I’ll be back … for knowledge

Will Wellman

As I do frequently, I went down the rabbit hole of esoteric web-searching this past weekend. I’m sure you know what that’s like. It’s where an innocent search for types of bread somehow leads to becoming an expert on 14th-century woodworking. For me, the deluge starts with a spark of something from a movie or show I’m watching and then can lead to something so random I can’t even begin to explain it.

This time, I was watching a film where Willem Dafoe’s character said “Help me to recollect,” which led me to searching more about Dafoe, and then somehow got me to research how memory works in the human brain, which led to how similar memory is for computers, which led to Artificial Intelligence, which brought up some internal fears of a robot takeover, and that of course led to a deep dive of the Terminator film franchise—and before I knew it, it was 1 a.m.!

The thing that drove me most on my journey was memory. Memories of Dafoe’s “Help me to recollect” reference, exploring how memory works in humans and machines, and finally expanding on my memory of the Terminator film franchise. Taken separately, these topics appear to be disjointed at first—but when recognizing the connective tissue was memory, it all starts to make a little bit of sense. I first had to refresh my memory and then I could continue to build on it.

It’s that way with education. A person’s education never stops. There will always be something you forget or areas where you want to expand your knowledge. For example, you might feel like an expert on all things Financial Edge NXT, but until you start using that memory muscle again, you can’t be sure.

Hitting the mental refresh button is something we can all relate to. No one remembers everything they’ve learned, but we can always continue to refresh and expand on it. That’s why we’re launching a new 90-minute Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT course, Fundamentals - Refresher, designed to get you flexing your fundamentals memory muscles and help you prepare to recertify in Financial Edge NXT Fundamentals.

And on another tangent … this course is included in your Learn More and Learn Everything training subscriptions. Not a subscriber? Find out how a Learn^® subscription can help develop your efficiency and ongoing skills.