Life Long Learning 2.0

Watch This Video: The Hollywood Librarian

Listen to this Podcast: Life Long Learning


Life Long Learning - Our first course introduced the term Life Long Learning and the concept that it stands for. If you remember, we discussed, (New Bees: LLL in L2.0) life long learning as an attitude that encourages you to be open to new ideas, skills or experiences. You are never too old to learn a “new trick”! We live this and provide these learning opportunities to our community on a daily basis, so it is essential that we “walk the walk”! This module will continue to explore websites that will help you continue to learn and grow. The three areas of life long learning that we are going to look at are certificate/degree granting programs, professional development and personal growth programs.

Higher/Continuing Education – Ten years ago, online higher education was seen as a scam or something done by “diploma mills”. Five years ago, taking grad courses online from a local university was considered cutting edge. Today, just about every major university has an online program. Have you ever thought about getting your MLS from Syracuse but really hated the thought of leaving sunny Florida? Check it out ~ Syracuse University.

How about a guide to online college programs? eCollege Guide

So maybe going to college just isn't your thing. Maybe the student loan bills are pretty scary.........here are two opportunities to participate in formal learning in an open source format: Wikiversity & Connexions


Professional Development
Professional development is learning directly related to your career. This could range from the very specific training that enables you to do your job, or the broader based work skills that we all need. Your personal development plan in Halogen is your learning plan for your specific job, here are some websites that may help too:

Life Hacker - at first glance this site can seem very techno-centric. Don't be intimidated, it is a great site to get ideas on how to make technology work for you and it does cover non-tech subjects too.

Positivity Blog - a positive outlook allows you to see opportunities where others only see doom and gloom. This is a great site to help you stay focused.

Business Balls - check out the multiple intelligence section.

Personal Growth
Learning for personal growth is learning for fun. You do this to learn a new hobby or become better at something that you are interested in. Golf lessons? How about Spanish language lessons? Have you ever had a personal trainer?? The goal of this area of learning is to make your life more interesting and fun. Here are some websites that can help:

Berklee Music Lessons Were you more DJ Jazzy Jeff than the Fresh Prince? Check out the By Instrument section for free lessons for a broad range of instruments including DJ/turntable and voice.

Nikon Photo School – Who better to learn digital photography from than Nikon?

Cnet Digital Home DIY – This one is for the folks that need just a little help in seeing how to use their tech gadgets better (or a lot of help)

Instructables – photo essays with instructions on how to do a lot of things.

eHow – How To Do Just About Anything.

Expert Village – EV is a Youtube partner.

eXtropia – the How To site for serious techno geeks! Warning….techno rip tides are very strong here. Surf at your own risk!

HowStuffWorks - finally, a website that will stifle the 4 year old question machines inside all of us!

5 Minute Lifeopedia - Similar to HowStuffWorks but in video form.



eXplorer – Take some time and explore the websites above. In your blog, tell us which website you liked and why. Will it assist you in reaching a personal or professional goal?


Adventure - Ok, after all that learning, it is time for a study break! Who makes your favorite pizza – Domino’s, Papa John’s or Pizza Hut? Your adventure challenge is to create a user account at the pizzeria of your preference and order some pie! Text or email, whatever works for you. (No, I am not going to pay for it, nice try!)

Here is some background info: Pizza via the web

Here are some links:

Dominos

Papa John’s

Pizza Hut

OCLS and Library 2.0

Watch this video: Wii

Library 2.0
This module came about as I worked on the last module "Web 2.0 Continued". The question I had was "what is OCLS doing that is Web 2.0?" As I researched that question, I bumped into the term Library 2.0. I was intrigued and I wondered what Lib 2.0 and Web 2.0 had in common. As it turns out, I may be the last person on the planet to have heard of the term, but Library 2.0 is pretty familiar!
Jack Maness wrote a paper way back in 2006 that attempted to define how Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 intersect. The paper is a short read if you are interested: Library 2.0 Theory: Web 2.0 and Its Implications for Libraries He defines Library 2.0 as having the following characteristics:

• it is user-centered.
• It provides a multi-media experience.
• It is socially rich.
• It is communally innovative.

Our good friends at Wikipedia have a definition of Library 2.0 that you can see here, but I want to highlight one aspect of the definition: " Library 2.0 also attempts to harness the library user in the design and implementation of library services by encouraging feedback and participation." Where have we heard this before? Where has this come up, why does this sound familiar?? Remember our mission statement?? ....The Library connects our changing community to the evolving world of ideas, information and technology. Through continuous innovation, the Orange County Library System will create a well informed, well connected community, making Orange County a great place .....

Someone just IMed me on Googletalk and mentioned the strategic plan - what do you think - does it fit?

I. Strategic Goal: We will develop OCLS as the gold standard for public libraries.
A. Continue to cultivate the reputation of OCLS as a national model
B. Connect the community to our services and products
C. Use psychographics to develop and market services
D. Establish OCLS as an Employer of Choice

II. Strategic Goal: We will ensure continuous innovation
A. Create dynamic opportunities for customers and staff that move beyond the traditional Library experience
B. Manage continuous innovation so that ideas and analysis become an integral part of the innovative process
C. Establish and support a creative culture that values the free flow of ideas

IV. Strategic Goal: We will develop and optimize communication
A. Improve Electronic Communication tools
B. Establish Communication as an organizational priority for OCLS
C. Expand methods for communicating with the public.

Are we following Lib 2.0 concepts or are we doing what we think is right for OCLS? How will I benefit from all of this? Very good questions (and not just because I wrote them!) Having been very involved with both the mission statement and strategic plan development, I can promise you that Library 2.0 was never a consideration when these ideas were brought forward. After reading the articles above and reflecting on the work that we did in creating both the mission statement and strategic plan, I realized that many of the challenges and opportunities that we perceived as being important, are also important to a majority of the library industry. The VERY good news is that you work for an organization that is very proactive in recognizing the needs of its communities - internal and external. Imagine how frustrated you would feel reading about Library 2.0 if you couldn't move forward and do some of the things that Library 2.0 embraces? Where do you think those libraries are going to be in the next 10 years?

Here are two more programs at OCLS that embrace Library 2.0 concepts:

Orlando Memory is a community based digital archive - a place where patrons can post pictures that relate to specific topics of discussion all revolving around Orlando as a central theme. Kind of cool - take a look!

Orange Seed This program is for the internal OCLS community and has been around for some time. The program took a Library/Web 2.0 twist about a year ago when it became blog based and specifically asked for comments from the its audience (YOU!) Take a look at the new Orange Seed and add your thoughts to the ideas that are there.

Since there wasn't a pod cast this week I thought we would wrap up with a very special video. I know what you are thinking..."two videos in one week - this is way too much!" Well it is the season for giving! This video and artist is one of the Digital Content Team's favorite videos. I am sure you will enjoy it too! Music in the Library



eXplorer: Remember in the last course when we took pictures of our locations and departments and posted them to Flickr? Can you still find them? Those pictures were taken last year, correct? Since they were taken last year, they are historic - follow me? If you have historic pictures, well then, they should be posted in Orlando Memory - right? Follow the link above to Orlando Memory, create an account and post one of the pictures to the History of OCLS blog. In your blog, describe how you see programs like The Orange Seed and Orlando Memory as being important to yourself and how they are important to the Library.

New Bees: If you joined us after Learn 2.0 ended, you probably don't have a clue as to what I am talking about. Here is the link to the original module -look at the eXplorer activity. Now, here is how you can be a part of this....the images posted to Flickr were posted by a Group - as in a bunch of folks in a dept or location that collaborated on taking the pics and posting them. Search out that group in your area and see which picture you can post. Easy peasy!


Adventures: Remember in the Web 2.0 Continues module when I asked you for an opinion, well I am going to do that again. In a very Web/Lib 2.0 way, you are providing VALUABLE feedback on the services that the Library is providing. A few modules back, I asked you about the mission statement and how you see it relating to you and the work that you do at OCLS. The feedback to that question was incredible! My question this week is very similar - how do you see the new strategic plan impacting you and the work that you do for OCLS?


Secret Santa Bonus: This is a very cool thing to do and best of all, it deals with technology and......BOOKS! If you have images in your Flickr account or even on your computer's hard drive, you can send them to one of the websites below and they will print them into a hard cover book! I haven't done it yet, but I have someone on my list that is difficult to shop for and this will work very nicely. The cost is very reasonable, and from what I have been told, the quality is very impressive. You have the skills - now knock their socks off!

Flickr/Blurb

Shutterfly