5 ms·

How Learning Works: Components, Systems, Loops

75 points by goopthink 5y ago

qumpis 5y ago
Is there a book on this topic?
- ivansavz 5y ago
  Not exactly using the same terminology as the blog post, but the book Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Ericsson and Pool has a lot of details about the importance of deliberate practice and getting into "tight" learning loops. See https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544456238/Peak https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544456238/Peak and book summary here https://www.samuelthomasdavies.com/book-summaries/psychology/peak/ https://www.samuelthomasdavies.com/book-summaries/psychology...
- roznoshchik 5y ago
  I think there are at least 3 that I know of. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44770129-ultralearning https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44770129-ultralearning https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567610.How_to_Read_a_Book https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567610.How_to_Read_a_Boo... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34507927-how-to-take-smart-notes?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=g5nsau0TDs&rank=1 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34507927-how-to-take-sma...
asplake 5y ago
My only quibble with this excellent article is on the self-reinforcing nature of learning loops. Organisation learning has a spotty track record. Without the right goals, support, and attention, it so often runs out of energy.
- goopthink 5y ago
  Author here! I didn’t even think about it from an organizational learning perspective - this was written with individual learning in mind. I run a product team and this is a challenge we have as well - I think that requires a balance between building processes, ownership, and visibility efforts that keep organizational learning growing. All together that creates a culture - it’s not the processes themselves, but shared enforcement and encouragement that keeps organizational learning going. Ben Horowitz’a book “What you do is who you are” is good on that as well. Worth a deeper dive :)
  - solarmist 5y ago
    I don’t think it’s limited to organizational learning. Goals and planning are vital as well. In the article, it's lumped into mentoring and coaching. Still, as a primarily self-taught learner/builder of teaching tools, this is often the most challenging part of effective learning and the most valuable part of mentoring/coaching. Knowing or finding a way to learn what to spend time on or not arguably makes a more significant difference than all the other pieces together. Because if you're learning the wrong things, or sometimes just in the wrong order, you'll never achieve the results you desire. This is exactly what makes research difficult. There is no way to know what is the next best step.
mitchbob 5y ago
Archived: https://archive.ph/zRjWa https://archive.ph/zRjWa
altrum 5y ago
Was just thinking about this deeply, so I’m glad I ran into this! On that note, any particular ideas on note taking as part of this learning process? Is it even necessary or is it suboptimal? Is there really something as effective note taking? Is it highly specific to an individual?

75 points by goopthink 5y ago

qumpis 5y ago

Is there a book on this topic?

ivansavz 5y ago
Not exactly using the same terminology as the blog post, but the book Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Ericsson and Pool has a lot of details about the importance of deliberate practice and getting into "tight" learning loops. See https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544456238/Peak https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544456238/Peak and book summary here https://www.samuelthomasdavies.com/book-summaries/psychology/peak/ https://www.samuelthomasdavies.com/book-summaries/psychology...
roznoshchik 5y ago
I think there are at least 3 that I know of. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44770129-ultralearning https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44770129-ultralearning https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567610.How_to_Read_a_Book https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567610.How_to_Read_a_Boo... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34507927-how-to-take-smart-notes?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=g5nsau0TDs&rank=1 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34507927-how-to-take-sma...

asplake 5y ago

My only quibble with this excellent article is on the self-reinforcing nature of learning loops. Organisation learning has a spotty track record. Without the right goals, support, and attention, it so often runs out of energy.

goopthink 5y ago
Author here! I didn’t even think about it from an organizational learning perspective - this was written with individual learning in mind. I run a product team and this is a challenge we have as well - I think that requires a balance between building processes, ownership, and visibility efforts that keep organizational learning growing. All together that creates a culture - it’s not the processes themselves, but shared enforcement and encouragement that keeps organizational learning going. Ben Horowitz’a book “What you do is who you are” is good on that as well. Worth a deeper dive :)
- solarmist 5y ago
  I don’t think it’s limited to organizational learning. Goals and planning are vital as well. In the article, it's lumped into mentoring and coaching. Still, as a primarily self-taught learner/builder of teaching tools, this is often the most challenging part of effective learning and the most valuable part of mentoring/coaching. Knowing or finding a way to learn what to spend time on or not arguably makes a more significant difference than all the other pieces together. Because if you're learning the wrong things, or sometimes just in the wrong order, you'll never achieve the results you desire. This is exactly what makes research difficult. There is no way to know what is the next best step.

mitchbob 5y ago

Archived: https://archive.ph/zRjWa https://archive.ph/zRjWa

altrum 5y ago

Was just thinking about this deeply, so I’m glad I ran into this! On that note, any particular ideas on note taking as part of this learning process? Is it even necessary or is it suboptimal? Is there really something as effective note taking? Is it highly specific to an individual?