Introduction

Welcome to my world.

General Comments

This web site is an attempt to demonstrate one possible way that an individual might use the Web to chronicle their Learning activities during an entire year. This is the third year that I have maintained such a site, each year making modifications as I became more familiar with the features I was trying to implement.

At the outset I would like to make a few delimiting comments. We are all unique individuals with very personal life histories. We each have our own personality, with its idiosyncratic likes and dislikes, preferences and styles. We all have a mind, embedded within a body and this body is in turn embedded within a physical and cultural environment, all of which are in a continual state of flux. To be alive means to embrace change. There is no alternative. However we are also all thinking creatures and as such we should be able to choose among competing alternatives - indeed we are doing this every moment of every day.

This web site is intended to show one way that one might use current technology to facilitate and improve Learning. There are many ways to Learn, many of which are heavily dependent upon the nature of the topic, the physical resources available (which may include access to the files and people on the Web), as well as on the personal life history of the individual. The approach I have taken should have some applicability to almost everyone interested in Learning more about something. I am assuming that one has regular access to the Web, but even where this may not be the case, the basic idea of keeping some form of record of what one has done should be possible. Indeed, at the most essential level, the record is a change in one's mental makeup. Other records, such as those on paper or some other medium (art, music, crafts, technology) are also traces of what was in the minds of those creating the artifact.

There is nothing particularly profound, or difficult, in what I am suggesting. I have taken two familiar paper-and-pencil activities (keeping a daily diary and keeping a notebook for each subject that one is trying to Learn more about) and combined them into one web-based activity. The underlying idea behind all of these activities is that of feedback. By creating the artifact, one has a product that one can refer to again to see how well one is progressing, where one is having difficulties, and by implication, what one might try next.

Learning is both a very private and personal activity as well as a highly social activity. One of the very best strategies while Learning is to be able to discuss the topic with other kindred spirits. My personal preference is for a cup of coffee, or wine, with one or two others. Often this can be done in a small group setting where everyone is present but sometimes this is not possible and one may wish to try more virtual possibilities such as telephones/cellphones.This maintains the important advantage of facilitating interactivity, which, once again, is a form of feedback environment.

The Internet provides additional potential for sharing information and interactivity, be it with email, discussion boards, chat rooms, voip (voice over internet protocol - essentially a telephone using different technology), video (e.g. youtube) or Web sites. All have a place when one is considering alternatives for facilitating personal Learning. The approach that I am using uses the Web as a form of personal diary/notebook. The web site then contains a record which I can regularly review and which helps me establish priorities and timelines. I primarily create the Web site for my personal benefit. However I can also share it with others who also have Web access. I have been doing this for the past few years with a small group of friends and professional colleagues.

I have begun creating a new web site that contains all of my notes for one of the topics that I have been actively engaged in during the last six months - model trains. There is a large group of people who share this hobby and by making this new web site available to them (by providing the URL on a few discussion boards) I may elicite some feedback and suggestions on how I might proceed in the future. As an aside, by having these notes already in one form I am able to recombine them to serve a purpose that was not envisaged at the time they were first created.

In general, I see the overall approach that I have taken to have some applicability for almost anyone who is engaged in Learning. For example,

it could include students engaged in school activities. Each subject would have its own web-based notebook which could be shared with others taking the same course as well as with the teacher,
it could include students at college or university, particularly those taking online courses.
it could include instructors who want to share what they are doing with others in a similar situation
it could include researchers who want to share their activities with colleagues while they are in process
it could include anyone interested in a particular hobby
it could include any "life-long" learner (such as senior citizens) who wishes to share their activities with others in a similar situation.

Specific Comments

Each morning I try to make a new journal page. This is one of the first things I do in the morning, after I put the coffee on. Essentially this is a form of time management. I simply open the web page for the previous day and save it with the name of the new date. I then review the page and make the appropriate modifications. I have a table near the top of the page that contains all of the items that I either hope to accomplish that day or that lists items that I don't want to forget and that I hope to attend to in the near future.

That may be all that I do as far as the day's entry goes.

If, at any time during the day, I decide to actively engage in a Learning activity that involves some form on note making, I then add a special "feather" table to the journal page. I also save a copy of this table in a monthly web page for this topic's notes. I came across the idea of the feather while reading an Australian magazine called "Dumbo feather, pass it on". How can one resist buying a magazine with a title like that? The feather helps draw attention to the fact that this table is a set of notes, rather than a journal entry.

I have four Learning topics that have their own web sites. These web sites are independent of this web site.

Mathematics
Books
Model Trains
Bird Watching

The note taking itself uses a two-color format. If the background is light green, then the content is the actual notes. If the background is light brown, then that is a personal reflection/comment on the notes. This allows me to separate the content from my views on the content or my views on how the Learning is progressing, or my views on what I should do next.

I also update a monthly Time Table page that allow me to monitor my progress.