Training and Developing: on a shoestring

Carol Brooks, Hon FCLIP

What’s in a word

Training

Development

CPD

Welcome to the real world

the difference between knowing the path…

and walking the path!

Introduction

No budget, no development? Your responsibility or your

employer’s responsibility? T&D by any other name…does it

matter? L&D CPD = learning + reflection… applied

to the Real World

Obstacles to CPD? Thinking about it (but which activities

would be most useful/beneficial?)

• Knowing you should be doing it… if only you had the time/ money/support…

CPD activities: Training courses, workshops, and conferences

Organised by your workplace an outside association/ trainer local college or university professional body (e.g. CILIP

Enterprises/CIPD) Special Interest Group (e.g. Career

Development Group, PTEG) another organisation (e.g. NIACE)

CPD activities: on the job

Visits/shadowing/observations/interviews

Secondment/job rotation Guidance/training/staff awareness

notes Personal contribution to meetings Mentoring/coaching Project work and reports Staff development reviews

Examples

Mystery shopping – learning by experience

Learning Hour Learning sets Shadowing programmes Mentoring/coaching programmes

Learning on-line

Businessballs.com  

Leadership-expert.co.uk

The LIS 4 letter word!

R E A D

CPD activities: personal study

‘Traditional’ resources

Books Journals Websites, e.g.

CILIP British Library American and

Australian libraries Phil Bradley at

www.philb.com British Library at www.bl.uk

CPD activities: personal study

Web 2.0 applications: have a browse Wikis/Wikipedia Videojug and

YouTube FaceBook

Web-based emails: try a few!

www.videojug.com

CPD activities: personal study

RSS feeds: subscribe for a while

Discussion groups: register and contribute

Blogs: what do you think?

Twitter: ummm…

www.marincountyfreelibrary.blogspot.com

CPD activities: professional involvement

Professional press: read it, but also consider writing an article

Professional networks: make friends and contacts

Forums: contribute and share ideas Committee work: attend meetings,

perhaps take on a role Organise meetings, fund-raising

events, or training courses

Your unique journey

CPD should be a creative activity…

‘each learning journey will be as unique as its author’

Geoff Rebbeck (Thanet College)in Effective Practice with e-portfolios

Recording CPD

CPD activities… are not just about collecting a folder full

of certificates: they show the variety/breadth/ depth of activities undertaken

can show progression (but not always) suggest that learning and development

has taken place (if formally assessed)… but that is not the whole story!

So what… does it show? This is where you reflect on what you

learned (or didn’t learn) How have your skills/knowledge improved? Did it cover everything you needed to know? Did this activity suit your learning style? Do you feel more competent and confident? How can you apply this learning? How would you do it differently next time?

Jottings and reflections

Session on structures did not achieve its aims

Group work was really useful for identifying partnerships, but session cut short!

Identified obstacles to learning… but not what to do about them

The value of reflection‘It is not sufficient simply to have an experience in order to learn. Without reflecting upon this experience it may quickly be forgotten, or its learning potential lost.

It is from the feelings and thoughts emerging from this reflection that generalisations or concepts can be generated. And it is generalisations that allow new situations to be tackled effectively.’

Gibbs (1988)

Now what… do I do next?

How can I fill the gaps in my current professional skills/knowledge?

What are my future development needs?

What am I doing here? Where am I going? How am I going to get there? Who can help me on this journey?

Conclusion

Participate in a range of different activities and experiences

Reflect, analyse, evaluate: keep a log Consider your future training and

development needs

CPD – your passport to success!

References

A. Brine (2005) Continuing Professional Development: a guide for information professionals. Oxford: Chandos Publishing.

JISC (2008) Effective practice with e-portfolios. Bristol: JISC.

G. Gibbs et al. (1994) Developing Students’ Transferable Skills. Oxford Centre for Staff Development.

CILIP www.cilip.org.uk see sections on Ethics, Member Resources, and the Framework for CPD

Career Development Group www.careerdevelopmentgroup.org.uk

Institute for CPD www.cpdinstitute.org JISCMail www.jiscmail.ac.uk

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Carol Barker, Staffordshire Libraries and Jenny Cefai, Anglia University both of whom contributed greatly to the development of this presentation.