If I had the time and the university would not complain, I would sit in on a lot of classes. Currently, I am sitting in on Software Engineering thanks to Dr. Wallingford being nice and the fact I have already taken the class. However, a person can learn an unbelievable amount by simply becoming one with the inner sponge. By listening to people more knowledgeable than one’s self, a person gets introduced to new ideas. Unfortunately, it is not enough to simply sit on these new ideas. They have to be put to practice. I do not know where this quote comes from anymore, but it has been a favorite of mine for a long time:
It works in theory, but fails utterly in application.
It is easy to think I understand something only to try to implement and find out I have no clue what I am doing. Other times, I find the original idea is only applicable to specific situations. Sometimes, it is just a bad idea from the start. Pondering an idea is often a good start, but the approach which often has the most success, and is also the most fun for me, is to put the idea to practice. This website is one such example. I get to play with web development ideas as I learn about them. Some of them work. Some of them suck. Sometimes I write about them and people laugh at me. Sometimes I write things, and people agree to the point they talk about it in their classes. The end result is more feedback from which to learn.
Learning is not passive. Many times people are told to be quiet and just listen to lectures. Maybe they are supposed to read some assigned readings. This is what I referred to earlier as becoming one with the inner sponge. It is a good place to start. It is not the finish line. The most knowledgeable experts in any area tend to live, eat, and breathe their interest. Ask a professional tennis player how long they are on a court, hitting a tennis ball, doing physical training, debating nutrition, dealing with media, et cetera. They did not become good simply be sitting on their butts listening to someone tell them how to hit a serve. They got out on the courts and did it.
Eventually those engaged in a field will become the new experts. Then they will share what they have learned with the next generation. It may simply be by communicating with an old friend who happens to be a university professor. It may be at a conference with their peers. It may be via a blog. Regardless, they share the information in some ways. This is how knowledge has been passed down for millennia. The key is to get in on the scoop rather than being left by the wayside.