Hi friends,

Before I dive into my weekly newsletter, I wanted to take a moment to share as the fight grows day by day, it occurs to me that the Ukrainians are fighting not only for themselves but as a stand for peace, democracy and human rights. These are the foundations for equality, diversity and inclusion, in Europe and worldwide.

I invite you to consider making your support visible. There are so many ways, here's 8 ways to help Ukraine as a foreigner now.

🧭 Where to focus to make progress when learning

Last week we explored what self-assessment is. Big thanks to Jun Han who suggested to simplify the naming of the process with 3 A’s:

• Awareness of our own thinking, behaviour and actions.
• Assessment of our progress, achievements and effectiveness.
• Adjusting our approach to improve our performance.

But, what does self-assessment offer in real life for learners?

One of the main benefits is the ability to identify where to focus to make progress.

When we are learning, there are many paths we could take.

We look out for signposts. We wonder and reflect on where to start, what to focus on, and what will help us improve.

There is often little structure, clarity or guidance available to help us see the whole landscape of a knowledge or skill. And if we are lucky to have the info we need to see the whole, figuring out where to focus is not necessarily straight forward.

We resort to trying a bit of this and trying a bit of that to make sense of what we know and don’t know to inform our mental model of the topic and the steps to take in our learning.

​Jen Vermet’s takeaway shared in the online course community of Gwyn Wansbrough’s Breakthrough Facilitation course, is an example of gaining clarity through self-assessment.

By reflecting on each component of the course and giving herself both a number from 0-10 and writing down an explanation as to why she gave herself that score, Jen orientated herself from the outset and figured out quickly what will enable her to improve her facilitation.

Gwyn’s framework offered her a common language she knew she could use to express her thinking on the topic for herself and within the course community.

Sharing her insights with other learners from the outset, invited connection with other members of the community and peer-to-peer learning.

These steps at the beginning of the course, when motivation and excitement are high, created the conditions for Jen to dive in and make the most of it.

🏄 How do you know if you're making progress in a new topic or skill you're learning? #buildinginpublic

I asked this question on Twitter this week and it sparked lots of interesting conversations. What's your experience? Here’s what Caroline and Karaminder had to say:

Caroline Goyder @CarolineGoyder @CharlotCrowther a feeling of flow kicking in - it shows there's a level of unconscious competence there at last... Charlotte Crowther 🕸 @CharlotCrowther How do you know if you're making progress in a new topic or skill you're learning? March 7th 2022 0 Retweets 2 Likes

Karaminder @Karaminder @CharlotCrowther Teach or share it to other people. This forces us to see if we understand things clearly, we can explain it in our own words comfortably. Charlotte Crowther 🕸 @CharlotCrowther How do you know if you're making progress in a new topic or skill you're learning? March 7th 2022 0 Retweets 4 Likes

👋 How to Make the Most of Twitter

I met Monica as a fellow learner on numerous online courses like Ali Abdaal's Part-Time YouTuber Academy.

This week she launched her friendly, approachable and useful course How to Make the Most of Twitter.

She shares her honest, human and generous experiences of what Twitter can offer and how to make the most of it with 10, 100, 1K, 10K, or zero followers.

Monica Lim @monicalimco Two years in, I still think @Twitter is an underrated platform for networking, learning, and inspiration. I've put together a video course to tell you and show you how I make the most of Twitter, everyday. Now you can do too! 🚀 monicalimco.gumroad.com/l/makethemosto… How to Make the Most of Twitter (by @monicalimco... I know, I know. “ANOTHER course?!”The short answer is yes.The long answer is...also yes.I’ve joined ... monicalimco.gumroad.com March 4th 2022 11 Retweets 65 Likes

I recommend Monica's course, particularly if you’re new to Twitter. It’s a great space to:

• Enlarge your community of friends and intellectual peers
• Increase your serendipity and opportunity
• Sense the ​​resonance of your ideas
• Leverage your career

🇺🇦 Stand for peace

I hope you'll consider joining me in standing for peace and explore ways to help Ukraine as a foreigner.

See you in a week!