Our most powerful learning tool?

July 4, 2014
by Rodney Olsen
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How much time do you spend writing each day? What’s that? You don’t write at all?

I am utterly convinced that the very act of writing can make a major difference in the way we think and learn. If we’re serious about learning we should get serious about writing. That’s not to say we should all become professional writers but we should certainly all spend time getting our thoughts down on paper or even tapped into a computer.

Here’s something Professor Brian Cambourne said at an education conference I attended in Singapore back in 1986.

Writing, in my opinion, is the most potent tool of learning and thinking that the human race has got available to it. We need to write in order to find out what we think and in order to shape our learning. The evidence from cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics is quite conclusive. Writing is a highly complex act which depends upon analysis and synthesis of many different levels of thinking. I have a strong conviction that sustained engagement with the written form of language actually changes us cognitively.

I wish I could share the entire lecture that he gave but I only have it in video format and I’m not going to transcribe it all for you. Sorry.

What’s he saying? To over simplify, he’s saying that the very act of writing helps us to map out our thoughts and helps us learn. The processes that we use for writing are more powerful than the acts of simply speaking or listening.

Most bloggers would know this to be true. Even in the simple act of writing a blog post we can write, read, correct, read, restructure and read again before we finally hit the publish button. We take care to make sense and to be understood and it is in this process that we often more fully develop our own understanding of the subject matter.

Cambourne’s big concern is that most of us don’t engage with the written form of language nearly enough. Somewhere in the process of learning literacy we have adopted the thought that we’re not very good at writing and that it’s not something that most of us would do voluntarily without very good reason.

Even though the standard is sometimes less than brilliant, blogging has at least got millions of people mapping out their thoughts through writing.

What about you? Do you find writing difficult? How much do you write each day? Do you find that writing helps you clarify things in your own mind? Does it help you learn?



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Do you consider yourself to be a writer?

August 26, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
2 Comments

writer

How often do you write? How much do you write? Do you always need an audience for what you write or do you write just for yourself at times?

Writing, in my opinion, is the most potent tool of learning and thinking that the human race has got available to it. We need to write in order to find out what we think and in order to shape our learning. The evidence from cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics is quite conclusive; writing is a highly complex act which depends upon analysis and synthesis of many different levels of thinking. I have a strong conviction that sustained engagement with the written form of language actually changes us cognitively. – Dr. Brian Cambourne

I heard those words from Dr. Brian Cambourne at an education conference I attended in Singapore back in 1986. I wish I could share all the lectures that he gave during those few days but I only have it in video format and I’m not going to transcribe it all for you. Sorry.

Dr. BRIAN CAMBOURNE started his career by teaching for fifteen years in a variety of small, mostly one-teacher schools. He has since become one of Australians most eminent researchers of literacy and learning. He was a post-doctoral Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

What’s he saying? To over simplify, he’s saying that the very act of writing helps us to map out our thoughts and helps us learn. The processes that we use for writing are more powerful than the acts of simply speaking or listening.

Most bloggers would know this to be true. Even in the simple act of writing a blog post we can write, read, correct, read, restructure and read again before we finally hit the publish button. We take care to make sense and to be understood and it is in this process that we often more fully develop our own understanding of the subject matter.

Cambourne’s big concern was that most of us don’t engage with the written form of language nearly enough. Somewhere in the process of learning literacy we have adopted the thought that we’re not very good at writing and that it’s not something that most of us would do voluntarily without very good reason.

The very fact that we consider writing as something specialised that most people can’t do is a problem. We should all consider ourselves to be writers, whether that’s as someone who writes for a living or simply writes for their own benefit.

Even though the standard is sometimes less than brilliant, blogging has at least got millions of people mapping out their thoughts through writing but we need to encourage more people to write, even if their words will never be read by another person.

Do you want to find out what you really think about a topic? Sit down for a while and starting writing. Want to figure out a complex issue? Get writing.

What about you? Do you find writing difficult? How much do you write each day? Do you find that writing helps you clarify things in your own mind? Does it help you learn?



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Writing Irresistible Blog Posts

February 23, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
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blogging.jpgIf you knew you could guarantee targetted traffic for your blog I’m sure you’d jump at the chance .

If someone wrote an article or blog post specifically about you you’d want to read it wouldn’t you?

This post isn’t a formula for instant traffic but it may just help you find your own formula for attracting visitors to your blog.

I don’t usually write posts about blogging. I generally just get on with the job of posting and interacting with the small community of readers that frequent my blog but I was reminded of a very clever way of attracting attention during the past week.

What’s in it for me?

Our state newspaper recently ran a feature on house prices around the metro area. They do it every six months or so. In the feature they list the average price of houses in each suburb around Perth. They give an indication of how prices have risen or dropped over the past few months. They essentially tell readers what their home is worth. When your family home is your biggest investment you’re pretty interested when someone wants to talk to you about how much it’s worth. I’d be very surprised if they don’t see a spike in circulation whenever they run such features.

A couple of weeks ago they did something similar with Valentine’s Day. They published their ‘Book of Love’ as part of the newspaper. They essentially sell space to hundreds of people who want to declare their love. They make money from those placing the messages and then on the big day those who’ve paid to say ‘I love you’ are sure to buy a copy. Of course their loved ones will also buy a copy to read their message. Added to that you get many people buying the paper to search through to see if anyone has left them a message. Brilliant marketing.

The key is that they’re publishing something that doesn’t just interest the reader, it involves them.

Creating an audience.

It’s the same principle that some some people use when putting on a local concert or production. The easiest way to get lots of backsides on seats is to invite the local school choir or drama group to perform. They might only get five minutes on stage but you can guarantee that their parents, grandparents, uncles and aunties will all turn up to see the little darlings perform. If there’s 20 kids in the choir you’re likely to fill an extra 40 seats or more.

What’s that got to do with blogging?

So how do you apply the principal to blogging? You find something with which people feel passionately involved. You write about them or something with which they are very closely connected. That’s easier said than done but it’s possible. Can you suggest a couple of ideas in the comments section of this post that use this idea? Maybe there’s something you feel passionate about. If that’s the case, write passionately about it but with your audience in mind. Talk about how it applies to them, not just your situation.

I’ve seen it in action when I’ve posted details of some of my radio interviews. If I’ve interviewed a celebrity or musician it’s not too long before fans will find the post. Often fans will add details to a fan forum and then I’ll get a rush of passionate readers wanting to hear their favourite singer talking about their latest album. Fans like that have more than a passing interest in their ‘idols’.

It’s not all about you.

You might think that writing about specific groups will narrow your reading audience but find the right target, write something that they can’t resist, and you’ll find the readers. I suppose it’s simply about taking our eyes off ourselves and focussing on our audience.

I’m no blogging expert but I’m hoping that we can get a conversation going in the comments of this post to better define how we can harness the principle.



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