Comments on: Learning Overload: How Do You Cope?

By: Paul Lewis

Paul Lewis — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 17:37:17 +0000

When you mentioned CSS — you hit the nail on the head (pardon the pun). I can fix almost anything around here that’s mechanical, from a simple faucet to a complicated control device for multiple-room thermostats yet I cannot embed fonts nor really have any idea how to make them appear in any sort of standard format when utilizing Microsoft FrontPage (I know, everyone reading this is probably giggling and saying “why didn’t he learn how to write HTML… it’s sooo easy” I’m so old, my mind’s still clogged with Fortran, COBOL and the likes). For me, the learning curve appears to be a direct function of how much I enjoy the task I must learn. Photoshop was a snap, because I really enjoy the graphic arts. So was, to a lesser extent, Digimarc’s ProTools LE, an audio recording and mixing program that’s so complex the Berklee College of Music offers a really expensive E-course in it, for credit, successful completion of which earns one college credits and a certificate that comes in handy in the Broadcast and Recording industries. Amy, for your purposes (record high-Q audio for podcasts): 1. go to a music store and find a simple book that covers setup of a computer-based recording studio; 2. buy a copy of SoundForge from Sony — it really is the best vis-a-vis support, online and accompanying tutorials and support — and go to town! (ProTools is far, far too complex and very, very expensive… if you have an Audigy SoundBlaster card with a Mic input and a digital and a firewire input, SoundForge is all you need to create really professional tracks, timed well for your projects, and then convert them into any compressed format you need!

Back to Info overload… The best tool you ever gave to me is FURL — and I’ve started a blog. A bit of sage wisdom came to me from a very wise man who embraced computers at age 60 and is now in his eighties. He told me that some things just stick out and pique his interest, and the rest of it really isn’t that important anyway… I dig that idea! Letting go of every little thing and NOT being a know-it-all is the most important part of it for me. I trust in my grey matter to dig up the stuff I’ve been exposed to that I fear that I’ve forgotten — but then, there I am at a cocktail party, business meeting, strategy session for something stupid like a community task force; OUT IT COMES (more often than not; nobody’s perfect). But I believe the more we trust in ourselves, AND, remain confident in ourselves — we’re successful in hanging on to the things we think we’re forgetting but really aren’t. And finally, I was delighted by the young lady who realized that she needn’t learn the entirety of Photoshop. These days, I find, if one purchases software THAT sophisticated, if you THINK it can do “it,” it CAN… just use “help” and figure it out!

By: Teaching and Developing Online.

Teaching and Developing Online. — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 16:29:47 +0000

Can you say burnout…
This entry struck a cord with me…it is so difficult to stay ahead of the tech world… Contentious � Learning Overload: How Do You Cope?…

By: Kathy Katella

Kathy Katella — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 13:39:02 +0000

I’ve decided there is too much, and we have to pick and choose what we want to learn very carefully. I suddenly realize Good topic. I’ve been grappling with Photoshop for a few years now (taking classes, reading the Dummies book) and I still feel inferior when I open it up. But it’s like that toy doll bottle I had when I was a kid that constantly refills itself. I’m slowly realizing that I don’t have to master Photoshop in its entirety, I can just learn the parts of that are useful to me. That seems to be a hard thing to do though. You spend all that money on it, and you feel you you learn the whole thing.

By: Michael Leahy

Michael Leahy — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 09:12:26 +0000

I think a lot of people that kind of grew up with the birth of the Internet and new media recognise this. One of the reasons is that we simply HAD to learn a lot of new things, as you simply had to get that modem to work or CSS to show properly. And it’s 11pm.

However, I recently helped a colleague polish a movie script and discovered to my horror that being a guru is nice. But some skills cannot be faked or compiled. You have to have them in your fingers. Yep, it takes lots of detailed work and understanding to knock a story into shape. Having successfully attacked a wide range of writing, this was a humbling experience.

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 22 Dec 2004 06:47:50 +0000

I hear you exactly. It seems that lately I’ve confused buying a book about a subject with actual knowledge gained about that subject. On my bookshelf right now, I have TCP/IP for Dummies, Designing Visual Language, and a book about VBA. If only I had the time, I think, I’d read these books, or at least open them once!

By: yet another f*$#&@! learning experience

yet another f*$#&@! learning experience — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 23:04:21 +0000

Learning Overload: How Do You Cope?
Amy also has a fascinating bit on coping with information overload.

I think a lot of people are enamored with the learning objects model she describes as her ideal learning experience. Short, modular, skills-based training can be quite relevant in …

By: mahalie

mahalie — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 17:49:26 +0000

You’ve struck a chord with me on this one! My list is long, and some topics have been on it for a quite a while. Fortuately I’m much more the “wizard” type, though a singular source of well delivered information online would be a great boon, I have not felt that my challenge lies in where to get the information - but when. Your post is a good reminder, and a suggestion I’d offer others is, to make a learning goal list, prioritize it, and then schedule learning sessions in your calendar regardless of whether they are self-guided or not. Go ahead and schedule in some “resource location” sessions in the beginning while you’re at it!