The Inspiration I got from Blowers' 23 Things

 This week I chose to read 10 Tips About 23 Things by Helene Blowers because of how I decided to create my professional development project. I actually began my project before reading Blowers, so in a way I chose it because I was already halfway through my little website. I love making research guides or LibGuides at my academic library, so creating a professional development course using Google sites that mimics a research guide seemed like a good fit for me. I had a lot of fun putting it together and then going back and re-vamping it after reading the Blowers article.

The article provides guidance and advice for anyone who would like to setup a similar online course for their colleagues like Blowers’ 23 Things. Many of the advice involved comradery. Blowers suggests having participants create blog posts, networking activities, and creating informal group discovery sessions. Another theme found throughout her tips are about pacing, such as catering to the people reluctant to learn about new technology and encouraging people to explore the new tools and apps first and with time they will build the confidence to learn the hard skills. I really liked how Blowers concludes that library staff should be encouraged to explore the new technology for themselves. I think this advice points to the fact that people will be more open to voluntarily participate in your professional development program if they know it will be fun.

My biggest takeaway from the article was the team work aspect that Blowers reported other libraries finding successful with their staff. I decided to integrate into my professional development project a component about participants sharing their journeys right there in the site. I’d encourage anything from personal experience as to how a tool used in a lesson plan went, step-by-step instructions for a new app someone discovered, or even a quick annotation for something a person found themselves. Now, I don’t currently work in a school, so this is all hypothetical, but I do wonder if I can take what I made this week and bring it with me to my first job.  

 

About this Image: It's an original picture I made in Canva using its graphics.

 

Source

Blowers, H. "10 Tips About 23 Things," School Library Journal, October 2008, pp. 53-57.