[bksvol-discuss] Re: how people learn with and without manuals
- From: Ann Parsons <akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:18:43 -0500
Hi all,
I'm of the firm opinion that manuals should only be used by those who
already know and understand the concepts used for whatever it is one
is trying to learn. Many people try learning via manuals and it
doesn't work. Many others just say they can't read manuals. They
don't know why, but they can't read them. <smiling> The reason, so
aptly stated by Roger, is that when they read a manual, they don't
understand what they are reading. Naturally, if you don't understand
what you're reading, the exercise is less than productive.
<smiling> I used to argue with the Linux Crowd about this because
their answer to everyone is RTFM. Well, I didn't get very far, but the
longer I use Linux, the better able I am to read and understand Man
Pages. Man pages are the manuals for commands and programs in Linux.
A text book, on the other hand, can prove to be helpful. Reason? A
text book is written for the purpose of teaching a given subject.
Therefore, it is arranged in a given order, taking simple concepts and
then moving on to more complicated ones. A good text book will give
you examples and exercises with each concept so you can "see" what's
being talked about and then practice the given skill.
Reading a manual on a subject you know little about is like trying to
look up "daguerotype" in the dictionary. You won't find it unless you
know that the word starts with the letters DA. You can't look up
anything else in a dictionary unless you have reasonable knowledge of
how the word is spelled.
You get my point? So, having said this, I recommend asking questions
of users, then going back to the manuals afterwards. Sometimes on this
list, I will say to folks after I give an answer, go look up the
subject in the manual on the Stream or the DTBM. Both devices have
excellent docs. But again, they are useless unless you know what you
need to know.
Ann P.
--
Ann K. Parsons
Portal Tutoring
EMAIL: akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx
web site: http://www.portaltutoring.info
blog:
http://www.samobile.net/users/akp/blog
Skype: Putertutor
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost."
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