Conquering the dumb feeling!!

I am presently doing a Co-operative education program and I have been assigned to work with the team that provides training and eLearning development. Great opportunity to learn what occurs in the real world….not only skill set but culture. I have working experience but in academia, not corporate.

When I came another Co-op was here already, he is a Computer Science major and has done a wonderful job of designing and developing the team’s website…..which I am expected to maintain. I only had a basic understanding of HTML, so training was provided by this awesome Co-op and he did a very good job.

So what’s up with the title of this post……? So he’s leaving (his term has ended…back to school time) and everyone is emphasizing make sure you know what to do when he leaves…..so being the Instructional Designer that I am….I arranged a meeting with him about 2 weeks ago and brainstormed with him all the possible types of things on the website that may need editing and how to go about doing them….he provided me with this information….this approach was good as things came up during the process where he had to provide me with links and references, and also get access to files etc.

Based on the emphasis on the fact that I need to know what to do…..I am scared that something may come up and I don’t know how to fix it. Attending a class on HTML does not really make you identify and trouble shoot problems easily, this comes with experience…..which I don’t have. So I am feeling dumb and afraid of what will happen when he leaves.

The same fear and anxiety that I am experiencing happens to a lot of learners, fear that after learning the material they may not be able to apply effectively; fear of not being able to learn……how do we deal with this? So I was discouraged and I went into my shell and crawled back out with the following:

• I will continue to read up on HTML and actually try to create my own site (I actually did one at school, but using Dreamweaver’s Design view…..I see where coding can help improve it)
• I will not be afraid of not knowing as it is human and I have made a concerted effort to acquire as much as I can.
• I will not attempt to be as great as this awesome Co-op in the capacity that he has performed as our skill sets are different. What I can do is use my skill set to make a valuable contribution in the capacity that I can.
• I will not be afraid to venture in a situation where learning new knowledge/skills is integral and in the process I may feel dumb……who cares everybody had to learn at some point.

( Ok …..I am working on the last part…..it’s hard…..I hate feeling dumb).

• Am I the only one who has felt like this?
• Am I being too sensitive?
• What else can I add to my “Crawl out of shell insight” list?

Please share!!