LEARNING SKILLS

Learning skill is one of the most important skill needed to for human being. But what does it really mean? At its most basic, it means being open to new experiences and ideas, and allowing ourselves to grow from what we encounter in the world. Children are like little sponges. They learn from everything that they encounter, whether mud, toys, books or people. Everything is an opportunity for experimentation and therefore for learning. As adults, it can be hard to remember and recapture that excitement about the world but that is what is needed for successful learning.

What is Learning?

Many people think of learning as studying, but this is not the case. When you study, you do normally learn but learning can go far beyond structured or unstructured studying. You can learn from any and all experiences in your life.

·       Behaviourist, which expects learners to respond to some kind of stimulus;

·       Cognitive, which is concerned with knowledge and knowledge-retention; and

·       Humanist, which is concerned with explaining individual experience.

Learning about your Learning

Based on these three approaches, behaviourist, cognitive and humanist, researchers have proposed that we all have different Learning Styles, and put forward two very useful models.

But why are they useful? They are useful because knowing how you like to learn can help you to tailor your experiences so that you learn more quickly and effectively.

Reflective Practice will help you to think about your experiences and understand more about yourself. Developing a habit of reflective practice will also help you to learn in the future.

Getting Ready to Learn

What else do you need in order to learn?

Research suggests that perhaps the most important skill you need to learn effectively is what is called a ‘growth mindset’: the belief that you can learn and develop new skills.You need to be prepared to work hard, which requires self-motivation. There are a number of other skills that you will find useful to help your earn effectively:

For example, Time Management and Organisational Skills. But while it’s important to avoid procrastination, none of these are as vital as having the right approach. With the right mindset, you will set yourself up for learning for life.

Studying

While learning is very definitely wider than studying, nonetheless, having good study skills will help you to learn.

These generic and transferable skills help you to get yourself into the right frame of mind for studying, and then study effectively.

·       Getting Organised to Study, including finding the best times of day for you, and also making contact with people who can help and support you;

·       Finding Time to Study, which includes setting a study timetable, setting goals and prioritising;

·       Sources of Information for Study, which explains the difference between primary, secondary and tertiary sources, and how you can find and evaluate the quality of sources;

·       Styles of Writing, which explains about different types of documents that you may need to produce;

·       Reading skills, including Effective Reading and Reading Strategies, which show you how you can develop good habits of reading, enabling you to critique your sources effectively; and

·       Revision Skills, which help you to review and revise your studying to prepare for examinations and assessments.

If you are engaged in formal study, for example, undertaking a school, college or university course, you are likely to find that you have to produce written assignments, designing your Research, and various methods of gathering and analysing data, such as surveys, interviews, and focus groups. You are also likely to need to learn to take effective notes of what you read or of lectures or other exchanges of information.

Helping Other People to Learn

There are very particular skills required to help other people to learn. Your role in helping others to learn may be formal or informal.Teachers have a very clear role in supporting learning; see our page on Teaching Skills for more. Many people also use coaches both informally and formally to support their learning. Parents often find themselves needing to draw on all their skills to support their children’s learning. Another role in which you may be supporting someone’s learning is as a mentor.

Counselling is also about supporting learning, in its broadest sense.