I experience writing interwoven with newly learned material as a serious confrontation. Whenever there are short-answer responses on a test, or assigned essays, or some other form of written assignment, it essentially forces me to determine whether I actually understand the material or not. This can be really beneficial, as other formats for learning and assessment lack this element of confrontation. The only tactic I can think of that is more confrontational is the act of teaching material to somebody else- that requires a deeper level of understanding than even writing. But writing requires analysis, explanation, opinion- things that are not available to you without some level of comprehension of the content.

Additionally, I view writing as the synthesis of all the learning techniques and processes that we have been taught over the years. Self-reflection, critical skills, revision strategies, how to support an argument, etc. can all be incorporated in writing and take learning from understanding to implementation. In these ways, I think writing has been critical in my learning experience and development as a student of the world.