"learning" something, i'm finding, is very hard to do outside of a school setting, so i've been trying to think of why that is. what i've found is this: in school, you're given assignments, little (or sometimes not-so-little) programs to write that do something. of course, the assignments are designed to illustrate a point, something you've learned recently. but it can serve the same purpose in real life. think of something (doesn't have to be a novel idea), then try to build the functionality of it. it'll be frustrating working through finding bugs and learning how to do xyz, but you'll find that you've learned to use your tools, even if the project doesn't ultimately get finished.
"learning" something, i'm finding, is very hard to do outside of a school setting, so i've been trying to think of why that is. what i've found is this: in school, you're given assignments, little (or sometimes not-so-little) programs to write that do something. of course, the assignments are designed to illustrate a point, something you've learned recently. but it can serve the same purpose in real life. think of something (doesn't have to be a novel idea), then try to build the functionality of it. it'll be frustrating working through finding bugs and learning how to do xyz, but you'll find that you've learned to use your tools, even if the project doesn't ultimately get finished.
good luck with RoR!