Seven and a Half Habits of Life-Long Learners

The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) Web 2.0 Blog described 7 1/2 habits of life-long learners. After reading their entry on life-long learning, it became apparent that it goes hand-in-hand with Web 2.0 technologies.

Web 2.0 is all about experimenting with new things, being an active participant in your learning, and sharing your knowledge with others. All of these aspects are reflected in the attitudes of a life-long learners. Below are the 7 1/2 habits as described by PLCMC:

1) Set goals for what you want to learn

2) Accept responsibility for your own learning

3) View problems as challenges

4) Have confidence in yourself as a competent effective learner

5) Create your own learning toolbox which includes books, technology, classes, mentors, web pages, and friends

6) Use technology to your advantage

7) Teach/mentor others

7.5) Play!!!

For me, the easiest of the habits is #7.5. I love to play around with new technologies and try new things!! I learn by doing and by trial/error. In my current job, I just finished participating in a pilot test of CONTENTdm. I discovered that I learned the software better when I "got my hands dirty" versus just reading the documentation.

The most difficult of the 7 1/2 Habits is setting goals for what I want to learn. For me, learning is a creative dynamic process and often learning one thing leads to another. I never really know what my end-goal is when I begin. As you can see from my learning contract above, even when I do set goals for myself, they are very general and open-ended!