This has been a journey! Looking back, perhaps the scope of the project wasn’t perfectly defined. Also, I hadn’t realized that every task within the larger project required a brand-new set of mini-skills. I have way more respect for both DIYers and professionals now, understanding that in order to accomplish one home improvement project one’s knowledge must span a vast and varied array of know-how, foresight, planning, and practical skills.
It might be useful to first compare what I imagined the scope of this project to be from my initial Baseline post to how I see it on this side of things:
- I had pre-ranked tasks as hard to easy, without any real previous experience of any them, and this kind of set me up for feeling like a failure because it was “easy” tasks that took me the longest and gave me the most grief. See caulking project or cutting tiles. Funnily enough, I just redid all the caulking in the shower AGAIN two days ago…That is going on 3 times…Notice I did not post my “results.” Too ugly, too frustrating, too messy, and too discouraging. Essentially, it looks like this:
- I viewed the largest component of this project being the tiling. Perhaps, it should have been, but I underestimated the time, learning, and practice required of the smaller tasks.
Besides the fan, the most daunting part of this renovation to me is the tiling.
- I over-relied on the notion that because I have seen something done, I can do it myself. Prior learning only served me in that it was a STARTING point for research and did not transfer to application in any significant way…which leads me to my next takeaway from my Baseline post…
- PRACTICE. Trial and error. Learning is practice. I often take an overintellectualized/overcomplicated approach to everything and end up discounting that “field” experience that grows comprehension. I literally thought I’d watch some videos, read some blogs, and get to it…This might be the most important thing I learned about learning that relates to teaching: adjust expectations and try. Then try again. And build on that previous trying and try again.
- Comparing how I thought this would go to what I managed to accomplish, I realize I really just like the planning stages. I like design, inspiration, curating, and planning every little detail. My photo album has screenshots of inspiration pics for this bathroom and kitchen from years before either project started. I bought and sourced items preparing for the project long before demo. See this slideshow below of my screenshots that show me planning kitchen, bath, shower, tile, wallpaper, etc. three years before I started.
- Finally, I noticed that my primary learning was not from apps like I saw many of my classmates using and I am not surprised. Kind of the nature of DIY to be restricted to video and forum/blog. However, I had not really considered Pinterest until I was at the end of this project. In hindsight, I think this is really useful for those design and planning stages and if I were to do this again, I’d include this app as part of it. Moreover, Pinterest guides you via images, but most of those images are part of a blog or article detailing a process or product I am interested in. I overlooked how much Pinterest contributed to my learning, especially that which occurred before the Learning Project.
Here is where the apparent gap between passive online learning and actual application first occurred for me. I was confident I had enough prerequisite knowledge that I would not struggle with what I viewed as the primary portion of my project. Although I ran into technical difficulties with my tools, the resources I utilized during this week allowed me to troubleshoot, eventually getting tiles on in a tolerable way.
I found and relied on old archived forums like John Bridges that I tried to show are still valuable, especially in DIY. Much of TikTok for example is about “hacks” and shortcuts, but I learned it is necessary to learn foundational/timeless skills and know-how in order to effectively accomplish desired results. I know now why my spouse, after I show him a video of someone hastily painting countertops for a quick, cheap, and easy kitchen update, reacts negatively … He has enough practical understanding to recognize that some ideas/hacks, when executed like most hacks are, will end up being more work and less of an improvement than intended. Both of these “hacks” I tried to convince him to do and he resisted. I am thankful for that now.
Eventually, I got tiles up; learned how wet tile saws work and changed blades (that must be fancy diamond ones apparently); learned how certain saws are better for certain tiles; and realized how much I rely on the internet for troubleshooting. Every time I look up, “Bluetooth not syncing” or “wifi slow”, I am engaging in online learning and attempting to troubleshoot. I had not thought of my own learning that way. The more I rely on these online resources, and the more I find them useful, the more confidence I gain to approach larger projects similarly. Even watching dumb hacks is a way of learning by process of elimination! Don’t look too closely at these grout lines…
This week proved difficult too. I had rain pouring into my kitchen from the window I forgot to properly seal. After it dried up, I sealed it. Twice. By hanging out the small window. I didn’t get a picture, but from the street, after the foam fully expanded, it looked like the window was being eaten by a marshmallow.
In order to motivate myself to do neglected tasks like caulking and spray foam, I watched caulking experts on TikTok and then tips for beginners…as I mentioned, I still removed it 3 times counting the most recent caulk removal a couple of days ago.
@multipurposepropainters Do you even caulk??🙇🏽♂️👀 As a professional painter, you’re caulking game should be pristine 💎 A great caulking job makes the difference between a elegant finish vs a sloppy one 😳 #fyp #tips #diy #painting
♬ PINK FLOYD. Another Brick in the Wall. Cover. – Tristan Thomas
I learned that my hand isn’t steady, it is hard to keep pressure on the gun, don’t go backwards with the nozzle, and most helpful of all, use painter’s tape to keep it straight and clean. Despite trying to follow the online resources I found, I had an epiphany about my own learning style. It wasn’t that I just couldn’t learn properly or hadn’t found the perfect online tutorial, it was that I may be more hands-on than I had thought. Maybe I do not understand because I am spending hours consuming content about doing instead of doing. I write:
I did not really think of myself as a hands-on learner. I thought I learned best through listening/reading. However, it is clear to me, there is an element of practice that is kind of absent in this type of learning project. Instead of practicing prior to “performing” like I would if I were learning an instrument or language or even baking, I absorb as much from as many sources as I can until I do it. When I finally do it, it is supposed to be the final draft. I am learning about myself that I need practical, hands-on learning/practice either to get a handle on execution or to maybe build my confidence. I am starting to feel not very confident about my abilities here.
I found that this lack of confidence about not being perfect while learning something new is a common experience for people. On Quora, members discuss at length their experiences while trying to learn and it mirrors mine. It is interesting and took me down a little rabbit hole. Failure and anxiety while learning is evidence of learning. It is uncomfortable. In Strategies for Learning from Failure, Amy Edmonson writes about corporate and professional failure, but I found it helpful for myself as a future teacher:
Only leaders can create and reinforce a culture that counteracts the blame game and makes people feel both comfortable with and responsible for surfacing and learning from failures.
If I can recognize the factors that contribute to failure in myself, I might be a better teacher to students who are feeling similarly. Edmonson includes an image that shows where a learner (or professional in her case) can be accountable for failures, where the system plays a role, and where failure is inherent in certain learning. I can see myself at each stage. I found this super interesting and will be taking this learning into the classroom when I go.
Image: Harvard Business Review (2011). Strategies for Learning from Failure. https://hbr.org/2011/04/strategies-for-learning-from-failure
Kittens! Man, is my summer not turning out like I had planned…
The greatest part of this learning though was how rewarding it was. Stressful, but rewarding. I love the internet and I know that had I not had access, these kittens may not have survived. I love the people who are experts and share that expertise for free (even if they make some money off of content, I still think that is more than fair). If I had taken them to the vet for advice on how to care for them, she would have charged me for her expertise.
Additionally, the urgency of the situation made this online learning experience exciting. Even now, as they are gaining weight, trusting, eating, pooping, cuddling, purring, and being nuts, I am excited for them and excited that I played a role in this. Those first days though I felt like Indiana Jones, quickly trying to decipher hieroglyphics before the volcano explodes and kills all the villagers below. Constantly thinking to myself: LEARN FASTER! What now?! Is this NORMAL? Am I qualified?
If you’re ever in this position, refer to the Kitten Lady. She is amazing, thorough, and dedicated to teaching others how to care for and foster these little furry demons.
Here is an update: they are using the litter box on their own, without me even teaching them, eating solid foods while still nursing from my dog occasionally (did I mention that? My dog started producing milk and nursing them for real…), running around, and causing total chaos. It is exhausting but fun.
Learning Project Post 5 and Learning Project Post 6
The final posts, even with minor setbacks unavoidable in an old house, proved to be the best reflection of straightforward, online learning for me. I found concise and clear resources that even anticipated some user error or potential problems, allowing the reader/viewer to think ahead. Kind of like reading the whole recipe before starting baking instead of finding out midway, with everything mixed, you don’t have a certain ingredient. I am trying to consume educational content this way now too.
The faucet was straightforward and much less challenging than I thought, but I was missing the drain, which I have now found. Sometimes Ptraps are annoying. However. considering the rollercoaster that was this learning experience, I am feeling more confident and ready to take it on…later…
I recommend for any kind of project like this–again referring to the recipe method–watch videos in full to gain an understanding of the expected process, then have and refer to the detailed and often numbered instructions on relevant blogs/articles while attempting task, and “practice.”
Or at the very least, be aware that, by default, you may just end up practising. Learning is just that and without the application, can we really say we know how to do anything? I am becoming more comfortable with failure and recognizing its role in learning. Part of comfortability has come from the internet itself. Online, users are more willing than ever to share their authentic journey through a learning experience that may include setbacks, blow-ups, and restarts. I am coming to love that about the DIY space. I am following new creators across platforms who are showing what worked, what went wrong, how they fixed it, and when they had to call in the professionals. This type of open content creator encourages me and likely others to commit to learning and trying something outside their wheelhouse while recognizing failure is part and parcel. This is a common theme I have found in my classmate’s blogs too: as they are learning, the internet is providing the opportunity for others to come alongside and glean from their learning journey. And for some of them, that shared experience is going to happen regardless of the internet. They bring their families, friends, and communities along for the ride (See Avery’s Learning Project). If this doesn’t reiterate that old adage about the best teachers being great students, I don’t know what does…
Image: 16 Scott Hayden. Country Living. https://www.countryliving.com/life/inspirational-stories/g33930560/teacher-quotes/
Anyway, failure shouldn’t deter us, but let us know that hey, we are in the throws of learning something shiny and new! As I reflect upon this experience, and the new “network” I am a part of, I feel like I am better equipped to both teach online learning in the classroom AND help to encourage independent learning even if it does not look perfect.