Oli's learning blog: Sharing my learning experience

As I am very enthusiastic about sports, I recently wondered why certain moves took me so long till I learned them right.
A recent example is my golfing. When I started to play five years ago, a friend showed me some basic stuff and I tried to copy it. As he wasn't a professional or a good amateur I am sure that I didn't learn it the fastest and most effective way. Nevertheless I always was really energized when hitting a ball nicely and it flew for a while. This was reward enough for me to keep on going. I continuously improved and got rewarded again and again. After let's say some months on the driving range I started to wonder: Why can't I hit the ball always like this? How can I avoid my bad swings? I bought a book, a DVD, another book, got some lessons here and there... The never ending search for what I am doing wrong. I still improved but not consistently. I started to try and learn everything but everything is too much and I learned nothing thoroughly.
Finally (some months ago) I took a week of golf lessons and it helped me a lot as the pro was able to tell me the good parts of my swing and let me find out what I could do better. We circled it down to only two areas for improvement.

Learning new things by doing is not always the best approach but if this process is motivating and rewarding it could be a satisfying (most of the times ;-) ) activity.

In a professional environment this is a no go! Every time you do not use the right approach you are wasting your resources. And in a corporate environment this most probably will multiply into the organization and at the end cost lots of money.
Let us look at an example as well:
Let's assume you are learning a new programming language on your own as your boss is not willing to pay for a training. You are asked to program a computer application. After a while you get going, some of your experiences help you to move forward. The application finally is ready, it looks nice and it works. People are happy and send you their compliments. Then, not surprisingly, some identify the need for an enhancement or another feature which becomes business critical. You find out that in the way you programmed the application this new feature could not be integrated. You need to reprogram it, till that is accomplished all the work needs to be done manually for xxx customers, xxx partners, and/or xxx colleagues. They are upset that it takes so long till they get what they urgently need...

There will never be a too expensive investment in learning if you are sure that you need those skills to achieve your business objectives in time and quality.

I struggle to get under 90 in golf but who cares...

Last week during a presentation of Jay Cross I learned how soon computers will reach human brain power. On the one hand this scares me as I suddenly see "Matrix" and "Terminator" becoming reality but on the other hand this certainly offers a great amount of opportunity.

Only a couple of years ago I used to have an English/German dictionary close to my desk... I cannot imagine using it today. The translation is just two clicks away! If I need information I search in Google for almost everything... and I find it! The latest news are on the internet but a couple of months ago I started to use RSS feeds by installing a feedreader (Awasu) on my notebook. This really saves me time hooking up with news and blogs especially because more and more sites are offering these feeds. Another way to keep an eye on topics I am interested in are podcasts which I usually download to my iPod with iTunes. There is a lot out there and it is for free! Web 2.0 and the upcoming "versions" will definitely speed up our exchange and transfer of information!

With having technology which supports searching, retrieving news, and communication there is one thing I want to be: online all the time! The new smart-phones offer a lot already but expensive roaming charges are a pain point, especially in Europe.

I always liked it most to learn informal and pull the information from different sources. Whatever I am doing is steered by either my professional goals or my personal interests and not too much by someone else. I can choose which pieces to learn when. I like participating in conferences as a lot of interaction is going on and my personal network is strengthened. By the way the new contacts I then add to my online networking platforms (Xing and LinkedIn).

The disadvantage of formal learning e.g. in courses is that the pace of instruction should depend on the slowest learner, has a curriculum to cover, depends highly on the quality of the instructor, and needs to be scheduled. Of course many individuals need guidance and to be pushed.

Is there the right mix of formal and informal learning? Blended Learning is a good approach but I see this as a modern way of informal learning with some self-directed (pace and content) modules. How to support e.g. employees learning informal and still make sure they know what they need to know? Providing sources of information, Subject Matter Experts, coaches, communities and then to have a final test-out after a certain period? I like this idea but e.g. workers councils or data privacy regulations often do not support tests.

Isn't it amazing to see kids using technology? I always thought I am able to keep up with technology (learning to use a computer in 1992 at the age of 22) but I am not. The load of information is starting to stress me. Will I be able to get used to it or am I getting old?