5 ms·

Learning to Learn

104 points by jsonmez 14y ago

onedev 14y ago
I think this is spot on. I agree with many of the things in the article. Especially the part about setting quantifiable goals. Too many times I find myself not doing this and getting "lost" in the process of learning and then kinda giving up from being overwhelmed.
- q-base 14y ago
  I totally agree, but what really sets this apart is not only the quantifiable goals. The key, in my opinion, is to have a practical goal. If your goal is to learn C# and be able to write it fluently, then that is kind of quantifiable. But if you set out to learn C# to program a specific game/applikation etc. then in my opinion, you would learn much more along the way.
  - cmrx64 14y ago
    I attribute that more to having direction. Sometimes when learning things one simply meanders through a field, absorbing knowledge as they find it, and figuring out how to use it. When you have a concrete goal (I want X to happen), you can (usually!) figure out what you need to learn in order to make X happen.
hvass 14y ago
Despite the fact that this was filtered through HN seeing a stock picture of a key and then skimming quickly and seeing even more stock pictures turned me off from reading the article. I thought it'd be interesting to point out.
- _exec 14y ago
  Stock-pics aside, I think the content is mildly-interesting and a good starting point.
  - hermanhermitage 14y ago
    Agree, I like the article. It would be a pity if the stock0-pics put people off.
- mmcnickle 14y ago
  Hmm, I didn't even realise it, but that's exactly why I didn't read the article too.
- jsonmez 14y ago
  Interesting. I usually add images to post to help break up the text and make some mental connection between sections that I am talking about and a picture. So Q. Is the problem that the images are stock images? Or is the issue that there are images? Wouldn't just a bunch of text and no images make it much harder to get through the content? Not arguing one way or the other, just curious on thoughts on this.
  - crisnoble 14y ago
    IMO, if the images don't aid the text, they are unnecessary. If people are going to read an article that long, the pictures aren't going to help break up the content. For me they were a bit distracting and actually caused some weird line breaks (I actually stated thinking about creating a bookmarklet that would zap unwanted DOM elements with a click). Other examples of long blocks of text which people read include books, articles on http://alistapart.com http://alistapart.com (okay they have one but it is classy and fits with the site), and long comment threads on hacker news.
  - joshuacc 14y ago
    Not the gp, but I had the same reaction. It is a good idea to break up the text and use images to convey one's point. However, I found the quality of the images chosen quite poor. Just like there is an art to writing, there is also an art to choosing the correct imagery to accompany the text. Besides the poor technical quality, many of the images in the article are using visual cliches. Together, these problems subconsciously guide the reader into expecting a similarly low quality from the text. I'd suggest combing through the Creative Commons images on something like http://compfight.com/ http://compfight.com/ for things that are a bit more unusual and visually interesting. It's also worth pointing out that if you just can't find any good images to accompany your article, it may be better to just let the text speak for itself.
_exec 14y ago
Does anybody have any (other and more thorough) resources for 'learning how to learn'? Perhaps book suggestions? One of my goals is to become an autodictact / polymath and I'm seeking way to make the process of acquiring new data / skills / learning more time-efficient and more organized (and systematic). Are there any kind of 'learning theories/strategies' out there? I'm not seeking resources per se (I know about Khan academy, MIT OCW, 'bookportals' on Tor etc), but rather some sort of systematic method similar to the one described in the link but perhaps more detailed and (maybe) anecdote-/experience-based.
- xenophanes 14y ago
  Learn epistemology (the philosophy of learning). Most stuff in the field is bad (worse than useless). Start with this book: http://beginningofinfinity.com/ http://beginningofinfinity.com/ Karl Popper's books are good too. Epistemology is the long term route. No instant results, but useful for everything and very efficient in the long run. That's the best way if you plan to learn about many things to be a polymath. And for discussion of autodidact stuff, ask your questions on this email list: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/taking-children-seriously https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/taking-ch... I've already done this stuff. Feel free to email me curi@curi.us
  - stewbrew 14y ago
    Epistemology is rather about what "knowing" means. It's not a set of rules that tell you how to learn a language etc.
    - xenophanes 14y ago
      Epistemology explains how learning (aka creating knowledge) happens and what sorts of methods are capable of learning or not, and what sort are more or less effective at learning (aka at getting knowledge). This is useful to actually learning (anything) effectively. Note again that most work in the field is terrible, so it doesn't actually do this. But the stuff I recommended does.
practutor 14y ago
i think it was really great idea.. you can also check out this. Gaming as Learning or Learning as Gaming? Huh… http://hardik.practutor.com/index.php/gaming-learning-learning-gaming-huh/ http://hardik.practutor.com/index.php/gaming-learning-learni...
prisonguard 14y ago
arrived here expecting a heated debate on email obfuscation, thank you hn!
crisnoble 14y ago
What tools do you use to mindmap your learning plan when you decide to pick up a new topic? I have tried workflowy and trello, but something is missing.... I wish there was a dedicated app for creating your own syllabus or learning path.
- christiangenco 14y ago
  Markdown and a good text editor?
wonderzombie 14y ago
Apropos of learning new programming languages, part of the way I familiarize myself with new programming languages (or technologies, as applicable) is by maintaining a list of toy projects. These projects ought to be relatively well-defined. Big bonus points for being able to scale upward in complexity; some languages are more similar to others, and so it's less challenging to do basic stuff. Examples: IRC bot, todo app, text adventure, sudoku solver. Beware of getting stuck approaching these problems in the same ways as you did a previous language, though. :)

104 points by jsonmez 14y ago

I think this is spot on. I agree with many of the things in the article. Especially the part about setting quantifiable goals. Too many times I find myself not doing this and getting "lost" in the process of learning and then kinda giving up from being overwhelmed.

q-base 14y ago
I totally agree, but what really sets this apart is not only the quantifiable goals. The key, in my opinion, is to have a practical goal. If your goal is to learn C# and be able to write it fluently, then that is kind of quantifiable. But if you set out to learn C# to program a specific game/applikation etc. then in my opinion, you would learn much more along the way.
- cmrx64 14y ago
  I attribute that more to having direction. Sometimes when learning things one simply meanders through a field, absorbing knowledge as they find it, and figuring out how to use it. When you have a concrete goal (I want X to happen), you can (usually!) figure out what you need to learn in order to make X happen.

hvass 14y ago

Despite the fact that this was filtered through HN seeing a stock picture of a key and then skimming quickly and seeing even more stock pictures turned me off from reading the article. I thought it'd be interesting to point out.

_exec 14y ago
Stock-pics aside, I think the content is mildly-interesting and a good starting point.
- hermanhermitage 14y ago
  Agree, I like the article. It would be a pity if the stock0-pics put people off.
mmcnickle 14y ago
Hmm, I didn't even realise it, but that's exactly why I didn't read the article too.
jsonmez 14y ago
Interesting. I usually add images to post to help break up the text and make some mental connection between sections that I am talking about and a picture. So Q. Is the problem that the images are stock images? Or is the issue that there are images? Wouldn't just a bunch of text and no images make it much harder to get through the content? Not arguing one way or the other, just curious on thoughts on this.
- crisnoble 14y ago
  IMO, if the images don't aid the text, they are unnecessary. If people are going to read an article that long, the pictures aren't going to help break up the content. For me they were a bit distracting and actually caused some weird line breaks (I actually stated thinking about creating a bookmarklet that would zap unwanted DOM elements with a click). Other examples of long blocks of text which people read include books, articles on http://alistapart.com http://alistapart.com (okay they have one but it is classy and fits with the site), and long comment threads on hacker news.
- joshuacc 14y ago
  Not the gp, but I had the same reaction. It is a good idea to break up the text and use images to convey one's point. However, I found the quality of the images chosen quite poor. Just like there is an art to writing, there is also an art to choosing the correct imagery to accompany the text. Besides the poor technical quality, many of the images in the article are using visual cliches. Together, these problems subconsciously guide the reader into expecting a similarly low quality from the text. I'd suggest combing through the Creative Commons images on something like http://compfight.com/ http://compfight.com/ for things that are a bit more unusual and visually interesting. It's also worth pointing out that if you just can't find any good images to accompany your article, it may be better to just let the text speak for itself.

_exec 14y ago

Does anybody have any (other and more thorough) resources for 'learning how to learn'? Perhaps book suggestions? One of my goals is to become an autodictact / polymath and I'm seeking way to make the process of acquiring new data / skills / learning more time-efficient and more organized (and systematic). Are there any kind of 'learning theories/strategies' out there? I'm not seeking resources per se (I know about Khan academy, MIT OCW, 'bookportals' on Tor etc), but rather some sort of systematic method similar to the one described in the link but perhaps more detailed and (maybe) anecdote-/experience-based.

xenophanes 14y ago
Learn epistemology (the philosophy of learning). Most stuff in the field is bad (worse than useless). Start with this book: http://beginningofinfinity.com/ http://beginningofinfinity.com/ Karl Popper's books are good too. Epistemology is the long term route. No instant results, but useful for everything and very efficient in the long run. That's the best way if you plan to learn about many things to be a polymath. And for discussion of autodidact stuff, ask your questions on this email list: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/taking-children-seriously https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/taking-ch... I've already done this stuff. Feel free to email me curi@curi.us
- stewbrew 14y ago
  Epistemology is rather about what "knowing" means. It's not a set of rules that tell you how to learn a language etc.
  - xenophanes 14y ago
    Epistemology explains how learning (aka creating knowledge) happens and what sorts of methods are capable of learning or not, and what sort are more or less effective at learning (aka at getting knowledge). This is useful to actually learning (anything) effectively. Note again that most work in the field is terrible, so it doesn't actually do this. But the stuff I recommended does.

practutor 14y ago

i think it was really great idea.. you can also check out this. Gaming as Learning or Learning as Gaming? Huh… http://hardik.practutor.com/index.php/gaming-learning-learning-gaming-huh/ http://hardik.practutor.com/index.php/gaming-learning-learni...

prisonguard 14y ago

arrived here expecting a heated debate on email obfuscation, thank you hn!

crisnoble 14y ago

What tools do you use to mindmap your learning plan when you decide to pick up a new topic? I have tried workflowy and trello, but something is missing.... I wish there was a dedicated app for creating your own syllabus or learning path.

christiangenco 14y ago
Markdown and a good text editor?

wonderzombie 14y ago

Apropos of learning new programming languages, part of the way I familiarize myself with new programming languages (or technologies, as applicable) is by maintaining a list of toy projects. These projects ought to be relatively well-defined. Big bonus points for being able to scale upward in complexity; some languages are more similar to others, and so it's less challenging to do basic stuff. Examples: IRC bot, todo app, text adventure, sudoku solver. Beware of getting stuck approaching these problems in the same ways as you did a previous language, though. :)