Engaging in Learning: A Social Networking Experiment that went Right!
In October 2006 Yarra Plenty Regional Library staff adopted an online training program designed to familiarise staff with emerging web 2.0 technologies. The Learning 2.0 Program called ‘The 23 things! was created by Helene Blowers from PLCMC library North Carolina.
The Learning 2.0 Program is a self paced online program with no time barriers, no rosters and essentially involves learning through……PLAY!
This paper will discuss how we took the ‘show on the road’ to motivate staff. Who climbed aboard….and who didn’t?
Based around each participant developing a blog and using it as the recording tool for the program; it was made open to everyone in our organization, regardless of status, full time, part time and casual.
Rewards were offered as encouragement,USB stick, lanyard and into the draw for a laptop.
We will focus on the results achieved. The whole idea of “play instead of work” was new to staff and needed some persuasion to be adopted as something worth while in the work environment. Results included varying degrees of participation, the positive feedback and the development of staff self esteem.
We will also look at ways that we overcame any negativity including motivation issues, self doubt, lost blogs and time constraints. Ways in which staff assisted each other and used our help (email, chat, mentors) and a final evaluation of the course via questionnaire on completion were also important in monitoring the success of the program
A three month journey across the blogging world forged new strengths and the organization has grown by over 1400 individual units of self paced and self directed education.
Lifelong Learning is acknowledged as Yarra Plenty Regional Library tackles five themes for an ongoing active learning project, titled ‘Library worker 2.0’. We seek to equip staff with the skills they will need to move into the cutting edge information and resources environment and encourage ‘participation’!