Learning Management: Capture What You’ve Learned
In the last blog we looked through the steps you can take to create a learning plan. Now let’s look at what to do with the information you have learned, so it’s not forgotten.
So, you read a book, take a course, hear someone speak, and it stands out. You highlight the passage, dog ear the page, write down the sentence, hit the bookmark button. The information has been captured. Now what? Until there is an app that reminds you of these things exactly when you need to be reminded of them, (which I would love to have, by the way), that nugget of information becomes a needle in a haystack -forgotten and unused. How does that piece of information become alive; how does it make its way into application and enhance your repertoire of knowledge?
- Take that datum, the fact or figure out of the place you found it. If it’s in a book for example, write out all the key pieces you want to take. If it’s from a speech, write out the important points.
- Create one central place to capture all these nuggets of information. For me, I have a few Word Documents for each category: Tips and Techniques, What If…, New Words, and Quotes. If the book is a gem, it may get its own Word Doc. (I also keep a list of the books I’ve read in the year written in the corresponding agenda.)
- Each month on the first, or at least during the first week, I read through these documents. It always sparks new ideas and refocuses (or sometimes shifts) priorities. It’s like a mini refresher course
Like I said, I keep a running list of books I want to read, podcasts I want to listen to, or people to follow. These techniques help me keep track of the flow of information in, which can get daunting.
Next we’ll look at information in. How to manage all the various ways information flows to you, all those red indicators on your apps, and the constantly growing inbox.