Never Stop Learning

Setting up this website and finding out how to maximise my social media presence has been exciting new learning for me. As each new aspect falls into place and my understanding of how Facebook, Linkedin  and Twitter can interconnect grows, I am continually reminded how lucky I am to live in this time, where we have some many learning opportunities and  distance is no longer a barrier to learning.

Much of my initial degree was completed extramurally – in the days when we ‘wrote’ programmes on coding forms which were posted away to be run on the University’s mainframe (which really did take up a whole room), and questions about our study material meant mailing a special request and waiting for the answer in the post.

In contrast to my recent study, which is based on downloaded material, skype tutorials with lecturers and chatting with other students on Blackboard forums.  We could live on Stewart Island and complete qualifications from one of the Auckland universities.  The opportunities all of this opens for any of us, at any stage in our lives and careers to learn, retrain, develop our careers and just plain satisfy our curiosity, are limitless.  Looking into the world of MOOCs is my next project (google this if you haven’t heard of them).

So what does this all mean for our careers and for our children’s careers?  We hear the predictions that our children will have multiple career changes in their lives.  Many of their parents already have and are continuing to specialise, change occupation or go into business on their own, transferring their skills and experience into new fields.  Maybe it’s a little scary not knowing what the future will look like, but personally I think the scope to continue to add to our knowledge, grow our skills and our contacts, to build our personal career resilience and make the most of our work is truly exciting.