This is a big part of the reason students are given homework. It really shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody.
Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better
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Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better
#62I've tried to create a tech blog for a long time. But because I'm quite OCD about my writing, it took ages to create a post. In the end, writing became such a chore that I stopped altogether.
I’ve had similar issues and recently made a big step forward by doing one thing: I publish my posts but don’t list them and block search engines from scraping /posts via robots.txt. It’s not a safe way to hide content by any means, but is just enough to stop myself from worrying about what others still think about my writing. I can still share links with individuals if I want. I have been trying to get myself to writ…
I don’t really worry about it. Consider so many people spend a lot of resources and strategies to SEO optimize, our hobbyist blogs are probably showing up in the 20th page of some random search.
Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better
#63Don’t write about it; use it. The real world application of a new skill fleshes out your understanding in a way that is less vulnerable to your own blind spots, is absorbed at a pre-lingual level (closer to your bare metal), and might actually produce something of value along the way.
using it is the first step. explaining it to others the next, and finally to really understand, writing about it so others understand it really embeds the knowledge.
This is why written cultures in engineering organisations are so powerful, especially if you disseminate the responsibility of writing.
Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better
#64I remember an old PhD comics strip where a professor says “Remember kids, the only difference between fooling around and science is writing it down.”. In the context the goal was obviously for it to be funny but it is actually a very good and wise advice.
The only difference between fooling around and science is p < 0.05 ?
Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better
#65I've tried to create a tech blog for a long time. But because I'm quite OCD about my writing, it took ages to create a post. In the end, writing became such a chore that I stopped altogether.
I have the same problem, but I also have a suggestion: write down the stuff just for yourself. Like personal notes. Don’t think about publishing it anywhere. For me, this works really well for learning purposes. Although I would also like to publish some stuff, some day, maybe…
This was the solution that worked for me. I started writing things on Notion or Apple Notes because it’s just always at hand. I also started to use Microsoft To Do to constantly write down random ideas for things to experiment after I read a post about training our minds to constantly come up with new ideas to experiment with MVPs.
Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better
#66Completely agree. I wanted to learn Python, so I decided to write a book about it. In the end I published it and now I have two achievements: knowing python and having written a book.
I would have never learned so many things up to this depth, if I didn't have to teach them.
Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better
#67Don’t write about it; use it. The real world application of a new skill fleshes out your understanding in a way that is less vulnerable to your own blind spots, is absorbed at a pre-lingual level (closer to your bare metal), and might actually produce something of value along the way.
using it is the first step. explaining it to others the next, and finally to really understand, writing about it so others understand it really embeds the knowledge. This is why written cultures in engineering organisations are so powerful, especially if you disseminate the responsibility of writing.
I guess I’d say “using it” should be steps 1, 2, and 3. Explaining it and writing about it are generous ways to share your understanding, but in my mind that’s a different goal.
Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better
#68I remember an old PhD comics strip where a professor says “Remember kids, the only difference between fooling around and science is writing it down.”. In the context the goal was obviously for it to be funny but it is actually a very good and wise advice.
Wow, that's actually deeper than it sounds. I do wonder though: did a lot of famous scientists (like Einstein, Feynman, Turing, etc) use writing as a vehicle for learning?
Absolutely! (also see the article) https://www.colorado.edu/artssciences-advising/resource-libr...
Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better
#69I remember an old PhD comics strip where a professor says “Remember kids, the only difference between fooling around and science is writing it down.”. In the context the goal was obviously for it to be funny but it is actually a very good and wise advice.
Not sure which came first or if it’s an even older saying, but Mythbusters said the same thing. https://youtu.be/BSUMBBFjxrY
Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better
#70True, but at what cost?
^ this. It may be true that if you write about something, you will understand it better. Sounds logical, you spend more time with a topic, likely it won't confuse you or make you forget it. But is it also true, that this is efficient? Maybe if you don't write about it, instead just reread it, you can understand it even better , in less time?
I think it's because of how memory works so it's like asking "okay but what if I had a different brain" I wish. Retrieving what you learn is the best way I know to remember what you're learning, so writing about it would help. Unless everything I was told is wrong?