Idle hands are one thing, but what about an idle mind?
As human beings, we thirst for knowledge. Heck, it’s the message behind the opening dialogue over top of every Star Trek opening – ever. We want to know more. We need to know more. How we do that is up to each of us…well, once you’re out of school.
Continuing on in school and taking courses (like night classes) is one way to do it. You can even take many classes online now (they’re the new “correspondence” courses). Those aside, you can learn from books that you buy or borrow. The content on the web – like blogs – can educate as well. And while learning on the job is likely the most common (and most cost-effective) way to learn in the present day, you may not necessarily be learning what you’d like to.
So, how do you learn? How do you like to learn? What’s your favorite way to learn new things and advance your knowledge in others? Let us know in the comments.
how do you learn, how do we learn, how do people learn, how does one learn, How do you learn?
I’m learning graphic design from books and blogs. I’m also going to a drawing and painting class.
And taking little work to gain experience.
That’s the way I do it =)
I learn by doing. I’m not pushing these products, but some books from Adobe Classroom in a Book series and some Visual Studio books have a boatload of screenshots, commentary to describe what’s going on and you’re walking through the steps on the screen as they’re described. Reading and doing, with the visual reinforcement and the immediate feedback, is my favorite.
I learn by searching detailed tutorials about a technique I want to master. Then I try to understand and reproduce each step…
And I also learn by reading articles on stuff interesting me using Netvibes and RSS feeds.
Learn by doing. Learn by making mistakes.
A problem with just watching tutorials or reading books is it’s all theory and no practice. You’ll remember something when you do it yourself and make a mistake.
I like reading blogs. It’s how I learned a bunch of stuff related to web. But when I started my own blogs, that’s when the real learning started. It was like going from high school (reading blogs) to college (running my own). So I agree with Darren on this one.
i learn by subscribing to sites that have specific software tutorials. i open the tutorials on my laptop and then i follow along on my other computer with the same software. i really learn quicker that way and it sticks in my head longer when im actually doing it.