  However, the world we live in continues to evolve whether we like it or not.  The ability or should I say opportunity to engage with others who are dealing with the same issues I am dealing with and openly share their experiences with me is exhilarating.  I learn best this way!!!

My relationship with technology has grown and developed immensely since the beginning of my doctoral journey and the assignments Jeff Heil has required.  As a think about a community of practice...it gives me motivation to develop one for my profession in the county I work in.  I am supper jazzed and going to develop one.  In the past (it's been a long time) we would meet for lunch in a central location and meet to discuss our current practices and how we deal with similar situations in the personnel profession.  Well we hadn't had a meeting in soooo long, because its so hard to take time out to meet...but doing this electronically, the odds of fostering the shared collective knowledge are pretty high.  It can happen at any time, anywhere.   I am so excited!!!

Since I joined twitter in January of 2012 I have expanded my professional learning network to about 250 people.  When I have an opportunity to spend some time on the network; read, respond, and share my own thoughts of what I'm experiencing, I get in the zone.  My brain goes into hyperspeed and my learning expands like it never has before.  I love it...but it doesn't happen to often.

For the future I think this may be the way of higher learning by individuals who cannot be present in a traditional sense.  As our public school educational system moves deeper into the 21st Century and California adopts the Common Core Standards, we must redefine how we reach our participants.  Our students have a wealth of information at their fingertips, but do they know how to maneuver through all of the noise/information?

As I/we continue to advance...we must develop the people within our circle of influence to try a different way of learning.  Learning through practice and joint activitites to discuss and share the solutions will only strengthen what we know and how we will practice what we know.

Visitors and Residents

Wow, I am somewhere in the middle between visitor and resident, I definitely see the professional benefit to the resident side.  I would say my personal life is more on the upper spectrum of the visitor side and I currently have a non-existent professional exposure...(low-end visitor side).

In the future, I see my personal side remaining where it is, but I see my professional web exposure being in the middle of  the residential spectrum.

Thank you for the thought provoking information Dr. White.

Sometimes you feel lick a nut sometimes you don't



Oh my, what a ride!  I have been on mental overload since Tuesday...ok let's say even (Superbowl) Sunday morning when I started working on the statement writing activity.

At times I feel knowledgeable and helpful to others and there are times like Tuesday and Wednesday night when I want to scream because I feel so confused, helpless, and clueless. However, there is one important thing that is for certain, we have a great cohort of people who we can all lean on.

Although I am the type of person who finds strength in knowing and being an expert in my craft, this week has really made me feel extremely uncomfortable and lost, like a kid at  school who has wondered off of the playground and now in the real big world of research.  This is a world that I am not so comfortable with, but it is clearly evident to me that I will have the support to suceed.  Thank you gr8 8 for being there for me.  You are an extremely strong comforting group.

It's amazing that within about a month's time I feel extremely supported and connected to our outstanding cohort and the faculty who will see to it that we succeed!  I am not sure that I have ever been a part of a group who miraculously seems to know just what you need when you need it.

Haiku

Today was crazy

Just couldn’t get on top of it

Everything worked out

Qualitative…huh

Quantitative difficult

Everything is ok

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometime you dont.

Oh my, what a ride!  I have been on mental overload since Tuesday...ok let's say even (Superbowl) Sunday morning when I started working on the statement writing activity. 

At times I feel knowledgeable and helpful to others and there are times like Tuesday and Wednesday night when I want to scream because I feel so confused, helpless, and clueless. However, there is one important thing that is for certain, we have a great cohort of people who we can all lean on.

Although I am the type of person who finds strength in knowing and being an expert in my craft, this week has really made me feel extremely uncomfortable and lost, like a kid at  school who has wondered off of the playground and now in the real big world of research.  This is a world that I am not so comfortable with, but it is clearly evident to me that I will have the support to suceed.  Thank you gr8 8 for being there for me.  You are an extremely strong comforting group.

It's amazing that within about a month's time I feel extremely supported and connected to our outstanding cohort and the faculty who will see to it that we succeed!  I am not sure that I have ever been a part of a group who miraculously seems to know just what you need when you need it.