Obsidian Flight School — An experiment in “Lean Forward Learning”

What is the better way to improve at something?

Watching or doing?

Yes both are needed. But we improve the most by doing.

We learn faster and better when we immerse ourselves in the very thing we want to learn.

We already know this. When a student wants to learn Spanish, what do they do? They move to Spain. (Assuming they are lucky enough.) That student will be miles ahead of (and away from) another student who tried to learn by only watching videos.

That’s because watching videos only is passive. It encourages a lack of engagement and blank face… It pushes you into a passive mode of consuming. A lean-back mode.

Again, we already know this. So let’s do better. If we are in a position to teach something, it’s up to us to make the learning experience come alive. To force the student to Lean Forward. To engage with the material. And if the material calls for it, to make them practice the exact skills they wish to learn.

That’s my intention behind Obsidian Flight School.

Obsidian Flight School promotes Lean Forward Learning. It’s an immersive “force you to learn by doing” educational product. It’s goal: to make students faster at using the note application known as Obsidian.

Along with making students faster, more skilled, and more confident in Obsidian; my personal goal is that Flight School inspires teachers in other fields — especially in online education — to incorporate Lean Forward principles into their own educational products and services.

But before I share the paradigm behind “Lean Forward Learning”, let’s review how I got here…

P.S. I’m launching the next Linking Your Thinking workshop. Learn more about how to build your custom PKM system here.

How did we get here?

If you search “Obsidian” on Youtube, you will probably come across my free “Obsidian for Beginners” series. It’s just six videos. They have been helpful for a lot of people. The first video has been viewed over 330,000 times since it was released over a year ago.

Since then, many people have asked if I could do a course on Obsidian. I resisted for two reasons:
1. For me, the LYT Workshops is where the really amazing stuff is happening
2. Other people had already created courses on Obsidian.

I wasn’t excited to add “yet another course” to the ecosystem if it wasn’t somehow…different. For a long time, I wasn’t sure what that difference would be. But then it finally clicked.

“Obsidian Flight School”: Fly around your notes at the speed of thought

The premise was this:

The activity of “linking your thinking” is extremely powerful. But before you can feel that power, you have to feel comfortable in the ship you use to fly around your knowledge.

I call it the Linking Your Thinking ship, or *LYT Ship*, and it’s the tool you pilot to fly around your planet of personal knowledge. %% Show PKM Planet Image %%

This course would train students to become faster, more skilled, and more confident in Obsidian.

So I went to designing it, and here’s what it became…

What is Obsidian Flight School? 🚀

Well, in plain-speak, it is an educational product — and starter kit — designed to improve your ability to use the note application called Obsidian.

This is for you if…

• You downloaded Obsidian and feel overwhelmed
• You want to be faster in using Obsidian
• You want to experience more joy while using the Obsidian App

This is NOT for you if…

• You primarily use a mobile or tablet device without a keyboard.
• You want training to build you custom PKM system (that’s what the LYT Workshop is for)
• You want training to develop ways to sustainably think better and create more value over your lifetime (again, that’s what the LYT Workshop is for)

What’s included?

• Obsidian Flight School Vault with
• 240+ lessons and notes
• 100+ videos
• 10+ exercises & simulations
• Peer-to-peer forum access
• Lifetime updates

But I get really excited about it because…

Obsidian Flight School is an experiment in “Choose Your Own Adventure” non-linear education.

That makes it a big risk. I knew some people would love it and some hate it.

So far, not even 1% of people don’t love it, which is way better than I was hoping for.

Regardless, when it comes to actually getting better at something, I will never stop shouting “reps, reps, reps”.

If you really want to learn how to pilot Obsidian; then YOU have to pilot it.

Watching videos alone is not enough.

I want to show you more of Flight School, but before I do, let’s talk about the paradigm that emerged from building it…

The Six Principles of Lean Forward Learning

Online learning is different. It’s the wild west out there right now. The wild frontier.

My deepest goal with Obsidian Flight School is that it inspires other teachers in online education to incorporate the paradigm of Lean Forward Learning into their own educational products and services.

The Lean Forward paradigm is an extension of the “Learn by doing” theory of education set forth by John Dewey in the early 1900’s. However, the Lean Forward paradigm differs is that it outlines principles specifically with online education in mind.

I believe online programs designed like Flight School are just the beginning of a deeper level of digital learning. Sitting back and passively watching instructional videos is easy, but the results are far less powerful. Instead, the “Flight School formula” forces you to grab the controls and pilot the ship that you fly around your PKM Planet.

Is it scary? You bet! Kinda like when my dad put my older brother behind the wheel of an old Ford pickup truck for the first time on a winding mountain road, while the nine year old me clung to the backseat with my eyes fixated on the cliff edge just to the right.

I tell ya, you can learn fast in the right environment!

Thinking about the forces at play in the Flight School formula — and more broadly about providing effective online education — I would like to present you with the Six Principles of Lean Forward Learning.

Designing the right educational product with these principles in mind may help provide your students with an effective and profound learning experience.

1. Curated yet Non-linear: There is a sense of freedom, and yet, a sense of structure. As a student, you have some agency to “Choose Your Own Adventure”.
2. Hands-on Repetitions: The very nature of the program builds in inescapable hands-on repetitions with the exact thing you are trying to learn. Just like a video game, if you don’t take the controls and move forward, you don’t make progress. In other words, it’s designed to force “unavoidable engagement”.
3. Uncomfortable: The very nature of the program means that the adventurer will be uncomfortable, challenged, and sometimes even frustrated. Those are “*deep reps*”. That’s when the deepest, stickiest learning happens! And it’s the getting stuck that leads to sticky learning.
4. Immersive: It feels like a special self-contained mini-world…a holistic learning system.
5. Measurable: There are ways to measure a student’s progress.
6. Multiple Avenues of Engagement: Students don’t just “read” and “watch”. They DO. Plus they also do some combination of: commenting, interacting, and sharing. This ties back into getting reps: reading reps, watching reps, doing reps…reps commenting, interacting, and sharing.

The Six Principles of Lean Forward Learning create an all-encompassing tsunami of a learning experience.

It was my intention to apply them to something is straight-forward as learning a new app.

Rating Flight School in the Lean Forward principles

As a way of introducing Flight School to you, let’s rate it in the Lean Forward Learning principles.

- Curated yet Non-linear: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This whole experience has been designed around this. You have four core notes. Some cadets prefer using the Checklist, others the Map, and others prefer choosing the main narrative: the hangar
- Hands-on Repetitions: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is what I love the most. By using Flight School, you can’t help but get hands-on repetitions with the exact thing you are trying to learn.
- Uncomfortable: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Some of the exercises and tests are very hard. but it’s the getting stuck that leads to sticky learning.
- Immersive: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ It is a special self-contained mini-world. Once there, students don’t have to leave.
- Measurable: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ There are timed tests. You can share your times. It kind of works, I think.
- Multiple Avenues of Engagement: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ There is plenty of reading, watching, and especially doing. But…while there is a lightweight forum component, this self-guided educational product doesn’t result in a lot of commenting, social interaction, or sharing.

This is a good time to make a major point:

Not every online course needs to incorporate every Lean Forward principle.

How much should my course or product Lean Forward?

There are plenty of basic courses where consuming the required information is more important to getting “deep reps” with the material. For example, podcasts are meant to be consumed at a lighter level of depth.

Here is the core question to ask if you are considering creating an online course:

1. Is this just about transferring information or is it also about building skills and habits?

If it is also about building skills and habits, then I encourage you to consider the Lean Forward Learning principles as you design your online course or learning experience.

You may be thinking, but I have nothing to teach! Well, you are wrong. Your experiences are worth more than you think. But even if you don’t want to put something formal together, the hidden value of understanding these *Lean Forward* principles is that you will start approaching anything you learn online with the awareness of what is missing. For example,

If a course doesn’t force you to get repetitions, you can find a way to add your own.

What other apps, course, workshops, and programs have you been in? Video-only courses…Khan Academy…Live workshops…

How would you rate them in the Lean Forward Learning principles?

If it includes a focus on building skills and habits, then I hope it includes a few of the Lean Forward Learning principles.

Learn better by leaning forward

The best way to learn effectively, deeply, powerfully…is by wrestling with the THING you want to learn over and over again in different ways from different angles after receiving different instruction.

At least, that’s my strong opinion, weakly held.

This is after all, an experiment, an exploration, an essay in the activity of immersive, engaged, and effective online learning.

And I hope it helps you become a better online learner — and teacher.

If you feel like you’ve found something special here, then click the links below to get one step closer elevating your note-making game.

And until next time…Stay Connected,

Nick

P.S. I’m launching the next Linking Your Thinking workshop. Learn more about how to build your custom PKM system here.