Blogs and Learning Styles

People learn in many different ways. Some people learn by listening, some by reading, some by watching, some by doing and some by writing. Some take a top down, big picture approach and some start with details and work up to higher levels of abstraction.

Learning is essential to success in most endeavours these days, so efficient learning is an important skill.

Blogs are often seen as ways to publish information, but for many, blogs are actually a way to learn. Blogs capture thoughts which may not be fully worked out and coherent, but that's fine, if a blog is seen as a thinking tool, rather than the final say on a topic. It should also be remembered, that editing often eliminates useful ideas, and free flowing unedited blogs often leave useful ideas in the text.

I confess that for me, a blog is a thinking, rather than a publishing tool. It allows me to capture some thought and express it. Most thinking evolves, and both the thought and the expression of the thought can change. A blog creates a useful point in time record of some thought, which can later be reviewed and revised.

Now of course, a blog is a public tool, and really you could easily write thoughts privately. However, a blog has a useful role in encouraging complete and coherent entries, since somebody might actually read your blog, and complain if the text is completely rambling and incoherent!