“There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti I have written this blog post to highlight my achievements as a regional coordinator for Manitoba E-Association, explain how I have grown as a result of the program, and shed some light on how I believe my recently acquired experience will increase the achievability of my future plans. When I applied for the position of regional coordinator I only had a basic understanding of what the position entailed. I knew the overarching duties, which consisted of the following:
Beyond this my knowledge was minimal. In light of my marginal knowledge, I believed working as a regional coordinator would provide me with invaluable supervisory experience and the opportunity to utilize some of the leadership knowledge I gained via management courses I completed as part of my Master’s in Library and Information Studies. My experience as an intern for Manitoba E-Association in 2013 led me to believe there would likely be many opportunities to further my knowledge, try new things, and help others as a regional coordinator. “Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century.” – S. J. Perelman While just over three months into my six-month term as a regional coordinator I have had many successes (see bottom of post for a detailed list) and a multitude of learning opportunities. One of those learning opportunities involved dealing with individuals who consistently failed to respond to emails. This experience led me to pursue alternate methods of communication (e.g. phone and leaving notes within timesheets), research how to write effective messages, and converse with co-workers about their own tips and tricks for effective communication. Another of those learning opportunities involved learning how to communicate and respond to inquiries in a changing environment. For example, one day I may be told something is due at the end of the program and two days later this may change to three weeks from now. This experience led me to be more aware of the clarity of my emails and more understanding when confronted with frustrated individuals. This experience also led me to calmly focus on the end goal and effectively communicate to others why they should do the same. While working for Manitoba E-Association I have especially enjoyed telecommuting, exchanging knowledge with others, and taking advantage of the freedom to explore and learn whatever technological issue strikes my fancy. After all, learning is most effective when one is curious about what one is learning. “Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.” – William Arthur Ward Working from home has led me to feel extremely comfortable communicating and participating virtually via Skype, Google Hangouts, or similar methods of communication. In addition, daily meetings with the executive director and other regional coordinators have proven to be very effective for exchanging ideas, sharing knowledge, and hashing out solutions to problems facing individuals or the group as a whole. “Collaboration is important not just because it’s a better way to learn. The spirit of collaboration is penetrating every institution and all of our lives. So learning to collaborate is part of equipping yourself for effectiveness, problem solving, innovation and life-long learning in an ever-changing networked economy.” – Don Tapscott To facilitate the sharing of relevant and desired knowledge with interns I regularly made note of activities and projects being conducted at sites while checking intern timesheets. Next I used this information to send interns an email or add a note within their timesheet about resources I thought they might benefit from. For example, one intern wrote they were researching typing lessons to assist community members at their site. Upon seeing this I wrote them a note about a website I used to teach keyboarding skills during my time as a youth intern in 2013. Shortly into the program I was provided with the opportunity to manage the Manitoba E-Association Facebook page (an opportunity I eagerly accepted). I saw this as a great chance to combine self-directed learning and knowledge sharing as social media would make it easy for me to share interesting and useful news and articles with a wide variety of users (including interns and site supervisors who accepted my invitation to ‘like’ the page).  Manitoba E-Association Facebook Page - Page Likes, Post Reach, and Engagement for 01/03/2015 – 01/09-2015 “The computer is my favourite invention. I feel lucky to be part of the global village. I don’t mean to brag, but I’m so fast with technology. People think it all seems too much, but we’ll get used to it. I’m sure it all seemed too much when we were learning to walk.” – Yoko Ono One of my major projects involved the creation and delivery of a webinar on 'Constructing And Refining Google Search Queries'. Completing this project involved selecting a topic, developing an outline, research, compiling information, creating slides, creating a form for interns to fill out to determine when would be a good time to deliver the webinar, learning how to use Google Hangouts, providing interns with enough training and information to be able to meet online via Google Hangouts, troubleshooting technical difficulties, obtaining feedback, and evaluating the process to learn how to more effectively conduct similar projects in the future. Currently my goal is to become the branch head of a public library. I believe my time as a regional coordinator is increasing the achievability of this goal. I am acquiring skills and improving others that would be essential for the branch head of a public library to possess (e.g. experience managing and coordinating a group of individuals to complete assigned tasks, solve problems, and creatively implement new ideas). In addition my position has enabled me to grow my professional network while gaining real work experience. As we pass the halfway point of my term I look back proudly on what I have achieved, the lives I have assisted, and the memories of fruitful conversation. I have received appreciative comments from many yet a single thank you would make it all worth it. “A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Successes
0 Comments
|