What is Learning in Public
Learning in public means sharing what you learn on the internet. In a way, Moocable is a learning-in-public platform: you join study groups, share feedback, and exchange ideas. However, in our community forum (this page), we want to provide you a space to document your learning.
What you do here is to have a habit of creating learning exhaust:
- Write blogs and tutorials and cheatsheets.
- Speak at meetups and conferences.
- Ask and answer things on our Community forum
- Make Youtube videos
- Publish open-source projects
- Start a newsletter.
- Draw cartoons
Why learn in public?
It sounds scary, so I understand why folks hesitate to learn in public. Arguments against learning in public include:
- I’m not an expert
- I don’t want to be wrong
- It’s scary
- I don’t want to be a target for trolls
- I’m not ready to share my work
Try your best to be right, but don’t worry when you’re wrong. Repeatedly. If you feel uncomfortable, or like an impostor, good. You’re pushing yourself. Don’t assume you know everything, but try your best anyway, and let the internet correct you when you are inevitably wrong
It’s the fastest way to learn.
When you learn in public, throwing out a single simple question and listening to responses helps you skip a lot of the trial and error in those steps. You are taking advantage of an entire community’s knowledge and wisdom instead of relying on your own (or lack thereof).
It helps you become an effective thinker.
Publishing what you’re thinking, and your current thoughts on things, encourages people to critique you and challenge you– and that’s a good thing. Diversity of thought and experience from critics not only enhances your current work but also forces you to consider different perspectives in future work.
It’s a great way of joining study groups!
Chances are, you don’t know anyone on Moocable. If you want to join someone’s study group, the host might visit your profile to learn more about you. Having a rich profile, filled with your learning-in-public posts gives a strong signal that you are an avid learner and will help you get invited to more study groups!