The Learning Engine 4 March 2025 Newsletter 022: Plateaus and Progress — Navigating the Natural Rhythms of Learning Greetings and salutations — welcome to another newsletter! Have you ever felt stuck in your learning journey? You're practicing consistently, putting in the effort, yet progress seems to have stalled. Whether learning a musical instrument, developing a professional skill, or mastering a sport, plateaus are universal experiences in the learning process. What if these apparent...
10 days ago • 7 min read
The Learning Engine 27 February 2025 Newsletter 021: The Warm-up — What, Why, and How Greetings and salutations — welcome to another newsletter! Although sometimes overlooked, the Warm-up plays a massive role in the failure or success for practicing or performance. This newsletter will focus on the Warm-up — giving you the what, why, and how for using the Warm-up as preparation for practice and performance. [Before reading this newsletter, please think of the last time you did a Warm-up....
15 days ago • 5 min read
The Learning Engine 18 February 2025 Newsletter 020: Learning Through Productive Struggle Greetings and salutations — welcome to another newsletter! Have you ever faced a challenge that was difficult but not impossible, where you struggled but ultimately learned and grew from the experience? That's what educators and researchers call productive struggle. This newsletter will explore how finding the right balance between challenge and learning opportunity can lead to meaningful growth. We'll...
24 days ago • 6 min read
The Learning Engine 4 February 2025 Newsletter 019: Learning with AI — Challenges and Opportunities Greetings and salutations — welcome to another newsletter! Whatever our personal feelings are about AI, the technology is here to stay — and advancing at a good clip. This newsletter will discuss a few challenges and opportunities for learning with AI, then give a few general recommendations for learning with AI. Ideas Here is Belcher’s Model for Learning — a short refresher: Our body and brain...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
The Learning Engine 27 January 2025 Newsletter 018: Thoughts on 39 Years of Living Greetings and salutations — welcome to another newsletter! I recently turned 39 years old. This age somehow seems both old and young: Old because I’ve had a bunch of interesting experiences; young because I’m less than half the age of other family members. As a way to personally reflect and have you also reflect, I’m going to share some ideas that seem important. I did not appreciate many of these ideas in...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
The Learning Engine 20 January 2025 Newsletter 017: Ideas and Tactics for "Sensing and Focusing" Greetings and salutations — welcome to the first newsletter of 2025! This newsletter will focus on a few ideas and tactics for “Sensing and Focusing,” which is the first part of the Model for Learning. By helping our body and brain sense and focus as well as possible, we can do well in any situation. Here is Belcher’s Model for Learning (For more information about the entire Model for Learning,...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
The Learning Engine 26 December 2024 Newsletter 016: Thanks! Hello from Bluefield, Virginia! In the spirit of the holiday season, I want to say a huge thank you for being a part of this newsletter. You’ve put trust in me by allowing this newsletter into your inbox; I hope that I’ve delivered on that trust. This newsletter started from scratch this year and now has 117 subscribers, which is amazing! Thanks again for your continued support this year — and into the new year! A couple of links: A...
3 months ago • 1 min read
The Learning Engine 12 December 2024 Newsletter 015: Learning a New Skill — Skiing! Hello from Zermatt, Switzerland! In the previous newsletter, I shared ideas on the challenges and opportunities of learning through travel; although traveling can be challenging, traveling can also bring learning and personal growth! I also recently published a long-form essay on learning; here is the link: That’s How Learning Works?!?! A Comprehensive Model for Understanding the Learning Process. This...
3 months ago • 5 min read
The Learning Engine 1 December 2024 Newsletter 014: Learning Through Travel Hello from Zermatt, Switzerland! For those in the States, a happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones! Even though we are not physically present, my wife and I had some great video chats with our families — we are thankful for them! In the previous newsletter, I shared ideas on Social Factors — belonging, trust, and play. Humans are a social species, so these factors affect the rate and depth of learning; getting...
3 months ago • 5 min read
