I prefer to gather most of my information either from books and other printed material or from personal stories I hear from other people. These two things form the foundation of my knowledge, or like the raw materials that go into idea creation.
I’ve always loved the physical nature of books and the experience you get from actually holding words in your hands. Somehow, it helps me learn better. I can make more connections and interact with the ideas more readily than I can with a laptop and a PDF. I don’t know why, but that’s my personal learning experience.
I also believe strongly in the power of stories—everything has a past, present future—even facts and ideas. The individual experience of people also has a specific weight and applicability in my eyes. Sure it may have happened to someone else, but I try to build on other people’s experiences.
Before I can actually use any of the information I gather from books and stories, I have to spend a good deal of time processing it. Most of my processing happens on my daily walks to and from campus. It takes about half an hour each way, and there’s just something about walking that helps me make connections between ideas and begin to come up with my own thoughts on different topics. Showers are also good for processing information in a pinch, especially when papers are due in the morning.
The top represents the final product of learning—actually putting the knowledge to use. It doesn’t mean much to me if the things I learn just stay up in my head and don’t make it out into the world. Through peer tutoring, writing papers, journaling, or even sharing things on Facebook, the act of producing something with the knowledge I’ve gained is fundamental to my learning process.
