First of all, let me apologize if this response is a little verbose. I’m working on “trimming the fat”. =)
Module #5 is about Personal Skills. In this stream-of-conscious-like ramble I'm going to discuss how Personal Skills are very much a big part of Success as an Online Student AND how Personal Skills also carry over into a Team Setting.
To succeed in an Online Learning Environment, I understand I’d definitely need to have both strong time management skills coupled with strong organizational skills. Some people assume that since you’re taking a class “online” that it’s going to be a ‘cake-walk’. Sooooo much easier than actually attending in person and putting in some REAL face-time. To those people, I’d have to chuckle and say “try it some time—let’s get together once you’ve finished a class or two and re-evaluate”.
This being my first foray into online learning, I have to admit it is definitely harder sorting through the information you’re peppered with. You have an infinite number of windows to sort through, not to mention the maze of hyperlinks, help desks, log ons, screen names, emails systems, data systems, etc. You have to be able to manage your time in entering your virtual learning communities BECAUSE you’re not putting in face-time in a real class setting. Organizational skills go hand in hand with this for the most obvious reasons I just stated.
You have to be self-motivated because for the most part, you’re not going to have someone tugging on our arm to get you to class and meet up for a coffee afterwards. You are your own cheering section. =)
Lastly, the fact that you have to be comfortable working with technology is pretty much a no-brainer in an online learning environment. I mean, you don’t have to be an IT whiz but it helps to understand your basic telecom. Let’s face it… that’s just the direction the world is turning.
Back to the assignment at hand: Online students need to be armed with a variety of personal skills such as time management, organizational skills, self-motivation, comfort with telecommunications because at times it is often very lonely work seeing your classmates on the other side of a computer screen in black and white text. I suppose in order to make up for the lack of camaraderie a regular student would have attending classes on site—the whole topic of Team Success Strategies are discussed in this module as a way to make even the whole experience and bring a certain roundness to our virtual world.
Enid Irwin, part-time SLIS faculty member and Librarian, mentions in her short power point entitled, The Monster Inside Library School—Student Teams is that “You start your careers when you start your classes. The Behavior you show now is the behavior you’ll be remembered by.” Learning how to work in a team is not just important to your online learning process, it’s a strategy commonly utilized in a variety of different work situations and places.
Individuals are extremely visible in an online process and each individual’s attitude and commitment to planning play an integral part in the success of each team.
Dr. Ken Haycock’s lecture on, Working in Teams, highlights the importance of INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY in maintaining a functioning Group Goal. In a situation where every team player contributes equally in time and expertise, relationships are built, trust can grow. When every player has something valuable they’re allowed to contribute, individuals feel they have personal stakes in the finished product and therefore “greater commitment leads toward implementation”.
Both Irwin & Haycock discuss that knowing ahead of time that there are going to be roadblocks—differences of opinion, varying expectations, egos to deflate, etc. etc—will help team members to realize the growing pains in forming a successful team. The pains will come. Recognize it. Get over it. Get on with the show.
Both lecturers underline the importance of creating common goals. Establishing ground rules is a MUST. Maintaining clear channels of communication where every team member is given the right to speak up and contribute--essential. Participation: KEY. Successful teams not only encourage team members to contribute, they are expected and are therefore rewarded by benefiting the unit as a whole.
Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses, individually and in a group setting, is fundamental to your own personal growth as first a student then later (hopefully) a mentor. It might have seemed silly to have to spent so much time thinking about my own personal skills and how to be a successful team member in a successful team setting, but in retrospect, I certainly learned a lot from this module. Classifying things, categorizing them and calling subjects out for what they are—these are all what Librarians do. Identifying that “Monster” as Ms. Irwin so eloquently pointed out is the first step towards progress: Point it out and put it to bed.
On to dreaming of more productive things.
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