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Infinite Learning: Professional Learning Experiences

Curiosity, Growth, and the Ongoing Journey of Learning

In this sub-module, we’ll explore how librarians grow through professional learning experiences (PLEs). These might include attending conferences, participating in MOOCs, viewing TED Talks, engaging in webinars, or learning informally through conversations and content online. Each of these moments builds upon the next—helping us shape a personal, evolving framework for our professional practice.

This kind of learning reflects a constructivist approach—where understanding is built over time through experience, reflection, and engagement. It’s self-directed, often spontaneous, and deeply impactful.

Back in the early 2000s, when I worked in public library training, I used this quote as my email signature. It still resonates:

“We are born to learn, but somewhere along the way many of us pick up the idea that we must be taught in order to learn. We think that if someone doesn’t stand up in front of us and talk to us with either a chalkboard or PowerPoint slides, we cannot learn.

We must regain our sense of wonder and our desire to learn.”

— Roy Tennant, Strategies for Keeping Current, Library Journal, 9/15/2003, p.28

We’ll also take a look at models like Learning 2.0, 23 Mobile Things, and the #hyperlib MOOC—initiatives that embody this spirit of lifelong, accessible, and meaningful learning. As you work through this module, reflect on how your own PLEs have shaped who you are—and who you are becoming—as an information professional.

Lecture Recording

Things to Read

Things to View

23 Things

Things to Explore

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