Thing 19 - Reflection point - The tools at the top of my toolbox?

This task offers an opportunity to reflect on the personal outcomes of undertaking CPD 23 Things, and prompts reflection on how elements of the programme may have been incorporated into my work. I've become a more conscientious Twitter user, and thanks to Girl in the Moon I see I have some further work to do to make my use more effective. I'm really keen on Mendeley, but at the moment don't have to use it that much. I had great fun with Screencast-o-matic and would really love to develop my use of that more. I think Prezi will become a really useful tool for me too.

Perhaps most significantly is the blogging habit. I've had to blog as part of my secondment role with CILIP and CPD 23 Things has provided me with confidence in this aspect of work.

There are some elements of CPD23 Things which I really loved at the time, but which just don't seem to have been incorporated into my work. Evernote is a superb example of this. A wonderful tool, but it just hasn't seemed to make it's way to the top of the toolbox.

So what can I conclude from this?

• I'm a very lazy learner .... I'll only get to grips with what I absolutely need to, when I need to ... but I guess a lot of us are like this too.
• I'm very poor at seeing the links between tools. Girl in the Moon uses Evernote to capture a record of her tweets. What a great idea! I wouldn't have thought of that in the proverbial month of Sundays.
• I'm not a good explorer of tools ... Pinterest, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck etc .... all would probably be useful, but I haven't made time to check these out.
• I need an on-hand technology guru ... someone to question me in my lazy habits, show me the next wonderful tool (time-saving, ingenious, revolutionary, or just dam clever).
• That working in an organisation that restricts use of many new  tools, especially those where local software download is required, really does limit the professional horizons. Being on secondment is a wonderful escape from these shackles.

CPD 23 Things has provided me with a framework for trying out new tools. I will need to find new avenues, and schedule development time,  to ensure that I continue to investigate new applications and to think about new ways of using these tools.