TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: Writing it down vs. good ol' learning From:"Kathi Knill" <kathi -at- inline-software -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 24 Mar 2000 12:43:31 -0600
Excuse me, but isn't it true that there are different modes of learning.
Didn't someone
post that some learn by seeing, others by touching/doing, and still others
by reading.
Why is it so important to you that a person "learn" something (whether it is
how to copy an
email address or to install a complicated piece of software) in the same
manner that
you would do it in? Why does it irritate you if someone is different than
you are?
Maybe when you are trying to show someone something and they are
"concentrating
heavily on writing" and you find this irritating because you have a
deadline, you should
have told the person that you were too busy at the moment, but you could do
it at
such-and-such a time, or you could point them to another person/resource for
getting the
information.
I happen to be the type of person who learns best by writing something down.
Throughout
college and graduate school I took copious notes. People found that they
could miss a class,
borrow my notes and not be behind. Why did I do that? Because it was not
enough for me
to sit and listen or watch, nor was it enough for me to read a book. I had
to write it down.
Once it was written down, I remembered it. I don't know why, but that is the
way it is.
Whenever I "studied" for exams, I would write down the important info (maybe
on index
cards) again (sometimes twice) and then I knew it. Hey, it sucked to learn
that way because
I was always writing and got pen callouses on my finger. But, that's me.
Learn to accept people as they are, and realize that if you are so busy that
you get
irritated by a person using a different learning method, then it is your
"issue" and
you have to learn to say "I cannot do it right now. How about at ... time?"
Because
trying to make your issues/problems someone elses doesn't work.
Kathi Jan Knill
Inline-Software Corporation
kathi -at- inline-software -dot- com <mailto:kathi -at- inline-software -dot- com>
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living;
the world owes you nothing; it was here first" -- Mark Twain
