How do you learn?
I've found learning some things are easier than others. (If I want to learn it I'll work harder). I find it easier to "learn by doing". Meaning actually doing something in the context of a real-world application.
How do you learn? A - Reading books B - Listening to audio C - Learn by doing D - Video courses E - Live workshops
Feel free to drop a letter and if you want a quick comment why. Thanks.
I think it all boils down to the subject but as a general rule of thumb for things that have real world application. This is my breakdown:
A - 15%, B - 15%, C - 50%, D- 20%, E - 0%.
I see value in E but not my preferred way of learning. Also wish A was a bigger percentage but its easier to squeeze in audio and video courses throughout my day.
Thank you for sharing this information. Would you change your mind about live workshops if it included an element of learn by doing? (C)?
@pradipcloud for me personally, it would really depend on the subject and the value that the live workshop is adding. Any reputable guest speakers or the person giving the workshop could make me strongly consider it as well. I see value in E, over the other forms, for general network building.
I'm learning web development and I formulated a study method of going over each section three times:
- 1.) D > C (watch the screencast and code along, break things, see what works & what doesn't)
- 2.) A > C (read the lecture notes after watching screencast & do the exercises/ challenges provided)
- 3.) Write notes by hand (yeah old skool pen & paper baby)
3 makes it especially slow, but I've found that writing by hand helps me retain information better.
As for other things I want to learn that aren't career-related, it's more casual. I might just read their book, or watch their video, maybe type some bullet-points on Roam.
Depends on the context.
Currently learning Swift and most of it is C and A (blog posts + tutorials instead of books).
Applying what you are learning makes you understand how it fits together and gets absorbed faster.
D is good too, worked well for courses you need to follow step by step, i.e. drawing courses, but it also involves C a lot. Although, courses on Coursera, edX, etc are really hard to follow and learn for some reason, maybe due to lack of C element.
B has never worked for me, I get distracted quite fast.
At the moment I take the following approach - try to find as many resources as needed (50+ open tabs the same time), make as many notes linked to the topic in Obsidian as possible, and make examples of how it would be used in my project, and implement it in parallel.
The bonus of making notes is that it's always at hand, and you can update it if the tech gets out of date.
Re books for learning - some topics are out of date quite quickly. Most tech books on specific tech and version. My first tech book was on PHP3, and in a few years, I realised it was out of date, so the book is basically a waste of resource in this case. I only buy books if the book would be relevant in more than 10 years i.e. refactoring, clean code, chemistry etc
Thank you for sharing Oleg. I like the idea of Learn by doing. It really helps if the video course is geared towards achieving something by doing instead of "just" watching.
My learning style is a mix of listening and doing. I like breaking things down and seeing exactly how they tick but also listening to the experiences of others in the hope I can come to some sort of balanced opinion on something.
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