Keeping learning logs

Keping a written record of experiences and what was learned from them.

Here is an idea to increase learning from any activity, big or small. Most people are subliminal learners from experience; they learn but are not sure what or how. This means they are unable to communicate what they have learned to others and are severely handicapped at practising continuous improvement and development. The answer is to help people to supplement what they learn intuitively by getting them to adopt a discipline that makes their learning more explicit. Learning logs are one way to bring this about.

A learning log is a simple way to record notes about an experience at work (or elsewhere come to that), the conclusions that have been reached and a plan to do something better/differently. The precise format can vary providing it is structured to elicit these three pieces of information: the experience, the conclusions, the plan. If people have an aversion to writing things down, they can talk into a dictaphone and have it typed out at a later stage.

The simple act of writing or talking about an experience, and what has been learned from it, converts people from tacit to explicit learners and that is what the learning log routine is designed to do. The frequency of learning log entries is discretionary. It might be once per day or once per week. Whatever happens do not allow learning logs to be reserved for only the most striking or dramatic experiences. To do so misses out on the more mundane experiences, ie everyday happenings and incidents, all of which have developmental potential if only they were consciously trawled for learning.

Lessons learned from keeping learning logs are likely to include:

• the worthwhileness of pondering experiences instead of just rushing headlong to the next one
• the importance of making considered judgements rather than jumping to conclusions
• how vital it is to do something better or differently in the light of conclusions (otherwise what is the point of having them?)
• an understanding of the iterative process of a plan to do something better or differently becoming, when it is implemented, an experience in its own right that lends itself to reviewing, concluding and planning
• that the experience - review - conclude - plan cycle is the essence of continuous improvement and development.

You can lend support to the learning log discipline by keeping a log yourself and by talking to people about what they have learned (see Reviewing learning). This adds credence to the whole thing and, if people know you are going to review their learning log entries, makes it more likely they will do it.