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Learning in Public

small, true posts while you're still learning

Learning in public means sharing what you're learning while you learn it, not after you've become an expert. Small posts: what you found out today, what confuses you, what you got wrong. Expecting to explain something changes how you study it, and the replies, especially the ones that correct you, teach you things you wouldn't have found alone.

  • Moderate to start
  • High impact
  • Learn it: 30 days
  • Small posts, one place
thirty days of learning to bake, on one feed
Six posts over thirty days of learning to bake bread, from an intro on day 1 to a recap on day 30 Day 1, intro: Starting 30 days of learning to bake bread. I'll post what I try here, including what goes wrong. Day 4, til: TIL the finger-dent test: a floured poke that springs back slowly means proofed. Source: Forkish, FWSY. Day 9, question: Not sure why my loaves spread flat instead of rising. Too much water? Photos below. A reply: Ana: more likely under-shaped than too wet. Shape tighter. Day 15, correction: Update on day 9: Ana was right. Same dough, tighter shape, and a loaf twice as tall. Thank you, Ana. Day 22, explainer: How I shape a loaf now, in four photos and five lines, for anyone on their day 1. Day 30, recap: Day 30: 11 loaves, 9 posts, 2 corrections from readers. What I'd tell myself on day 1, in three points. Day 1 · Intro Starting 30 days of learning to bake bread. I'll postwhat I try here, including what goes wrong. Day 4 · TIL TIL the finger-dent test: a floured poke that springsback slowly means proofed. Source: Forkish, FWSY. Day 9 · Question Not sure why my loaves spread flat instead of rising.Too much water? Photos below. Ana: more likely under-shaped than too wet. Shape tighter. Day 15 · Correction Update on day 9: Ana was right. Same dough, tightershape, and a loaf twice as tall. Thank you, Ana. Day 22 · Explainer How I shape a loaf now, in four photos and five lines,for anyone on their day 1. Day 30 · Recap Day 30: 11 loaves, 9 posts, 2 corrections from readers.What I'd tell myself on day 1, in three points. Not one post claims to be an expert. The day-9 guess was wrong, and it taught more than any other post. 1 2 3 4 5

The question on day 9 did more than any confident post: it brought in someone who knew, and the public correction on day 15 is the one lesson from the month that stuck for good.

The habit

Try it now.

  1. Pick one place and one topic

    A blog, a forum thread, a channel at work. Say on day 1 what you're learning and that you'll share it as you go, mistakes included.

  2. Post the smallest true thing

    Not a guide. One thing you found out today, in a few lines, and where you got it. Small enough to post in ten minutes.

  3. Say what you're unsure of

    "Not sure why…" or "I think, but haven't checked…". A clear question gets answers that a confident claim never would.

    Sounding sure about something you aren't is what invites the unhelpful kind of reply.

  4. Answer replies, especially corrections

    Try what people suggest, then post what happened, and thank them by name. A correction made in public is one you won't forget.

  5. Write a recap on day 30

    What you can do now, what you got wrong, and what you'd tell yourself on day 1. It's the post that shows you how far you came.

When to break the rule: not everything belongs in public. Keep confidential work, other people's stories, and anything you'd mind being searchable in five years off the feed. If posting about a topic makes you anxious, learn it privately and share only the day-30 recap.

Your next post

Write one small post, then plan the month.

Pick what kind of post it is, write the one thing, and say where it came from and what you're unsure of. The preview checks it's short, sourced and honest about its limits, and that it talks about what you found rather than what everyone should do.

What kind of post?

Your post

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    Thirty days

    How often can you post?

      Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere. This page doesn't post for you; copy the post into wherever you share.

      The study behind it

      People who expected to teach what they'd studied remembered it better, though none of them ever taught it.

      John Nestojko, Dung Bui, Nate Kornell and Elizabeth Bjork gave people a passage to study. Some were told they'd be tested on it. Others were told they'd have to teach it to another student. Then everyone took the same test, and no one taught at all.

      The people expecting to teach recalled more of the passage, and what they recalled was better organised. In a second experiment they also answered more questions correctly, particularly the ones about the main points. Expecting an audience seems to change how people study: they look for the structure, the main point and what hangs off it.

      The honest limits: these were short passages in a lab, and the benefit came from expecting to explain, not from posting online. Learning in public is one way to make that expectation real every week. The other things people value about it, the replies and the people you meet, weren't part of this study.

      The design of Nestojko et al. (2014). Everyone studied the same passage; some expected a test, some expected to teach it; then everyone took the test. Those who had expected to teach recalled more, recalled it in a better order, and answered more main-point questions. Everyone studies the same passage told: "You'll take a test" told: "You'll teach it to someone" In fact, everyone takes the test. No one teaches. Expected a test Expected to teach the comparison recalled more in a better order more main points right the last one in Experiment 2
      The design and the direction of the results, no figures. Nestojko, Bui, Kornell & Bjork (2014), Memory & Cognition 42(7), 1038–1048.

      The idea

      Why it works.

      Knowing someone will read it makes you look for the shape of what you're learning: what the main point is and what follows from it. That's what the people expecting to teach did in the study. A post a few times a week turns that expectation from a one-off into a routine.

      Saying what you're unsure of turns readers into teachers. People who'd scroll past a confident claim will answer a clear question, and a correction you take in public sticks, because you remember the thing you got wrong out loud.

      When it goes wrong

      Habits that help.

      • Post before you feel ready. Feeling ready comes after the thirty days, not before them.
      • Keep it in one place. Spread across five apps, nobody, you included, can see the month add up.
      • Thank corrections in public. It's what makes people bother to send the next one.
      • Don't answer every reply. Answer what helps you learn. Leave the arguments.

      Go deeper

      Keep going.

      Keep this going in the app.

      HourLife turns these ideas into a daily system — goals, habits, focus, and reflection in one private place.

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