Setting Aside Time to Learn
Many people say they do not have enough time to learn something new. I usually say I don’t have enough time to clean the bathroom, however, I just ran in there and scrubbed the basins in about two minutes, and thought of this post while I did it. You don’t have to set aside time. If I set aside time to clean the bathroom, it would never get done. Instead, I just did it in that brief moment of silence I had between wrestling dog food away from my baby and trying to figure out how to fix the SHIFT key he pulled off my laptop.
Learning new technology is something you can do in those in-between times. Here are some suggestions:
- Keep your learning materials handy. If you learn by reading, carry the manual around. If you need to use a computer, keep it turned on. Put the icons on your desktop for the things you need to investigate. Be prepared to learn any time you must wait in a line.
- Use the technology to replace something you normally do without it. You didn’t always use your phone as a clock, but you probably do it all the time now. Replace a few phone calls with SMS or a social network posting. Read an RSS feed instead of the newspaper.
- Find a partner and learn together. Explore the technology asynchronously if you have to and use it to share your discoveries.
- Don’t think this is something you should get paid to do. Stipends for professional development are great. Some people are fortunate to have employers who pay for learning, but in reality, this is something you just SHOULD do. Your students do it in their free time and then find uses for it in school. Try to do the same.
- Prioritize, but have fun. This week I need to check out Jing, ANIMOTO, and Freebase. I still haven’t used Flickr. I will probably start with the ones for which I received invitations.
- Don’t feel guilty when you have fun! You may have so much fun learning new technologies, that you feel like you are playing and not learning. This is normal. It may take a while to get over it. You can keep track of your explorations and catalog it as professional development time, if it makes you feel more productive.
September 1st, 2007 at 12:38 am
Hi Jen
Yours is a REALLY good blog. Just thought I should mention that. The uncluttered look is good. I would like to declutter mine more - but oh well. Suffer from Vicki Davis problem - balancing up acknowledging others and providing information.
I really love this post on making time for learning. You raise so many great points. Although I am not so into making time to clean the bathroom or house
Unbelievable - can not believe you have not used Flickr although that was definitely one site that took me a lot longer to want to get involved with. For me it was about finding a purpose for using it. Unlike others that wanted to share their personal photos with the world that was too much like hard work for me. But I have now found that it is really good for storing records of all the different professional development workshops I run.
Sue
September 1st, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Thanks, Sue! I think it has taken me a while to learn a lot of things because I have had my own domains for so long. I used to think of these tools as designed for people who don’t have their own sites. I like your idea of using Flickr for your workshops. I will have to look into it more. I need to find out if I can send photos from my phone!
September 3rd, 2007 at 4:24 am
I appreciate your thoughts about learning on our own time. Especially the reference to how educators expect students to do this on their free time and despite this many teachers do not take responsibility for their own learning. “Do as I say, not as I do” all over again.
As for Flickr, I use if for both personal and work. If you get around to using it for both you can mark your family/friends photos as private. I also use Flickr to set up photo sets to use for Flickr badges. Flickr is an excellent resource for photos to use in the classroom as well. If you need any help give me a shout.