Learning Conversations

Writing down what I am thinking about is one of the most valuable ways to crystallise my thoughts and reflect on my learning.

Writing it down on a public blog allows me to get feedback which then feeds into further thinking and reflection.

Personally, I'd be quite lost without my blog now. It's been part of my life for over seven years.

Whilst doing some research for a school I'm supporting informally, I've come across some great resources to help organisations and individuals get started out on incorporating blogging (or learning journals - if that sounds better) into their thinking and learning processes.

The key one is 64 interesting ideas for class blog posts, which was a collaborative project organised by Tom Barrett via Twitter. It's a Google Doc containing great ideas to kick start your blogging habit. Although it's aimed at the school classroom, there's no reason some of the ideas can't translate into corporate learning, or Further and Higher Education.

Of course, blogs don't have to be written down. They could be presented as photos, audio, video or even animation. The main thing is that there has to be some thinking activity taking place to analyse, collate, organise, reflect, evaluate or synthesise. Without some or all of that, all you're doing is just acting as a conduit for other people's thinking, and not learning anything yourself.