The Thinking Behind EOS
If you think over the last few days, months, or years, how often have you come across an idea or some bit of information that you were only slightly aware of before that point, or you were completely unaware of? This happens to all of us. Our access to technology has opened our lives up to ideas and information unlike ever before in history.
We are challenged to think beyond the local level to think on a global scale. Now, more than ever, we need a resource that helps us to navigate how we process information and grow in personal knowledge.
This is why the Educate Our Self Method was created. The goal of the method is to power personal education.
Flexible Topics of Your Choice
At EOS we don’t prescribe specific topics list, so your interest drives your personal education. That opens you up to endless opportunities to learn and it doesn’t stop there. Personal education without a goal is limited and can lead to an unwillingness to continue. The Educate Our Self method moves beyond building a vast range of knowledge that is just personally housed but challenges you to share your knowledge with others.
The Educate Our Self method comprises six parts of a complete personal knowledge journey. These parts include:
- Exposure
- History
- Relevance
- Reference
- Personal Application
- Share
Stage 1: Exposure
The exposure stage is the first step in the EOS method because you need to understand what sparked your interest in a topic to drive education. In the exposure stage, you will investigate your first experience with the topic and what you may already know. When you record your first experience with the topic, be specific e.g. I was in the grocery store, and I saw a jar of pesto on the shelf. I realized I knew nothing about pesto or how to use it. Now your topic can be anything, but this is a simple example of analyzing that first experience with a topic. Your exposure may come from an online search that popped up with something you were previously unaware of. Or it may be a new aspect of something that you already knew. When you record your exposure, you are making a historical record of how your interest was developed.
You also want to record what you may already know about the topic. In our pesto example, you may already know that pesto is used in certain dishes, or you may already know that it is a blended mixture of basil, garlic, and other stuff. This is your opportunity to discover your knowledge base and what sparks your interests. You might ask, what if I don’t know anything about the topic? That is perfectly okay. Record that! In the exposure stage, it is crucial to understand what you know and want to know.
But what if what I think I know is wrong, or I am unsure about it? This is a valuable aspect of the exposure stage. There is nothing wrong about being wrong. It is when we stay stagnant in our wrong-ness that the problem exists. Part of learning is identifying those areas where we have misinformation and correcting that aspect of our understanding. Of course, we cannot change misconceptions we are unaware of.
During the exposure stage, recording what we know will be a resource we can return to that will solidify our new relationship with and understanding of the topic. It will also create confidence in our learning as we are exposed to correct understanding.
Now, depending on your current level of exposure to a topic, you may already have a good understanding of a topic. The EOS method is not limited to new ideas but can be a catalyst for building extensive knowledge of various ideas. If you already have a base-level understanding of a topic, remember that the exposure stage is where you will record what you know and why you want to know more. There are ideas in our life that we are constantly revisiting because our interests keep pointing us in that direction. A subject matter expert has investigated all aspects of an idea or topic and has a well-rounded or complete understanding of that idea or topic. The EOS method will aid you in becoming that subject-matter expert as you build on your interest or understanding.