Thanks to Christy Tucker for highlighting a post that connects to “work at learning.” Stephen Downes via eLearn Magazine offers Ten Web 2.0 Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes to Be a More Successful E-learning Professional.
Two things that leapt out at me:
- Sites like Digg, Metafilter, and Hotlinks are great for browsing and serendipitous discovery.
- Keep your writing activity to less than 10 minutes—make a point quickly and then click “submit.”
In other words: consciously open yourself to things you might not otherwise come across; act on what catches your interest.
Photo by Nick Violi.
I think the conscious opening up of self to things that you might not otherwise come accross is important as well as taking time to reflect on the unplanned & informal learning that just happens.
Lynn, I think of it as getting out of the house (or the back yard): maybe realizing where your usual haunts are, and being willing to haunt elsewhere for a bit.
There’s definitely something to the idea of an actual change in scenery. I know that when I’m stuck on something I’m working on, one of the best things I can do is pack up my laptop and head to the coffeeshop for a while. Just having different sights and sounds and interaction is enough to get me past that writer’s block in most cases.
I really liked Stephen’s idea of writing for just 10 minutes. I struggle with getting to far into my ideas sometimes, or procrastinating about starting to write something big. I want to try writing for 10 minutes and doing some shorter posts. In 10 minutes, I won’t have time to worry about getting things “perfect,” and I think that’s part of my problem with my blog posts now.