The mission of Sno-Isle Libraries is to be a community doorway to reading, resources, and lifelong learning, and a center for people, ideas, and culture.
As we begin this journey of discovery it seems appropriate to examine the habits that are common to successful lifelong learners. Helene Blowers, who developed the original Learning 2.0 program for the Public Libraries of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County has created a tutorial to assist you in developing the habits you’ll need to be a successful lifelong learner.
The tutorial, 7&1/2 habits of highly successful lifelong learners gives details about each habit as well as mentioning a useful tool to help you reach your learning goal– the Learning Contract.
Here are the habits she mentions:
- Habit 1 Begin with the end in mind
- Habit 2 Accept responsibility for your own learning
- Habit 3 View problems as challenges
- Habit 4 Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
- Habit 5 Create your own learning toolbox
- Habit 6 Use technology to your advantage
- Habit 7 Teach and mentor others
- Habit 7.5 Play!!!!
If you’re interested in becoming a lifelong learner take a few moments to complete the following bonus exercise.
Try it Out!
Bonus Exercise
- This tutorial has an audio component. If you don’t have headphones or speakers attached to your computer, you can still read along with each slide.
- Open up the 7 & 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners tutorial.
- As you watch the tutorial, write down which habit of the 7&1/2 is easiest for you , and which is the hardest. Create a blog post about your thoughts on lifelong learning.
Important NOTE: The 7 &1/2 Habits tutorial is 14 minutes long. At the end of the tutorial Helene invited her staff to submit their comments and questions to the We Value Your Opinion! link. Please Do Not use that link. The link goes to the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County. Although PLCMC staff have shown tremendous generosity in sharing the Learning 2.0 program, they do not need to receive all our comments. Instead send your comments to yourself via email, and then copy and paste them into your blog.
Woo-hoo! I was 3 minutes into the tutorial when I thought “This is gonna be a LONG 14 minutes!” Then I discovered the button that allowed me to click ahead, and since I can read pretty fast, I got done in half the time. I learned that technology really IS my friend!
Try this too. It is a “life balance wheel”. I do this one every couple years or when I have significant changes in my life. I’m pretty sure I have the 7 habits. Balance helps me remember 7.5.
http://www.innernorth.com/lifebalancewheel.htm
I did this a couple weeks ago. One of my daughters did one for me too. She doesn’t think my life has the balance I thought I had. I think it’s pretty cool my teens seek ways to tell me they want to hang out with me more!
Btw, the above was not an endorsement for that particular website.
If you google “life balance wheel”, you’ll get all sorts of variations. This just happens to be one.
What a good reminder that I need to take time for myself and continue to learn. It’s too easy to get bogged down in all the day-to-day stuff that accumulates and sometimes threatens to overwhelm, and forget that there’s new things around every corner and to take advantage of them. Thanks.