We’re too passive in our education and learning. I realize that is a dramatic blanket statement, so l’ll explain. I’m an educator; I work daily with college students to develop their skill sets, apply their knowledge, and expand their worldviews. Students I advise are required to write or record reflections on what they learn and experience – and not for any kind of credit or compensation. This process is a part of committing students to being life-long learners. And yet, despite my investment in the learning and development of students, my own learning takes a backseat.

I’m sure I’m not alone here. Two of my top five Strengths are Learner and Input and they show up vibrantly in my morning routine. Not a Strengths expert? Translation: I love learning and I love collecting (in my case, collecting information). My morning is spent consuming information: reading newspapers, blogs, books, magazines, Facebook and Twitter updates; listening to NPR and an occasional podcast.

I open Zite and FeeddlerRSS on my iPhone while the shower heats up, browsing blogs covering fashion, crafts, home decor, education, technology, cooking…. I’ll share some on Twitter and Facebook or bookmark it to come back to later. Then what? On to the next thing. Like a few Facebook posts, read a few updates and articles from Twitter, retweeting the ones I like.

To what end? Here’s where I wish things were different– we don’t stop to talk about the things we’re reading and sharing. It’s too easy to click RT or Like and then move on to the next thing. Gone are the days when we copy/paste a link and email it to our department ListServ ( or heaven forbid we get up and photocopy it and pass it around for others to read). Sure there are exceptions– a Chronicle headline discussed in a staff meeting, a department brown bag lunch, or a summer book club.

We consume a lot of information every day and we have access to more things to read than ever, but I think we’re losing the learning part of the equation when we don’t stop to process, discuss, and respond to what we’re reading. We don’t ask students to reflect on retreats, books, experiences purely as a way to make sure they’re engaging– we know that recalling and synthesizing the information reinforces the learning. Not to get too theoretical or technical here, but I think Bloom would agree.

This is where we need a call to action: Engage with the information you’re consuming. Write something- a book review, an article, a blog comment. Record a Google+ video of your response, invite others to a hangout to discuss it with you. Talk about it with your carpool or lunch colleagues.Bottom line? Don’t just consume and don’t just forward/retweet/like.

The ultimate challenge? Instead of consuming information first thing in the morning, the first thing you should do when you sit down at the computer is to create it.

If you’re an artist, a leader or someone seeking to make a difference, the first thing you do should be to lay tracks to accomplish your goals, not to hear how others have reacted/responded/insisted to what happened yesterday. — Seth Godin

That’s a big stretch for me, but I think morning pages are a good place to start.

Reflection takes work, but most educators (and adults!) I know consider themselves to be lifelong learners. Sharing information is great, doing something with what you learn is better. Not everything we read is going to merit a response, but surely something you’re reading is evoking a reaction– especially if you find it worthy of passing along to others with a Like or a Retweet.

So what are you reading and learning these days? Let’s take control and stop being passive in our learning, slow down and chew on it a little.