Learning Nerd’s Diary #47

Welcome back Learning Nerds!

👀 Sneak peak

Here is what I have in store for you this week -

💭 Learning About Learning: Jenga vs Jigsaw Learning

🥜 Learning Nugget: Learning Connects & Compounds

💥 Coolest Thing I Learnt This Week:

10 Mental Models for Learning Anything
Feedback Cheatsheet
L&D Department of Horrors

🔦 Spotlight: Feature in the Offbeat Newsletter!

Let's jump right in!

💭 Jenga vs Jigsaw Learning

“I will call you when I decide to make it, you tell me the then.”

I overheard my sister telling this to my mom the other day in reference to a recipe mom was explaining to her. Moving to Bangalore meant learning how to make a lot of nostalgic home food.

Her words stuck with me because of its connection to learning. She wanted to learn the recipe just in time. Such a contrast to most traditional systems that make you learn just in case.

There are two ways of learning - Jenga Learning and Jigsaw Learning.

With Jenga Learning you learn because might be useful at some point. What you don’t really know is when - it could be the very next day, the next year or never at all. You learn because you should know it, you know just in case.

Think of all the things we learnt in school - you learnt for the sake of learning. Like a game of Jenga we kept piling on knowledge without applying it. We all know how a game of Jenga ends and I’m not talking about just the wooden blocks.

Jigsaw Learning is quite the opposite. You learn something because you needed to know it like yesterday. You learn just in time and not because someone is telling you to.

Think of the first time you moved away from home and learnt how to cook, or when you had to learn a new software overnight because of that big presentation. Like a puzzle, you didn’t have the whole picture in place but you kept adding on - piece by piece.

Jigsaw Learning is not just more memorable and motivating but is also more enjoyable.

So the next time you’re learning something new, stop for a minute and ask yourself - is it Jenga Learning or is this Jigsaw Learning?

Read the full article →

🥜 Learning Connects & Compounds

Learning connects & compounds.

"You can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future." - Steve Jobs

Snack on other Learning Nuggets →

💥 Coolest Thing I Learnt this Week

10 Mental Models for Learning Anything

I’m obsessed with knowing more about how the brain works and came across this article on mental models for learning that I love! My favourite one is 09. Knowledge becomes invisible with experience.

It made me think about what makes a good facilitator. We often feel people who are knowledgable are good teachers, but besides that it’s also important for them to be able to deconstruct how they do something so that others can learn.

Feedback Cheatsheet

Ross Stevenson has struck again! This time on Feedback - which is something I’ve been obsessing about lately. In his article he talks about feedback at the workplace but if you ask me - his suggestions are great for the learning context as well!

L&D Department of Horrors

I came across this hilarious but true post last week. As folks that work in L&D our lives are humorously horrifying at times, I don’t want to say more go read it! And oh, my most relatable horror -