mission to learn
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Professionals not only keep track of to-do lists but also of to-learn lists. This new concept is explored in the Learning Circuits Blog and it might be an interesting question to explore whether to-learn lists could engage people into continuous learning. There are some of the learning-circuit questions that could serve as food for thought:
- If you have a to-learn list and are willing to share, and willing to share how you work with that list, that would likely be helpful information.
- As Knowledge Workers, work and learning are the same, so how does a to-learn list really differ from a to-do list? How are they different than undirected learning through work, blogging, conferences, etc.?
- Are to-learn lists really important to have?
- Should they be captured? If so how?
- How does a to-learn list impact something like a Learning Management System in a Workplace or Educational setting?
- What skills, practices, behaviours do modern knowledge workers need around to-learn lists?
After reviewing these questions I ask myself what kind of impact a to-learn list can have on staff development. Or maybe you can come up with other interesting and engaging ways that stimulate continuous learning in the organisation. Please do share it with us. A good way of brainstorming on these issues is to use a Top 100 list. You can use these technique in any of your training actvities independent on what subject matter you are dealing with. An outline on the Top 100-technique you will find on the following link: ” Tackle any issue with a list of 100 “. These kinds of list can be used for much more than general problem solving, it is a general-purpose personal development tool that can help increase your self-knowledge, motivate yourself, and much more.
For me to-learn and to-do list are really different things, even if I use the same tool to manage my to-do lists and my to-learn list. My to-learn list is actually a to-do list i called “various – interesting”, the differences being:
– the content: you won’t find inside things I really have to do, but things that I would like to investigate: either directly related to my job, maybe things that could be interested in the future , or just topics I’m interested in
– the fact I only consult it from time to time, when I consult my various to-do list daily because I use the to-do lists to organize my daily and weekly schedule
I think that they definitively should be captured because you can review it later and decide to download some articles or buy a book to go in depth into one or two subjects, something you can do in your spare-time. I’m not sure whether it really needs new skill, I personnaly used the to-learn list the same way I use a to-do, the only difference being that I will never put a dead-line on my to-learn list! 🙂 It could be interested for me if experts in the topics I’m interested in could share their to-learn, I would take into consideration in my self learning
Never heard of that concept yet, but an interesting one when I come to think of it. One of my pressing and constant issue is how to keep abreast of what’s going on since things are changing so fast! Learning lists could help me organising this search for knowledge. Will definitely try to materialise that idea in the coming weeks!
Florence Beraud – Learning Specialist
In case both of you want a handy free tool to support your to-learn list check out http://www.43things.com . It is build with the web2.0 philosophy and your personal learning goals can be immediately shared with connections and resources from other people.