reflection - Blogs - DPG Community2024-03-28T11:33:48Zhttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/feed/tag/reflectionReflect on your learning : 8 key questions to ask yourselfhttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/reflect-on-your-learning-8-key-questions-to-ask-yourself2017-09-15T11:35:28.000Z2017-09-15T11:35:28.000ZMike Collinshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/MikeCollins<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2217416?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>The art of reflection..... It's a very important aspect of how the brain works and processes information.</p>
<p>The perception can be that reflecting takes time and it's a bit boring but like anything - practice makes perfect.</p>
<p>Learning is about habit and getting in to the habit of asking yourself some key questions can very helpful whether you are studying a professional qualification or just sitting down at the end of the day and thinking about all that has happened.</p>
<p>So you help you with this - here are 8 questions that will help you think about what you've done and what you can do next.</p>
<p>Think about writing a few CPD entries using some of these questions as the basis for some reflective work. You don't need to answer all 8 questions at the same time - rather dig in to them depending on the situation or task in hand.</p>
<p><strong>1. When were you at your best today? What allows you be at your best? What stops you?</strong></p>
<p><strong>2. Has anything surprised you today, if so why?</strong></p>
<p><strong>3. What important thing did you learn today? Why was it important?</strong></p>
<p><strong>4. What do you want to learn more about, why is that?</strong></p>
<p><strong>5. When were you at your most creative, what's the reason for this?</strong></p>
<p><strong>6. Have you been curious today? How does learning feel different when you’re curious?</strong></p>
<p><strong>7. What are you going to experience / learn tomorrow? Why is it important?</strong></p>
<p><strong>8. How can you put in to practice and use what you know?</strong></p>
</div>A blog about blogs (Part 2)https://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/a-blog-about-blogs-part-22012-11-26T12:40:01.000Z2012-11-26T12:40:01.000ZMike Collinshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/MikeCollins<div><p>In my first post about blogs, the focus was on reading blogs to support your professional development, if you've not read the post I recommend you take a look here <a href="http://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/a-blog-about-blogs" target="_blank">a Blog about Blogs (Part 1).</a></p>
<p>So you've got a RSS reader to help you subscribe to blogs and you're finding blogs that interest you and you are starting to get in to the habit of reading blogs relating to L&D or HR so what next?</p>
<p>I want to share a post from Donald Clark whom is a leading voice in and around learning and development but also on a huge number of topics which he blogs about on a regular basis. Donald actually did a blog marathon and wrote 50 blog posts in 50 days which is an amazing achievement in itself but I want to focus on one of his posts in particular - a post about blogs (link below)</p>
<p><a href="http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/blogs-vastly-underused-teaching-and.html" target="_blank">Blogs - A vastly underused teaching and learning tool</a></p>
<p>This is a <strong>MUST</strong> read if there is still any doubt in your mind to the power and benefit of using blogs and it's the end paragraph where I want to begin where he concludes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Blogs are a potent and vastly underused teaching and learning tool. The habit of regular writing as a method of reflection, synthesis, argument and reinforcement is suited to the learning process. Blogs encourage bolder, independent, critical thinking, as opposed to mere note taking. For teachers they crystallise and amplify what you have to teach. For learners, they force you to really learn.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So how do you go from reading blogs to writing a blog?</p>
<p><strong><span class="font-size-3">Commenting on blogs</span></strong></p>
<p>My own experience has shown me that it can take quite a long time to have the confidence to comment on a blog let alone write one and to continue to keep a blog takes commitment and time but IT IS something that is worth it. So where do you start? I think it does help having a 'safe' environment to do this which is why the DPG Community is an ideal environment to start to use blogs as part of your development and professional growth.</p>
<p>I would say that commenting on a blog is a big step towards writing a blog as it moves you from being just a reader to an active contributor. Just thinking about blog content and formulating a response of your own to either build on ideas, develop thinking, agree and congratulate or disagree and challenge is extremely useful. Not only does it add value for you but it also helps the blogger to engage with others on the topic they've written about and share ideas and get other perspectives. I can tell you the other benefit to this is the value it provides and the encouragement it will give to the blogger themselves, it's a wonderful feeling when someone reacts and comments on something you've written and becomes a contributor on your blog. As a blogger myself I will respond to every comment added to one of my posts and I believe it's important to respond and acknowledge comments and think it's good practice to do so.</p>
<p>There are some great blogs already on the DPG Community, why don't you look through them and see if any of them spur you on to add a comment or to share something that it is relevant to the post. You can find all the blogs <a href="http://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog" target="_blank">here</a></p>
<p><strong><span class="font-size-3">Writing a blog</span></strong></p>
<p>So you've commented on a blog, you've moved from reader to active contributor by added your own thoughts and made someone's day in reacting and contributing to something someone else has written. You can of course add this to your CPD log which is another benefit as you can use it to reflect and help you're own learning.</p>
<p>You're now ready to write your first blog, you've had a great idea you want to share or you want to share an experience you've recently had or something that has happened at work - there are no rules to blog content, no right or wrong answers you just write about a topic that means something to you.</p>
<p>This is an important thing to recognise about writing a blog, you don't write them for other people you write them for yourself for all the reasons outlined by <a href="http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/blogs-vastly-underused-teaching-and.html" target="_blank">Donald Clark</a>. If other people read them and comment then that of course is a huge benefit but ultimately you write a blog for you.</p>
<p>The DPG Community allows you to write blogs but the great thing about the community blog features is that you can make them public or private. If you're not comfortable sharing what your writing yet you can make them private just for you or just share them with your friends e.g. your other group members & facilitator or make them public to all.</p>
<p>You can watch a short blog tutorial on how to write a blog on the DPG Community here</p>
<p>If you get to the point where you want to start keeping your own personal / professional blog then there are a wealth of blogging platforms out there. Most are free and the two I'll recommend are free tools and really easy to set up</p>
<p><a href="http://wordpress.com/" target="_blank">wordpress.com</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.blogger.com/home" target="_blank">Google's Blogger</a></p>
<p>You can personalise your blog, brand it and make it look how you like, it's up to you and there are lots of tutorials to help you on YouTube to get you started.</p>
<p>So there is a quick guide to get you started from commenting and adding a blog on the DPG Community to starting a blog for yourself. If you've got any questions I'm more than happy to help anyone write a blog or help you set up a blog just let me know and get in touch.</p>
<p>Thanks to those of you who have already blogged, commented and I look forward to your future comments and blogs ;-)</p>
<p>Mike</p>
<p></p>
</div>A blog about blogs (Part 1)https://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/a-blog-about-blogs2012-07-23T12:00:00.000Z2012-07-23T12:00:00.000ZMike Collinshttps://community.dpgplc.co.uk/members/MikeCollins<div><p><span class="font-size-2"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357090?profile=original"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1357090?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="303"></a></span><span class="font-size-2">The DPG community is a community of practice, a shared space for professionals with an interest in Learning and Development & HR to come together and share their experiences, ideas and good practice.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2">It's a collaborative and social space that supports our CIPD programmes, provide evidence for CPD and is a space for our customers to discuss our products & services in an open and transparent way. It's about conversation and more importantly around people; people who are willing to share and learn. This sharing drives value in both personal and professional development and in turn drives value for others.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2">The most popular discussion on the community so far as been Fiona Chatham's discussion <a href="http://community.dpgplc.co.uk/forum/topics/taking-time-out-to-reflect" target="_self">Taking Time Out To Reflect</a></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2">There are some excellent points around how to reflect and gather CPD evidence the reflection process and it got me thinking about the role of blogs and the impact they have had on my own personal development over the last two years.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2">I think blogs can be misunderstood and that got me thinking about how this community can start supporting its members get more from blogs either through starting a blog or finding really good blogs that are interesting, thought provoking or even controversial. So here it is the blog about blogs (Part 1).....</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Reading blogs</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2">Time is often cited as the main reason for a lack of personal development yet it can only take a few minutes to read a blog. OK reading a blog won't perhaps give you practical skills in running a team or facilitating a training session or help you through a large change programme...BUT it will stimulate ideas and provide an insight in to others' experiences who have done or are doing this. It's this reading processes that provides access to new ideas and rich sources of information, if there are comments it may also provide reasoned argument or other resources and even more peoples' experiences that they have been willing to share. To get ourselves set up to get access to blogs with the minimum of fuss we need a RSS reader to aggregate the blogs so it takes the effort out of finding these dynamite development tools.<br></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2">I would suggest using something <a href="http://www.feeddemon.com/" target="_blank">Feed Demon</a> but there are <a href="http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/goodbye-google-reader-or-the-best-rss-reader-alternatives.html" target="_blank">others</a> out there for both PC and MAC users. All offer similar functionality but it's down to personal preference which one you use.<br></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2"><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Finding blogs</strong></span><br></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2">There are plenty of blogs out there, some of which are fantastic and others well.....let's say they are less read. This is where this discussion can help as I'm calling all members to add a link to their favourite blogs (or even their own blog) in the comments to help others find those belting blogs that cause us to think and help us to innovate, change and disrupt what we do normally. So here are 12 blogs I enjoy reading to get you started:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://www.aconventional.com/" target="_blank">http://www.aconventional.com/</a></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://tmiket.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">http://tmiket.wordpress.com/</a></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.co.uk/</a></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://ryan2point0.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">http://ryan2point0.wordpress.com/</a></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://itsdevelopmental.com/" target="_blank">http://itsdevelopmental.com/</a></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://www.learningcafe.com.au/" target="_blank">http://www.learningcafe.com.au/</a></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://www.learningasylum.co.uk/" target="_blank">www.learningasylum.co.uk</a></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://clive-shepherd.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://clive-shepherd.blogspot.co.uk/</a></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://www.internettime.com/" target="_blank">http://www.internettime.com/</a></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://www.jarche.com/" target="_blank">http://www.jarche.com/</a></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://change-effect.com/" target="_blank">http://change-effect.com/</a></span></li>
<li><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://www.changecontinuum.com/" target="_blank">http://www.changecontinuum.com/</a></span></li>
</ul>
<p><span class="font-size-2">I hope you find these blogs interesting, exciting, challenging and thought provoking. All you need is to open the link and look for the '<strong>Subscribe To</strong>' button, once clicked you can then add the RSS feed in to your RSS reader and boom, you're away - every time there is a new post it will automatically appear in your RSS reader ready for reading.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2">It really is easy to read one blog a day.....you just need to get in to the habit of reading them. Finding 5 minutes during your day to support your development is no great sacrifice is it? I guarantee that by doing this you will be exposed to far greater information and knowledge than you would have without reading them, this can then help inform and develop your own ideas. This is Continuous Professional Development, you might not see it like that but it is a great way of keeping your professional knowledge up to date and continually refreshed and indeed at the cutting edge of thinking in your profession.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2">So that's your task, get your RSS reader up and running and start reading a blog a day to support your CPD. If you have any questions post them below and share your favourite blogs below as well - we'd love to read them too.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2">Part 2 will follow shortly (commenting on blogs and starting your own)</span></p></div>