Thing 23

A Reflection of Hope by ecotist on Flickr
(made available under the Creative
 Commons Licence)

My "6 word story" to sum up how I feel about the CPD23 programme now that I have reached the last "Thing" is as follows;

Nervous, Challenging, Altered Self-perception,  New Horizons 

General Reflection

In terms of the "Things" that I have undertaken during this course I feel that I now have several new software "friends" including Evernote, Prezi, and Google Calendar, which I use on a daily basis. My professional networking is getting better especially in the use of the online resources that I have been introduced to during CDP23. I even feel that I am now less nervous about blogging than when I started on "Thing 1" all those weeks ago.

Mind the gaps!

I am not sure that I can see the relevance of creating something as formal as a Personal Development Plan (PDP) for managing my career development at the moment. However I have identified  the following gaps that I would like to address:

1. I would like to have the opportunity to develop my social working skills since I feel that this is an area that is underdevelopment generally within my workplace.
2. I also have my annual review coming  up at work and plan to ask about attending more conferences / external meetings in order to give my personal profile a boost, although I don't feel confident enough the present at them, well not just yet anyway.

Cap on books by MomMaven on Flickr (made
 available under the Creative Commons licence)

So what next?

It's back to studying for me.I have deceived to embark on a Masters Research degree next year. (I am so committed that last week I even did a 10 hour round-trip by train to attend Aberystwyth University's postgraduate open day.

I feel that this is the right time to undertake a new course of study as opportunities to develop my career seem to be a bit limited at the moment especially with the number of job being cut both within my own organisation as well as in the library sector generally.