Tony Karrer & Dave Lee over at the excellent Learning Circuits Blog (where I got my start in blogging) have started a “Big Question of the Month” series which sounds like a lot of fun.
The first question is whether all learning professionals should be blogging. I think the answer is clearly no. However, all learning professionals should be systematically reflecting, and blogging is a great way to do it.
On the other hand, it’s not the only way, nor does the reflection need to be public. You could keep a journal, or make a wiki, or record podcasts. The thing is to go through the effort to be explicitly reflective.
We know that explicitly capturing our thoughts adds some rigor that we can miss when we just think. And that reviewing our thinking regularly is a valuable act in terms of learning and improving. I just don’t think everyone has to be public and in the written form. I often create graphics to capture my understanding (I’ve got to figure out how to easily add images to my blog!).
I look forward to further questions, and the dialog that goes along with it.
Hey Clark:
Good to have you join in on the conversation. You and I are pretty much aligned on this. Building more reflective practice into just about anything we do will help our ability to learn how to do it better. A blog, as you point out, is a great tool for self-reflection. I just worry that mandated blogging for self-reflective purposes will undermine that intrinsic motivation that is important to journaling.
As to getting your personal graphics posted, give me call if you’d like. I’m sure I can help you with you self-image problem. [rimshot]
Dave