Lifelong learning

Posted on March 28, 2007 by Melissa Worden

You can’t get ahead if you don’t keep learning. And a Knight Foundation study concludes that’s a source of frustration among journalists, reports Steve Safran, from Lost Remote.

“Only 30 percent of news outlets have increased their training budgets since 2002, and 97 percent of news execs say their new hires don’t have the training they need. And there’s this: ‘Lack of training is the top source of dissatisfaction among journalists, ahead of pay and chances for promotion.’ “

Howard Owens points out that you can’t wait for/depend on training; each journalist needs to initiate and develop his/her own career development:

“In this day and age, you need to be a person who is always learning and knows how to learn without teachers or guidance. Teachers and guidance are great, and I am happy to mentor people, but if you have to be able to do it on your own, too.”

Too true. It’s shows initiative, self-discipline and a greater understanding than just being able to regurgitate information.

Besides, technology is moving faster than you can even sign up for a course, sometimes. Perfect example: Adobe Flash CS3 Professional (link via Mindy McAdams).

Need some help with your self-learning? I recommend this online library by O’Reilly.

Comments

2 Responses to “Lifelong learning”

Brendan on March 29th, 2007 12:15 am

I also think it is important to justify training in budgetary terms (and for managers to also think of it in those terms, at times). For example, and I will stick to what I know - video editing in Final Cut Pro - a proper workflow, maintenance of our editing system, shortcuts, in sum, the type of things you’d learn in good (and likely high-priced) software training. It’s also the type of thing that if you deal with any volume of video would save you hours and hours of headache down the road, and the time saved would represent an important financial return to an employer.
Melissa Worden on March 29th, 2007 12:39 am

I agree Brendan. In my eyes, employer training budgets/programs demonstrate support and commitment to their product (and their employees as an added bonus).

And I completely understand where you’re coming from about the hours of headache. I’m experiencing this right now regarding my paper’s content management system.

(Lucas, stop reading now … ) But even though I so love to have an instructor sit with me and walk through a project, I have to confess that I comprehend and retain it best when I figure out how to do it on my own.

With that said, we don’t always have hours to spend getting those headaches. And when I’m first starting out on a project, depending on what it is, it’s extremely difficult for me to begin without a teacher.