Learner to Learnist in Education

I have started using Learnist recently.  Learnist is a social learning and networking site that allows boards to be created around different areas of interest.  Learnist is still in beta-version and is invite only. However, many uses of Learnist in schools have already been highlighted, from organising materials, to keeping students up-to-date, to engaging with experts in particular fields, etc.

So is Learnist pretty much the same thing as Pinterest?  Learnist is very similar to Pinterest, but its central focus is learning.   Despite its focus, I also find Learnist has distinct advantages over Pinterest.  When I initially started using Pinterest I had great enthusiasm for it and blogged on some of its potential uses.  However, after using Pinterest more regularly I expressed frustration with technical issues on it.  What is frustrating with Pinterest is that it is very difficult to pin a website on a board when there is no picture on that website, especially when many websites that do not align with Pinterest.  The websites either do not have a picture on their pages or the pictures that they have are not big enough for Pinterest.

What is useful about Learnist is that it lets you pin a website to a 'board' and then search for an image to go with that website, i.e. the picture and the website are not tied together.  The 'board' on Learnist looks more like a list so the layout is visually different from Pinterest where you can see multiple pins at once.  The website that you have linked to from Learnist can also be read on Learnist without having to open up a new page to go to that website.  You can also tag what you post on Learnist so that it will link with similar material that another user may have posted.  In this way you may discover new material on your area of interest.

You can also reposition your posts on Learnist once you have them pinned to a board (something that cannot be done on Pinterest).  For example, I have created a board 'Research - wikis' and posted a number of article links and their abstracts.  I then decided to re-order the articles by their year of publication.  I hope to add more article links and abstracts to this board over the coming weeks.  For these articles I used the front cover of the article as a picture and failing that, I used a picture of the article's author.  The latter type pictures look a lot nicer!

Finally, Learnist allows you to share your posts easily to other websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIN, Google+, etc.  Easy posting to other websites is great for people who have already invested significantly in Pinterest, as they can move pins easily from Learnist to Pinterest.

Like my initial reaction to Pinterest, I am optimistic to see how Learnist will develop.

How I Learn

I recently wrote a blogpost for Anseo A Mhúinteoir (Irish for Here teacher) that asked for contributors to explain how they learn.  Below I have included the blogpost.  Anseo A Mhúinteoir are still looking for contributors.  I would encourage everyone to try it whether you blog or not.  It is a useful exercise to think about how you learn and as a teacher to find out the different ways that others learn.  Anseo A Mhúinteoir have a great variety of contributions from different people all with different ways of learning.

Here is my take on answering the question: 

How do I learn?

It is a difficult question to answer as learning is open to such varied interpretation.   If I was to consider my learning based on the domains in Bloom's Taxonomy (Cognition, Psychomotor, and Affective) I feel that I draw on all three domains.  The domains I draw on most depend on what it is that I am learning.

I believe to really learn something I first need to want to learn it (affective).  The topic to be learned has to connect to some part of my life and if it does, I will happily invest time and value in it.  Secondly, once I am interested in the topic, I find the cognitive aspects can be a natural progression (understanding, applying, evaluating, etc.).  I like to find out as much about the topic as possible and do not enjoy being limited by traditional demarcations of a subject/discipline.  My learning is done through an iterative process of my own research and discussion with others.   Discussion with others is particularly valuable if they have the same or a greater level of interest as it can enhance my interest further (more affective).  Activities that bring in the psychomotor domain can also bring variation and thus some additional enjoyment to learning the topic, but I still think the value of psychomotor activities is lost if I do not have the opportunity to connect it with the theory (cognitive).

Below I have noted some examples that help my learning under the three domains of affective, cognitive and psychomotor.  Some of the examples of course can fall under more than one domain, but for ease of presentation I have placed them under one domain.

Affective Domain 

-Discussion: A simple discussion to find out what other people know about a topic or why they might be interested in that topic can aid my learning.  If I see that a peer is interested in a topic it is helpful for my interest if I understand their reasoning for such interest.  A recent example is seeing what people post on various social media such as Facebook, LinkedIN, Twitter and what they find valuable.

-Debate: A good debate is very helpful to my learning.  It encourages me to do my homework per se, so that I have sufficient evidence to support my arguments.  I retain such evidence as there is a context in which it becomes useful and that I can apply it to and evaluate it. The Twitter hashtag #edchatie has good debates every Monday night at 8:30 pm (GMT).

-Leisurely Reading: A good article, short story or book can open my mind to things I had not previously considered, but that I should. 

-Reflection: Everybody always seems to be in a rush with too much to do.  Immersion in the present can impede our perspective.  I find taking the time to reflect on things can be very insightful to the learning process.

Psychomotor Domain

-Experiments - Some people need to be constantly up and doing something.  I am quite happy to sit and ponder.  I enjoy being active, but I do not learn something by simply engaging the psychomotor domain.  I would want to go back to a desk and think about it, and make various notes for enhanced understanding and for future reference.

-Making models - I find making a model of something can be very helpful to understanding it while being physically engaged.  Models are particularly helpful for visualising a difficult concept.  Plus getting students to make models opens the door to ways of representing a phenomenon that you may never have thought of.  Hence, you gain and the students gain.

Cognitive Domain (Remembering, Understanding, Applying, Analysing, Evaluating, Creating)

-Questions, questions and more questions - how I get the answers can vary.  The instructor, journals, books, online searches, blogs, podcasts, videos, etc.  The response rate and depth of knowledge varies for each one.  An important aspect of my learning through questioning is that I am not afraid to ask them and to admit I do not know something.

-Blogging: Blogging is something I only started last year, but it has done great things for my learning.  There are so many cognitive functions I need to draw on to write a post of any substance.  Constructing blog posts also feeds back into my affective domain.

-Creating mindmaps - I find creating mindmaps extremely helpful to my learning.  It allows me to see a topic in terms of the bigger ideas and how they connect, and it also breaks things down into finer detail.  I used to find it very difficult to remember concepts, as they were presented as fragmented bits of information.  The bigger ideas were often missing.  Taking the time to connect the dots helped me make more sense of the material and in turn, make further connections.

When teaching it can be a great activity to ask students to develop mindmaps in groups, and to compare and differentiate the mindmaps across these groups.  Download mindmapping software FreeMind for free.

-Mnemonics - I find mnemonics are very helpful to learning things.  For example, I have always remembered the names of the planets from the mnemonic My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us New Potatoes.  Of course, the mnemonic is outdated now, but I still remember it.  Check out this Mnemonic Generator.

-Tests - Tests receive an awful lot of criticism.  I believe many tests could be much more beneficial if people's approach to the tests were based around learning as opposed to getting good grades.  I used to have a terrible approach to tests.  I would try swallow the information and not think it through.  I got sick of it though and decided to re-engage with my learning for the love of learning as opposed to the love of a good grade.  Funny how it worked though, as it gave me better grades than I used to ever get!