My Learning Blog

An analogy is a comparison of some thing or concept to another thing or concept used in an effort to help someone understand an idea. A good analogy is one where the things being compared share the same deep structure . As stated in The ABCs of How We Learn , "deep structure refers to the relations among elements"(p2). Although explaining a novel idea to someone through the use of a familiar idea can be immediately helpful in understanding the novel idea at hand, providing someone with two or more examples and having them determine the underlying structure shared by the examples, is extremely powerful for future application of the novel idea. When a learner, presented with two or more examples that somehow relate to the concept she is trying to learn, must sort through the surface features  to uncover the deep structure, the learner is more likely to be able to apply the key concept to a new situation. The authors explain, "Seeing two examples helps people appreciate tha...

By the publishing of this grandly titled blog post, I declare this far corner of The Internets, the vehicle through which, I will attempt to massage into memory the stuff I am trying to learn. Earlier today I was reading this post by Matt Makai, who has worked as a software developer. In his explanation on how to become a software developer, he states, "Create a feedback loop where you code, learn, write [...]." Blogging about the things I'm learning, whether it be software development, user experience, learning itself, or something else, will be a way of reinforcing the topics I study. If you happen to stumble upon this far corner, please feel free to share feedback on any of the content. I appreciate feedback (even of the critical kind).