#PKMChat 2017-02-22 Elaboration while Learning

Elaboration while Learning

Elaboration during learning is described as translating learning into our own words and linking to our existsing knowledge. This sounds very familiar for PKMers. We are aware of keeping a carefully selected set of words with well defined meaning. We keep track of our knowledge so linking to it should be super easy. Let’s chat on this topic is see how far we can go. Cf My FB Post The nice Shannon Tipton started a group reading of “Make it Stick” (I now cuz I subscribed her Learning Rebels newsletter http://learningrebels.us8.list-manage2.com/subscribe…). I’m a curious guy so I took a look at the book. https://books.google.fr/books… I was intrigued by this mention of “elaboration” as being the step toward a deeper learning. I quote the page 5: “if you practice elaboration, there’s no known limit to how much you can learn. Elaboration is the process of giving new material meaning by expressing it in your own words and connecting it with what you already know. The more you can explain about the way your new learning relates to your prior knowledge, the stronger your grasp of the new learning will be, and the more connections you create that will help you remember it later.” I remember we covered critical thinking and sense-making as practical tools to get deeper in the understanding of material. I personally like the idea of “knowledge weaving” as a prior step. It seems the authors are on the same foot as me. I’m trying to get more information on this. Send me any pointers you have. I think it could be a nice topic in our step by step deeper exploration of PKM. I liked also how the authors mentioned that retrieval should come with some effort. In other words if you make it too easy it’s less beneficial. Earlier the same day I spot a new app on Hacker News. I was intrigued that they insisted that filling the blanks (Cloze based retrieval practice) was more efficient if you actually type the words instead of choosing among 4 possible options. By connecting the two readings it makes more sense. Did I just elaborate? PKMChat being about Personal Knowledge Management encompass Knowledge lifecycle in general. Our first chat was about learning, acquiring Knowledge. Our second is about sharing it. Week after weeks we will switch from one end of the lifecycle to another while exploring all the channels that could be used: social, formal, writing, videos. Feel free to suggest topics by tweeting to @pkmchat.

TBC