Learning to Learn

Clearly there are many ways in which someone can learn something, but what is the general process which someone can utilise to help them learn?

With the speed in which technology is changing and its impact on the workplace and home, the need to continue to learn is fundamental to staying an active and engaged part of the society in which we live.

It's currently not just technological change, but also political, economic and social change that appears to be running at an ever-increasing speed and also seemingly in an unplanned if not aimless direction. This should be of concern to all of us and learning to adapt is key to survival (OK, maybe a little melodramatic), but learning is an important aspect of maintaining well-being and satisfaction with life.

Change, or more importantly the pace of change is a key driver for the need to continue learning.

This is nothing new, the futurist Alvin Toffler, wrote some 50 years ago about "... what happens to people when they are overwhelmed by change. ..[and] the ways in which we adapt - or fail to adapt - to the future." (Future Shock, 1970)

A key question to understand is, 'Why do some people want to learn, whilst others appear not especially bothered?" In some ways, are some people overwhelmed just by the thought of having to learn, which is a significant 'change' condition for them.

There will be numerous answers to this question, but a 'typical' and significant feature is being interested and curious in the subject area that is to be learned. This can provide the initial motivation to engage with the learning process. If that interest and motivation was missing, then this would be a barrier which would need to be addressed and broken down.

Once the interest has been initiated, then this would need to be maintained (some may say endured) for a defined duration.

What was to be the duration of the learning period and each learning session? A plan would need to be produced to make sure everything that was planned to be covered, could realistically be covered within the required or desired time frame.

A learning period for a course might be 9-months, whilst a learning session might be for under an hour to maybe a few hours, although if the latter then make sure adequate breaks form learning are included. Each of these learning sessions could be considered as 'milestones' along the learning journey and they would be important features of the learning plan. Be clear as to "What is the purpose why I am carrying out this learning?"

Breaking down the planned outcome/s is an important step, and these will be delivered or learnt as learning sessions. Make sure each session has one or more manageable chunks of learning (15-30 minutes maybe) with a 5 or 10 minute change of focus in between learning chunks as this also helps the brain to consolidate what has just been learnt.

An individual would be able to look back on each of these 'chunks' and say that they have understood each part quite well; This would be contributing to building confidence to develop further and progress to the next chunk of learning and maintain, if not increase, interest.

This is where the process of learning would need to be linked to learning procedures which would include how best to learn a particular element - maybe through reading and note taking, combined with self-generated questions to reflect on what has been learnt, or the use of prepared course self-reflected and set questions to aid learning; watching a video / film; listening to a podcast; hands on practice; manipulation of data or a physical activity; maybe carrying out a field survey; essentially whatever identifying and utilising a range of approaches for an individual to take on board what was being learnt. This is the active / engaged learning part.

As the chunks are built up into a knowledge and skills bank, you would be thinking of how this could be applied outside of the immediate area of learning, in essence reflecting on creating new knowledge and innovations and developing your capability to adapt to new situations.

Having recall sessions and small test sessions for each of the learning chunks will help to further embed the learning to longer term memory and making it easier to refresh some of the more difficult aspects of what was learnt at future refresher sessions.

Monitoring progress against the plan is another important aspect of learning to learn, although this can often be a tricky part. Often, someone would spend too long on one section of learning and have to then compromise a bit on another learning element to ensure progress was maintained throughout a course within the required timescale. The key here is to try and not fall too far behind on any aspect of learning and aim to keep in line with the plan, but not to worry too much if some parts attract limited learning time. Individuals will have times when they explore some areas in more depth than needed, which eats into the available learning time, but this can help maintain motivation for learning.

Try and find a suitable time during the day to learn, when you feel you can concentrate the most, so as to get the most from your learning time and efforts. Many people will be different so try out several periods and maybe even have some learning sessions that are separated by a long period, possibly one in the morning and one in the evening ¯ it really depends on what suits the individual learner the best.

Keep to a fairly regular schedule and ensure the suggested study hours are achieved each week, assuming it is a prolonged course of learning being undertaken. When you are in a routine then the learning process, or the time slots for it, will become much more natural and will be more streamlined, for example, into a working day.

Learning to learn should involve being active and constructive in what you do; it should ideally have some element of fun, should certainly be enjoyable and also have some practical relevance to the individual, whether for a work or home / general interest situation so it can be applied in an appropriate context.