Passion-Based Learning

… and Relearning.

“Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.” - Mark Twain

Photo courtesy of WisDoc

What did you learn when you went to school? What usually happens to us when we go there?

Here’s what:

We get placed within a restrictive learning environment, one in which we get told what, when and how to learn. If you’re lucky enough to be living in a free democratic country, then at least you grow up getting taught democratized knowledge.

Democratized knowledge is the curriculum approved by the state to be taught in public schools.

In a democracy, the resulting curriculum is much more representative of the peoples’ wishes for what constitutes “truth.” (This doesn’t mean everyone ends up happy with it of course. In some parts of the United States for example, the debate on whether to teach evolution or creationism is still raging.)

On the other hand, in non-democratic countries, “truth” is what the unelected guy sitting on the throne wishes it to be. Sometimes when it’s really bad, you can’t even call the process education anymore. Indoctrination would be a better word actually.

I know this might be starting to sound like a political article but it isn’t. It’s about the independent pursuit of knowledge as we simultaneously unlearn and relearn things along the way.

Passive Like Empty Vessels

Too often around the world, students get treated like passive recipients, something which must be changed.

Thing is, whatever we learned in school as kids isn’t necessarily “knowledge” because it isn’t necessarily “true”. Moreover, we’re not given enough freedom of thought and choice to reach our own conclusions.

Thanks to the internet, things are changing.

Self-Initiative and Independent Pursuit

The internet has opened up the gates to a world of infinite knowledge where anyone can read about anything and everything. It’s not a biased state-designed curriculum. It’s open, it’s diverse and it’s free.

Leverage it.

One should independently pursue the journey for what he or she considers to be the “truth.” Ultimately, it’s about questioning, thinking and stimulating one’s own mind.

It’s about unlearning and relearning.

“The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue.” - Antisthenes

I’ve unlearned a number of things growing up. That includes my wrong perception of “others” and stuff related to religion.

What have you unlearned growing up?

Thanks to the internet, learning through self-education has never ever been easier in the whole history of mankind. Today, vastly infinite amounts of information, valuable content and knowledgeable networks of people are merely a few clicks away.

I know some might be skeptical about the possibility of becoming a self-taught expert. To them I say, yes. It is absolutely possible except if you plan on becoming a doctor or something similar. Heck, did you even know that four out of the top 10 richest men in the world today are drop outs? And they still made it to the top without formal education. Furthermore you don’t require a crazy amount of time to learn what you want. In fact, you can easily make time.

• Further reading: How to Make the Time for Your Personal Goals

Okay now, so let’s get started with the 7 steps.

1- Passion

I cannot stress enough the huge importance of passion. This is why I constantly mention it. Passion is the fuel and the energy. You can dream up ideas and desire endlessly to become someone smart in a specific field but that’s not enough. Without action, dreams and ideas are simply that - dreams and ideas. Without action, they will never become reality and without passion, there can hardly be enough action.

• Further reading: The Undeniably Massive Importance of Passion

2- Curiosity

Passion is the drive that pushes you to action. Question is, towards what are you going to channel it? This is where curiosity comes in. Curiosity lets you channel your passion and drive towards finding answers for the things that make you curious. Inevitably these very things are what you then become passionate about.

We’re all curious to one extent or another. It is passion however that leads us to get up and act upon the curiosity in order to understand the things we desire to understand.

Seth Godin has a great video in which he talks about the importance of having a curious mind. Be sure to watch it.

Courtesy of lijojohnson

3- Identification

Curiosity is great and is a very fundamental foundation but it’s one that results in a large surface area of potential interests. Too often, the topics we are curious about are too broad for us to become an expert in easily. This is why it’s necessary to zoom in and identify specific and more focused things to learn.

4- Immersion

This is the fun part. Here you finally begin to satisfy your curiosity and start quenching the thirst for what you seek. Drown yourself in knowledge. Pile it into your head with big shovels.

Stuff to Read

Personally, I like drowning myself in relevant blog communities. I explain the process of doing that in the 3rd step of this post:

• 7 Easy, Powerful Steps to Create a Personal Learning Environment

If you want a list of blogs (besides this one of course) to help you become a better learner have a look at:

• The Ultimate List of 50 Kick-Ass Blogs To Boost Your Learning Experience

Of course, you don’t just have to stick to blogs. You can read mainstream websites and even Wikipedia.

Stuff to Hear

By that I mean podcasts and audiobooks obviously.

• Further reading: The Power of Audiobooks: Improve Your Learning Productivity Today

Stuff to Watch

If I’m tired of reading and not in the mood for hearing stuff, I usually turn towards video. I love watching educational videos that make me question, think and ultimately learn. My favorite two websites offering that are:

TED: TED began in 1984 as a conference devoted to the converging fields of technology, entertainment and design. Over the years, the scope has broadened. But the formula remains the same: Gather the world’s leading thinkers and doers; offer them four days of rapid-fire stimulation. The result? Unexpected connections. Extraordinary insights. Powerful inspiration. (source)

TED is super amazing. Check out what bloggers said after TED2008.

BigThink: This is a digital age, one in which a wealth of accessible information empowers you, the citizen-consumer. But where is the information coming from? How accurate and unprocessed is it, really? Ask yourself this: how empowered do you feel debating a television screen or a newspaper?

Our task is to move the discussion away from talking heads and talking points, and give it back to you. That is Big Think’s mission. (source)

You’ll surely find some good stuff at TED and BigThink.

If you’re looking for something practical that shows you “How-To” type of content, this, right here is a great list of where you can find such videos. On a related note, CookShow has decent amateur cooking videos.

5- Re-Immersion

Re-Immersion is doing the same things explained in the previous step Immersion but with a twist. Instead you choose sources and people who are discussing the same topic you’re learning but provide an opposite view differing from that expressed in content you drowned yourself in previously.

This way you learn about the different view points available and become more familiar with the topic’s gray areas, areas which don’t have a clear answer or agreed upon definitions.

• Further reading: Learning Through Disagreement

6- Digestion

After immersion, give yourself time to digest what you consumed. This is important. Ferocious consumption can burn you out. You need time to rest and relax in order to prepare for the next closely related step.

7- Self-Reflection

Self-relfection is the capacity to engage in deep introspection in order to examine one’s own thoughts and feelings. It’s like conducting a mental audit. The conscience process helps in problem solving and ultimately contributes to achieving personal goals.

Conclusion

Becoming a self-taught expert is possible. Want more related stuff?

New York Times best-selling author Tim Ferriss also has some amazing tips and ideas on how to become an expert:

1. Join 2 or 3 related trade organizations
2. Read 3 top selling books on your topic
3. Give one free 3 hour seminar at the closest well-known university
4. Give 2 free seminars at branches of two well-known big companies such as AT&T or IBM
5. Offer to write 1 or 2 articles for trade organizations
6. Join a service that journalists use to find experts to quote for articles

And there you have it. Taraaa!

Passion-Based Learning is not my first blog. There are “predecessors”.

You see, my affair with this mighty creature we call the blogosphere began about two years ago. So far, it has been the most valuable educational experience I have ever had. If one word can describe it, it would be immense.

• Immense learning.
• Immense passion.
• Immense discussions.
• Immense discoveries.
• Immense fun.

There is so much I can talk about but I’m going to try and sum it up in seven points, seven enormously beneficial things blogging did for me.

The 7 Great Benefits, Exposed

1. Reduced Fear of Sharing My Words With Others:

I’ve always liked writing stuff and saving them aside somewhere whether on scribbled notes or in a digital format. Thing is, I thought of them as something private, only meant for my own eyes. After all, it’s not like I was writing an essay for a school assignment or something of that sort. This was a different kind of writing, one which is more personal and straight from the heart.

“Dry” writing isn’t very interesting but one crafted with passion, openness and enthusiasm resonates strongly with readers. Sharing that kind of writing was a huge challenge at the start. I was not comfortable putting myself “out there”. It felt too personal to share and therein was the contradiction.

The blogosphere is primarily about social interactions and personal connections, and if you don’t infuse your personality into your writing then it won’t be captivating. Forming relationships involves social interactions first, a process which in itself requires the person to open up and become more personal as time progresses.

After a while I realized I was only hurting myself with being afraid and so little by little the fear vanished. Today, I’m at ease and more than happy to share my words with everyone. At the end of the day, those words are mine, they came from me, they are me and I chose to throw away the curtains.

Further reading:

• How to Overcome Fear - Overcome Fear By Not Overcoming Fear

…

2. Helped Me Find My Voice:

Blogging allows you to “archive” your brain and then go back and see how it evolved. More importantly though, through debates and non-stop discussions, it helps you find your voice.

Having stances and believing in something is pretty much just like having a voice. It provides you with a foundation on which you can build your arguments and opinions. Of course that doesn’t mean being rigid, because with time as you learn more and gain deeper insights into the topics you’re busily exploring, your “voice” evolves.

3. Improved My Writing Skills:

By the time I began blogging, my English was already good. In fact, I scored a surprising ‘A’ for my high school English O’Levels exam. My writing however was very mediocre.

Writing is not just about grammar and a rich vocabulary. It’s about expression and that’s what I sucked at. I had the ideas but I just couldn’t seem to put them into proper expressive words. Getting that perfect blend was never easy. It was hardly the way I wanted it to be - poetic and philosophical.

Blogging did wonders. Thanks to it, I’ve written something almost everyday for a continuous period of two years. I actually wrote the equivalent of a one thousand pages book. Yaay!

Unlike in school where you write because you’re forced to write, when you blog you feel the need to write better because you’re doing something that is self-directed. You’re sharing ideas and you realize that if they’re not well written, they won’t be well understood. It is precisely this reason that creates such a strong incentive to improve expressiveness and writing skills.

4. Allowed Me to Discover More Specific Interests:

Before stumbling upon the blogosphere, I had a good idea about what my interests and passions were but blogging allowed me to fit the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle much more intricately and tightly.

The discovery of specific interests has been super cool because my researches are now essentially two inches wide and one mile deep. Best of all, they’re heavily interrelated and overlapping.

5. Helped Me Become Very Internet-Savvy:

This one is certainly a nice benefit. I often struggle with friends to explain to them topics like what RSS is, how it works and how they can use it. I know how difficult it can be for newbies to get it. I used to be one.

Blogging changed that. I’m very internet-savvy now and I would never dream of being at this level if I didn’t start blogging.

It can be hard to grasp how those “technical thingies” on the internet mash and work together especially if there is no strong incentive. But again, many of us blog because we have opinions to share and that in itself creates a solid incentive for us to understand the technicality of the internet and how the available tools can make blogging a better experience.

Before I knew it, I was already using tools that enriched my blogging and boosted my learning productivity. I didn’t even know that what I did actually had a name. Apparently, I formed something called a personal learning environment.

I didn’t bother about what it’s called. I just loved the fact that I wasn’t internet, or more specifically Web 2.0 illiterate anymore.

Further reading:

• 7 Easy, Powerful Steps to Create a Personal Learning Environment
• The Ultimate List of 50 Kick-Ass Blogs To Boost Your Learning Experience

…

6. Sent Me to International Conferences:

This one was totally unexpected but through blogging I managed to form great personal relationships with many other bloggers. Little did I know that some folks far away were observing us and our discussions. Who knew? They thought some of us would make suitable guests at their conferences and so the invitations arrived. Next thing I know, I’m traveling the world, attending international conferences and meeting super great people.

Oh and the expenses? Fully paid for.

An added benefit is that you don’t have to just go for the conference itself and leave immediately after it finishes. You can ask the organizers to change your flight bookings so that before the conference begins or after it ends, you can visit friends staying in the same country where the conference is held and chill with them for a whole week or even three.

That’s what I did when I went for a conference in the United States last year. I had a lovely time meeting family and friends.

(In case you’re wondering, all pictures are courtesy of Mike Licht, NotionsCapital)

7. Handed Me Career Opportunities:

Number 7 is the ultimate inevitable benefit (besides personal development of course).

• My improved writing skills meant better cover letters and written communication.
• Being internet-savvy meant I had more to bring to the table.
• Attending international conferences meant a more impressive background.

Keep in mind that at the time of writing this, I am still in my final semester of university but thanks to blogging I have already managed to attract career opportunities, and not just any kind, no, I’m talking about ones I can be very excited and deeply passionate about.

What has blogging done for you?

If you liked this post, please Stumble it, or consider subscribing to my RSS feed, I’d heartily appreciate it. :)

I’m a huge blog junkie and truth be told, I spend a minimum of 10 hours a week feeding my ferocious appetite. In doing so, I have gone through hundreds of blogs related to the simple philosophy of “passion-based learning”.

The following categorized list contains the cream of the crop. Go through them and check out those that are relevant to your needs. Then add the ones you like in your RSS feed and enjoy!

If you think I missed out important blogs, please don’t hesitate to add them in the comments section.

Creative Tips and Ideas for Better Learning and Wonderful Brain Orgasms…

Courtesy of Brian U

Personal Development and Lifestyle Blogs:

The following bloggers write about anything from meditation and learning tips to productivity and the art of concentration. Their blogs contain great stuff you can apply in your own personal life to boost your learning experience and knowledge acquisition skills.

1. Lifehack: They’re big and they’ve got some really excellent content that you should have a look at. Find them tagged under “learn“.

2. Lifehacker: They’re big too and pack quality content into their posts tagged under “Education” and “Back To School“. Useful stuff you can apply even if you’re not a student anymore.

3. Zen Habits: Leo’s posts under “Productivity & Organization” and “Simplicity” are a must if you’re feeling overwhelmed and unproductive. Include them in your arsenal and defeat your bad habits!

4. Write To Done: This is Leo’s second blog focused solely on writing, a process through which we can enhance our thinking and the things we learn considerably. They say if you can’t put it in words, then you haven’t thought about it enough.

5. The 4-Hour Work Week: Tim Ferriss needs no introduction. He’s the creator and king of the revolutionary Lifestyle Design genre and his posts under “Low-Information Diet and Selective Ignorance” are a no-miss. Don’t just read them. Aim to live them!

6. Scott H Young: His posts are long and consistent in quality. They’re certainly priceless. You’ll find a lot of articles to help you improve your learning skills and become a better sponge in his archive.

7. Life Optimizer: Donald churns out some really great posts focused on “learning” and “knowledge management“. Definitely worth checking out.

8. Steve Pavlina: Steve blogs one of the most popular, if not, the most popular blog in the personal development niche. His blog posts under “Passion” and “Motivation” are very relevant. They’ll get that fire burning and your butt moving.

9. Self-Made Scholar: It’s an amazing blog promoting the undeniable and massive value of self-education. Lots of great stuff in there.

10. Weird Guy: Eric Brown in his own words is “ardent about “fun in learning””. He has over a hundred lovely posts categorized under “learning“. Head over!

11. Pick The Brain: It’s a collaborative blog on personal development topics. Check out the value-packed posts under “Education“.

12. The Chief Happiness Officer: Alexander’s blog is a lot of fun to read and contains great practical content aimed at nurturing happiness and being happy at work.

13. Joyful Jubilant Learning: It’s a real gem and with numerous contributing authors, it delivers diverse valuable views about the art and process of learning.

14. Homeschool Journey: Cheryl homeschools her two daughters ages 8 and 10. Her blog is amusing to read and has lots of great tips you (and your kids, if you have any) can benefit from.

15. ThinkSimpleNow: Tina’s self-improvement blog radiates with positive energy. Part of being a good learner is having the ability to communicate well. Her posts under “Communication” will be of value.

16. Pursue the Passion: They are a group of recent college grads who in their own words believe “that everyone should be passionate about their profession.” The blog is a collection of great interviews they’ve done with people who are pursuing their dreams and the careers they’re passionate about.

17. Productivity501: Mark’s blog has some pretty good stuff worth your time tagged under “Education“.

18. Steve Olson: His stories are amusing and eye-opening. Check out his posts tagged under “Education“.

19. Academic Productivity: Besides general thoughts on improving academic performance and knowledge acquisition, Jose, Shane and Dario also have tips on “writing“.

20. Ben Casnocha: Ben’s blog is a thought-provoking read that brings about some great ideas. Check his stuff under “school/education” out.

21. Gearfire: Regardless of whether you’re a student or not, you’ll find their tips and ideas useful. In Geoff’s and Jordan’s own words “Gearfire deals with personal productivity, organization, and Getting Things done”.

22. Life 2.0: Nick’s blog is a unique one discussing a wide range of topics related to self-realization. He shares great ideas in his posts tagged “learning“.

23. Mike King: Mike writes a “A productivity blog for self learning career, leadership and life improvement tips.” His posts under “learn” are good reads.

24. Cultivate Greatness: Travis writes about personal development, leadership training and life hacks. Lovely posts under “education” and “strategic thinking“.

25. Tupelo Kenyon: Tupelo’s blog is unique, and as amusing as it is uplifting. It’s a combination of great content and good music. His “passion” posts are wonderful.

26. Evolving Times: Edwards blogs with real passion. Have a look at his “productivity” and “comfort zone” posts.

27. Study Hack: Cal’s blog doesn’t fit the category well but nonetheless, it’s a superb one with great instructional value to help students score straight A’s.

28. Think Positive Blog: Kirsten writes with passion. She has a category dedicated to helping you improve your “communication” skills, something good to have in order to become a better learner.

29. Passion Meets Purpose: Kammie’s blog is a pleasant and enjoyable read.

30. Talent Development Resources: Lots of useful content aimed at “nurturing talent“.

31. Getting Things Done in Academia: Mike provides “Advice for graduate students on creativity, scholarship, communication, and time management”.

32. Steven Aitchison: Check out Steven’s “learning” posts.

33. Getting Things Done: Here’s one last productivity blog for you.

Courtesy of piotr zurek

Edu-Blogs:

These are blogs by professional educators - high school teachers, university lecturers and individuals researching the field of institutionalized education - who are at the forefront of the new revolution taking place in education (and learning in general). They seek to fuse new media into the teaching process to create richer, fun learning experiences for learners.

34. Weblogg-ed: Will Richardson is the author of the recently released Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. He’s at the top of his blogging niche.

35. Blog of Proximal Development: Konrad is a PhD candidate whose “thesis focuses on the use of blogging communities in education.” His passion radiates so strongly, it’s a real pleasure reading his words.

36. Derek’s Blog: It’s about his “Musings on the use and impact of technology in education, and of the future of education in general.”. Lots of great ideas there.

37. The Thinking Stick: Jeff is an educator who in his own words is a “Technology Specialist working to embed technology and 21st Century Literacy Skills in the classroom”. The most relevant category he writes under is “21st Century Learning“.

38. Michele Martin: Michele isn’t really involved in the edu-field. She’s actually a consultant who is using social media, such as blogs, wikis and social networks, for learning and professional and organizational development. Hers is a wonderful blog written with enthusiasm.

39. 2¢ Worth: David’s blog is focused on exploring teaching and learning in the information landscape. His ideas are ones I enjoy reading.

Librarian Blogs:

As we learn, we acquire more materials that keep accumulating. Storing it in a useful manner that is easily accessible for future reference becomes increasingly important. Imagine the headache you’d go through if librarians didn’t exist. They make the world a better place. Gotta give them some love for putting those books where they belong and keeping them organized. But these guys blog about more than that. Their observations on how traditional knowledge organization is getting turned upside down thanks to the internet are insightful.

40. Web Junction: It’s the collaborative blog discussing everything libraries. Good read.

41. David Lee King: David’s ideas and musings about libraries are enjoyable reads.

42. Information Wants to Be Free: Meredith explores how social media is heavily influencing the organization of knowledge in libraries.

43. Annoyed Librarian: Yup, another blog about libraries and knowledge organization.

44. The Shifted Librarian: Jenny clearly enjoys writing about libraries and how they’re evolving.

45. Joho the Blog: The famous David Weinberger isn’t really a librarian but his dinosaur blog (started in 2001) often discusses the topic of knowledge (dis)organization and is very thought-provoking. Great stuff under “taxonomy“, “folksonomy” and “Everything Is Miscellaneous“.

Knowledge Management Blogs

Knowledge Management is a discipline that “comprises a range of practices used by organizations to identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge.”

It’s about creating an environment in which communication takes place effectively and knowledge sharing is actively practiced. Moreover it also deals with the technologies that can facilitate the aforementioned and creating a culture which values learning. Part of KM is something called Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) and it has great things to offer which you can use to boost your learning experience.

46. Green Chameleon: Patrick is an entrepreneur and a successful knowledge management consultant. His blog is one I greatly enjoy. It’s certainly a favorite. Check out his posts under “knowledge sharing” and “culture“.

47. Knowledge Jolt: Jack also blogs about “knowledge management“. His posts are wonderful and can be easily understood by a person with no background in KM.

48. Portals and KM: Bill covers new trends in technology and shares his thoughts on KM.

49. Chris Collison: Chris blogs about building knowledgeable organizations.

And last but not least…

50. The TED blog: This list will not fulfill its purpose without the TED blog. If you’re not familiar with TED, you might wanna pack your bags and return from Mars.

There’s nothing like a TED talk when you’re seeking some mind stimulation. They can give you the ultimate brain orgasms! Oh yeah!

Courtesy of Paparutzi

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Self-education is the ultimate form of personal-development because at its essence, personal development is about the intake of information that has the power to positively alter your behavior and way of thinking.

The best part about self-education is that you are in control.

• You pick the topic.
• You choose your own pace of learning.
• You set your own goals.
• You take a break when you want to.
• You structure sessions the way you like.

You! It’s about you.

Photo courtesy of BohPhoto

A personal learning environment (PLE) is a system of free web-based services that helps learners manage and take control of their own learning. It includes support for managing content and communicating with others learning the same thing you are. A PLE can put the process of self-education on steroids. It makes it fun and increases productivity.

One important thing to keep in mind is that PLE’s are not e-learning systems. E-learning systems are neither controlled nor managed by you. They are instruments teachers use to exercise their control over you and decide what and how you should learn.

Big difference!

The following are 7 steps you can implement to create your own informal and personal learning environment for FREE.

1. Base Your Effort on Passion

Creating and maintaining a PLE takes some decent effort so don’t do it just for the sake of doing it. Base the effort on passion and aim to learn something you have passion for. Or at least, if you’re not passionate about the topic but for some reason need to gain knowledge in it then relate it to something you are passionate about. The following is a simplified example.

Let’s say you’re passionate about psychology but for some reason you’re obliged to learn about finance, a topic you don’t like. You can approach learning finance in this manner:

Psychology > psychology in marketing > planning marketing budgets > finance

You get the idea. Passion is important.

2. Pick Your Topic

Lately you’ve been having some questions on your mind and you’re wondering about some ideas so you decide to do a little exploring. Where do you go? Normally, I head to Wikipedia. It’s not the best or most accurate encyclopedia but it’s good enough if you just want to get the basic gist of a certain topic. Plus, the options of articles available are vast.

Look around, delve deeper and pick your topic.

3. Find a Blog-Community

After you’ve picked a topic, the next step is to find people more knowledgeable about it than you are and then socialize with them. Blog-communities provide the perfect context for this activity.

Blogs are a highly social medium. Interaction and knowledge exchange take place in blog communities with great ease. They also get bonus points since our understanding of knowledge is socially constructed.

The question now is how can you find a blog community discussing the topic you’re interested in? Well, here’s how:

Technorati: Type in the word of the topic you want, for example “learning”, “history”, “atheism”, “education” or whatever you want and you’ll get a list of recent blog posts tagged with those words. Explore and find a few good blogs focused on your topic.

From there, it should be easy. Look at their blogrolls and visit the blogs listed there, then again, look at the blogrolls of those blogs and do the same thing. Eventually, depending on the popularity of the topic, and the specificity you want, you’re bound to discover anywhere from 30 blogs to even hundreds.

SocialRank: SocialRank is a service still in its infancy (and one I’ve worked on). The algorithm (called SocialRank) monitors the activity and social interactions taking place real-time within numerous blog communities and serves you the top 15 blog posts receiving most attention. Each niche site also comes with a community page listing many blogs on a particular topic. Use the service and find the like-minded bloggers you’re looking for.

Photo courtesy of Charles Chan

4. Launch Your Own Blog

This step is crucial. Your blog is the center of your personal learning environment. It’s the backbone! Starting a blog enables you to record your thoughts and “archive” your brain overtime. You can even go back and see how your perspectives evolved. It provides context for what you learn and actually helps you learn more about yourself. More importantly, you’ll need a blog if you wish to socialize with others in a blog-community effectively (which will be discussed in the next step). Two free blogging services you may sign up on are:

Blogger: It’s owned by Google and it’s very easy to use (especially if you’re still new to blogging). Commenting and the low flexibility are annoying though.

Wordpress: Great flexibility and more features.

Personally, I recommend Wordpress.

5. Socialize Within a Blog-Community

Alright so now you have your blog and you’ve identified the like-minded blog community you seek. Start socializing and mingling! The rules of The Real World pretty much apply online. Remember why you’re there in the first place - to learn. Have an open-mind and don’t be afraid to ask questions if you’re unsure of something.

Be Yourself

Just be yourself. Most will be happy to help you. Of course don’t just flood the place with questions. Participate, contribute and become part of the community. Before you know it, you’ll be shocked by the amount of information and new things you learned.

Subscribe to RSS Feeds of Your Favorite Blogs

The majority of bloggers blog about a certain topic because it interests them and they enjoy it. In doing so, they go through a lot of information, process it and then filter it according to their perspectives. Therefore, their blogs are essentially information filters.

At one point you might find yourself reading too many of them. Increase your productivity by keeping track of them through their RSS feeds. Pick your favorites and filter the filters!

Share Your Opinions

Write your opinions on your own blog too, link to other bloggers’ posts and comment on them. Add to the conversation.

6. Leverage the Power of Social-Bookmarking

You need to realize that there are many people out there who share your interests and spend a lot of time online looking for the same things you’re looking for. Leverage their effort. Social-Bookmarking applications are amazing tools that incredibly boost search productivity. Personally, I use:

• Del.icio.us and
• Blinklist

Search for your favorite topics (like “learning” and “psychology“) and enjoy quality search results, at times even better than Google’s!

7. Leverage the Power of Social-Networking

After a period of time you’ll make some friends from the blog communities you’ve been socializing in. Get to know them better. Add them in your Facebook and Myspace networks. Find out which of them live in your city and meet them.

Socializing online is limiting. Face-to-face is unbeatable and by conversing for just an hour, you’d accomplish the same amount of knowledge sharing that would normally take a few hours online to fulfill.

And there you have it…

That’s basically it! Take your time and apply those steps to create the personal learning environment you desire. Embrace this powerful system of free web-based services, immerse yourself and like a sponge, absorb all you can. You may also compliment your diet of blogs posts and articles with other forms of media such as podcasts and videos. Last but not least act on what you’ve learned..

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