Task 3D. Critical Questions

with this task before i started commenting on other peoples blogs to do with the networking side of the modual i wanted to make sure i had fully answered the questions myself.

Do some very specific ideas emerge about your networking and sources.- After looking at all the types of networking there is out there and looking at my uses of it, I feel personally I am not using it to its full advantage, a lot of the networking I do is unplanned and just as something to do and to see what ore is out there. I feel I need to plan a more focused networking strategy where I actually set time aside to network in the variety of ways I have found I am neglecting.

Are your ideas shared by others within your professional area of work? – yes I think my ideas are shared as at the moment with my transition into teaching a lot of things are new for me so at the moment I feel I am more learning from my different networks than sharing, until I become comfortable enough within the field to share my own thoughts and ideas.

Does sharing ideas and communicating with others shift your thinking, planning or practice? – yes I feel it does shift the way I think as within this profession I understand that know one is right, what someone may think is a great way to do something someone else may disagree. Understanding and sharing all these different kinds of ideas I feel opens you up more to a wider scope of your profession offering you more knowledge on the subject you may not have thought about.

Does critical reflection help you decide what really matters and the actions to take? Critical reflection is a new tool to me that I feel I still have not come to grips with properly, it still does not come naturally to sit and critically reflect on something. However from the times that I have started to do it I can see the benefits and feel it is something that I need to adapt more into my lifestyle.

To what extent do concepts and theories assist you in thinking about your professional networking in different ways? – having read the course reader about the different concepts of networking it has made me look at it in a different way, because before I would just do it subconsciously knowing I was networking but not really actively doing it with a purpose. Now having read up on networking and the different ways of using it to your advantage it is now something I want to actively do and set time aside for to actually network with a purpose.

Are you left thinking differently prior to this part of the module? – yes I am left thinking differently after really looking at networking and what it can offer me, I feel it is an area within my profession that I have not really tapped into and it has many advantages I have been neglecting into improving my carrer. So from now on I intend to take a more active approach to networking to see what knowledge I can learn from it and what I can share with others.