The Shape of Learning

Before you read this, pause and take a look at everything you’ve learned in the past month.

👀 Take a close look at what you’ve learned…

…and done?

Of course not. Unless you’re an unusually studious and visually-oriented notetaker there’s nothing for you put your eyeballs on and look at. We humans haven’t come up with a way to visually show a learning journey.

But if there were a way to look back at a learning journey, or to look forward at what we want to learn next, what shape would it be in?

The shape of learning is a path.

This may come as a surprise, but at Pathwright, we think learning looks most like a path. As a path, learning is…

• Connected: No matter how spontaneous it seems in the moment, everything we learn is connected to something we’ve previously learned — like steps in a path.
• Active: Real learning happens when we reflect, apply, and act not just watch and read. Passively absorbing content without action is like sitting on a path enjoying the view and going nowhere.
• Progressive: Learning doesn’t really happen in giant leaps or light bulb moments. Learning happens as we struggle step-by-step towards a destination and make discoveries along the way.
• Meandering: Learning isn’t like a highway fading straight into the horizon or like a neat grid of city streets. Learning is more like a connected series of winding paths we stumble on, explore around, and even carve our own paths from.
• Communal: Paths are best taken with others and learning happens best with other people.

Whenever I’m teaching, thinking of learning as a path helps me remember a few core principles:

1. Every new idea or concept must be connected and built on a previous one. It’s impossible to teach someone something entirely new.
2. Paths are best taken together. How can I encourage “togetherness” even if I’m teaching online, at a distance?
3. Learning is active, not passive. Watching and reading doesn’t move people forward unless it’s acted upon.
4. As a teacher, I’m primarily a guide that helps people choose the right path and arrive safely at their destination.
5. As a course designer, I’m primarily a path maker (or “pathwright”) who creates a path through the chaos of information and ideas that I and others can guide people down.

The true shape of learning is a path — not a syllabus, a classroom, or a video playlist. As teachers, our primary job is to make paths and guide people along them.

We’ve designed an easy way for you to make paths and guide people along them. If you’d like to try it out, just visit www.pathwright.com and start making paths.