Google+
As I become more comfortable with new learning tools, my personal learning environment keeps morphing. Recently, I incorporated Google Reader and Google+ more predominately into my learning scheme. While it may not necessarily look like it, I am also rethinking how I am using this blog as a learning tool. I thought I would share with you my current personal learning workflow. This work flow has been shaped by recent books I have read; primarily, Google+ for Business. I recently wrote a book review on it.
Some things have not changed. Each day, I receive 10 Paper.li “newspapers” where I have an opportunity to review posts (normally Twitter feeds) on a number of different topics. If something catches my eye, I will read it and save it to my Diigo account, if appropriate. I use these saved sites as a fodder for the Geeks and Speaks newsletter I send out at the end of each month. Here are the newsletters I currently subscribe to:
- The Moodle Educator Daily
- The instructional-design Daily
- The Graham Attwell Daily
- The #mlearning Daily
- The UW CES Ed Tech Daily
- The Cody Daily
- Educational Innovator Daily
- The Top Tech Influencers Daily
- Larry’s Training Daily
I also use Flipboard, an iPad application, to review my Twitter streams. However, I have not been as active reviewing my search queries in Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. My review of search queries seems to vary based on time available. Again, finds that I believe to be useful make it to my Diigo account. Additionally, based on the advice of Brogan, the author of Google+ for Business, I am posting more to Google+. Google+ is a nice balance between Facebook, Twitter, and this blog. Google+ seems more mature in the posts it provides. I can post more than Twitter, still share things I find interesting, but not have to write a full blog post.
The most significant addition to my personal learning workflow is the addition of Google Reader. I have made a more concerted effort to subscribe to blogs and news focusing on my interests. Using some of Brogan’s advice, I have started to explore and follow new blogs. This is an interesting experiment because I need to find a balance between the quantity and quality of information. I have found some streams of information to be too overwhelming and I have had to unsubscribe. Overall, I am pleased with what I have been finding.
Tapping into all this information can be exhausting if you do not have a plan of attack. I typically review my information streams twice a day; again, great advice from Brogan. Usually, I review my feeds when I get to work or first thing in the morning. I also review them in the evening while I am watching TV. During each of these periods, I save what I find important to Diigo, and share a subset to Google+ with my comments. I also update a monthly blog post with articles that provided me with new insight on a topic or simply caused me to pause. My first post collecting these types of articles can be found here.
I have been happy with this approach so far… unless I get out of routine, then I tend to get backed up. Once it is habitual, it will be easier going. How are you feeding your thirst for information?
