HOW TO BECOME A LIFE LONG LEARNER
STEPS Learn how you learn. Determine your own preferred learning style or styles. Note what learning techniques are most efficient for you and use them as much as is practical, such as viewing online tutorials on websites like YouTube if you're more of a visual learner.
- Most people learn through multiple methods but favor one or two. Use your preferences to your advantage.
- Be wary of past memories that tell you to stay away from certain things. This can soon inhibit you from trying a lot of new things if taken to an extreme. As you grow you develop more experience, coordination, responsiveness, and confidence that one experience can't teach, but you can apply to re-learning an old experience. For example, if you had a bad experience riding a horse when younger, not getting back on a horse when you're older and calmer might mean you miss out on a trek of a lifetime. Or, you might have hated certain sports, tastes or activities when younger because of your lack of experience, strength or maturity. All these things change as you mature, develop, and adjust to new environments. Be careful not to let past experiences like these cut off opportunities for you now.
- Even when you're learning the things you have to, such as on-the-job knowledge, seek to go beyond what you're being asked to learn. Look at the history, case studies, different applications, etc., to make your learning experience much more well-rounded.
- Mix learning the basics with more fun learning, like intellectual hobbies and games. Don't space them out so far that you forget what came before in a sequence; a half-class or class every day or two might be a good pace. Check into DIY U for a list of colleges and institutions that offer low cost or free courses.
- If you find complex math very unintuitive in isolation, you can look it up as you learn things that use it. Without seeing the applications, it's hard to distinguish the concepts you need from the computational tricks most people don't.
- Read books by people who experienced difficulties with the basics of math, science or other subjects but have still managed to find workarounds without giving up. Their ways of learning might help you to improve your own.
Read, read, read. Make friends with your local library and
new and used book sellers. Reading is a portal into other worlds and
into the minds of your fellow human beings. Through reading you will
never stop learning and being amazed by the incredible creativity,
intelligence and yes, even banality, of the human species. Wise people
read lots of books, all the time; it's as simple as that. And reading
will help you to learn the discoveries and mistakes of others who have
gone before you; reading is, in effect, a shortcut so that you don't
have to learn things the hard way.
- Read all sorts of books. Just because you're usually a mystery fan doesn't mean you shouldn't try nonfiction now and then. Don't limit yourself.
- Recognize the educational value in whatever you read. Nonfiction, of course, teaches about its subject. Fiction, freed from that constraint, can teach more about good writing, storytelling, vocabulary, and human nature generally. Indeed, fiction will tell you a great deal about the mores, morals, thinking and habits of the time during which it was written, and it is also said that fiction readers are more empathetic than those who avoid it because it teaches us about interacting in the social world
Broaden your definition of learning. Take
a look at the Theory of Multiple Intelligences if you don't know it
yet. Consider how you might fit in, and where you can improve.
- Refine your existing skills. Are you already good at fly fishing? Computers? Teaching? Playing saxophone? Hone these skills and take them to the next level.
- Try new things, both inside and outside your preferred skill areas.
Do things outside your vocation. As
an adult, your experience may be your best teacher. Whether you work
for pay or volunteer your time, focus on a project or tinker with
whatever grabs your attention, try lots of things and notice the
results. Apply the results to other things in your life, to expand the
value of what you've learned. You never know when an opportune discovery
might arise as a result of your observations and innovative approaches.
Create. Not all
learning comes from outside you. In fact, some of the most powerful
learning happens when you are creating or formulating something for
yourself. Creation, like intelligence, can be artistic or scientific;
physical or intellectual; social or solitary. Try different media and
methods and refine the ones you like the most
Observe. Look more closely at your world, and examine both the usual
and the unusual. Also, look at the world from different levels. Chances
are you already respond differently to the news of a friend than to the
news of a country, for example.
- Respond to what you observe, and notice and examine your own response.
- Be mindful; if you find that it's difficult to observe things for long enough, consider meditating. This will help you to learn to see things you haven't noticed since you were a young child.
Take classes, both formal and informal. No matter how dedicated anautodidact you
are, some subjects are best learned with the aid of a teacher. Remember
that a teacher may be found in a classroom, but also in an office, a
neighbor's garage, a store, a restaurant, or a taxicab. The teacher may
also be a mentor or a guide of some sort in your life, such as a life
coach or counselor.
- Several of the world's best universities provide videos and materials for their courses free over the Internet as the "Open CourseWare" project. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is an exceptional contributor, with hundreds of courses. You can also use iTunes University, which can be viewed via your computer or your portable electronic devices.
Ask questions. Asking
the right questions can be more important than having the answers. It
can also turn just about anybody into a teacher. Be sure
to listenclosely and understand the response.
- Sometimes a response is difficult to understand. Feel free to take notes, ask more questions and to break down the response into smaller components to try to make sense of it. Return to your preferred learning style––if something is easier drawn in pictures, then draw it out to help make better sense of it.
- Keep a journal or notebook to record what you learn and what questions you still have. Questions can teach as much as, or more than, answers. A journal or notebook can also record your progress.
Evaluate and reflect on what you learn. Does
it make sense? Is it true? Who said so? How was it determined? Can it
be verified? Is an argument or piece of advice logical, valuable,
applicable?
- Read How to develop critical thinking skills and How to improve critical thinking skills for more ideas on ways to evaluate what you're learning.
Apply what you learn. This
is the best way to test it and it will help you learn it more
completely and retain it longer. It will also help you to discover flaws
and strengths in your learning, which is how we progress the sum of
human knowledge. Who knows what you may be about to discover, uncover or
link together?
Harness the power of play. Plenty
of learning comes from the process of experimenting, tinkering, and
just being silly. Take time to mess around and try new things without
pressure.
Teach others. Teaching
is a wonderful way to learn a subject better and improve your own
understanding of it. If you're not a teacher or tutor, you can write
about your knowledge in a holy,
where you and other contributors will know you can return to see
something even better, or forum, or simply volunteer an answer when
somebody asks.
- Joseph Joubert once said that "To teach is to learn twice." In teaching others how to learn things, you will find that you learn even more than the students. Not only will you need to have a good grasp of your materials, you will need to respond to the querying minds of your students and extend your understanding beyond what you have considered it to be up to the point of each question asked of you.
Hakuna maoni:
Chapisha Maoni