#1 Discovery and Lifelong Learning

Welcome to CTLS’s 23 Things program & blog. Chances are if you’ve found your way here you’re either:

a library staff member from one of our 79 CTLS member libraries who’s participating in the Learning 2.0 Challenge.

interested in learning about and playing around (yes, playing is allowed in libraries) with some new web 2.0 tools that will help you expand your information literacy toolbox.
- or -

are just interested in earning a cool USB MP3 player or a gift card to Best Buy!

In any case, we’re glad you’re here!!

The CTLS 23 Things Program is online learning program that encourages staff to learn more about emerging technologies on the web that are changing the way people, society and libraries access information and communicate with each other.

Over the course of the next 9 weeks, this website will highlight “23 Things” and discovery exercises to help staff become familiar with blogging, RSS news feeds, tagging, wikis, podcasting, online applications, and video and image hosting sites.

To familiarize yourself with this project, be sure to read the About page. The FAQs should answer most of your questions about this program. If not, then please add your question to the FAQ page as a comment.

Note: In week 2 (the 3rd exercise), I’ll have you guys “sign up” by creating a blog and emailing me the web address, so that I can track your comments and activities (you can sprint ahead to exercise 3 if you want, whatever works best for you). For this week, though, you can just do the 2 activities, save the paragraphs to post to your blog next week, and I will get you registered when thing 3 is complete.

Among libraries, lifelong learning is one of those core values we shelve our books by. So it makes sense that before we embark on this new online learning and discovery journey that we should take a few minutes to review a few habits that can assist in creating lifelong learners.

These habits, which we’ve called the Seven and 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, will provide you with a refresher on what it means to be a lifelong learner.

Discovery Exercise:

1. Make sure you have headphones or speakers attached to your computer.
2. Open up the 7 & 1/2 Habits online tutorial and view the online tutorial.
3. As you watch and listen, write down which habit among the 7 & 1/2 that is easiest for you and which is hardest. You will use your personal blog (which you will set up next week) to post your thoughts about lifelong learning.

Have fun! If you haven’t jumped on board yet, it’s never too late to become a lifelong learner.

———————————————————————————- Since this tutorial has become one of the most popular features of the 23 Things program, Lori Reed (the tutorial’s creator) has provided these additional links as follow-up:

• Learning Contract
• List of 7 1/2 Habits
• PowerPoint File