Soft Skills : Learning
LEARNING - it is the largest part of everything that we all do on a daily basis. There are two types: soft skills and hard skills. And there are also different learning styles and different learning disabilities. So what are the differences? Let me try and break them down in my first newsletter.
Soft Skills vs Hard Skills
According to Investopedia, Soft Skills and Hard Skills are defined as:
"Soft skills are character traits and interpersonal skills that characterize a person's relationships with other people. In the workplace, soft skills are considered to be a complement to hard skills, which refer to a person's knowledge and occupational skills." https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/soft-skills.asp
From the day that we were all born, we started to learn and have built on this every day since. From learning to crawl and run which led to joining and being part of teams TO learning our alphabet and words and then being able to create letters, documents, dissertations and more. We will be forever learning and building on what we have already experienced.
The other important thing we have learnt and continue to learn is behaviour and how to integrate and build relationships. This is not always something we know instinctively, we watch, we develop, we communicate, we ask questions. We are always learning.
"Learning is a treasure that will
follow its owner everywhere."
Chinese proverb
BUT the biggest thing to think about is that NO-ONE LEARNS THE SAME WAY. Generally, there are so many ways to LEARN and we each find our way.
When we move into our careers we can define Soft Skills and Hard Skills a bit easier, for example:
Soft Skills: the skills which make us an employable employee, such as:
Hard Skills: the skills which are measurable and teachable, such as:
7 Main Ways to Learn & Retain Information
Although there are 7 main ways we can learn and retain information, there are also main learning disabilities which people from all walks of life may have. I am going to touch on each one of these important factors of learning.
"Life is an open book test.
Learning how to learn is your most
valuable skill in the online world."
Marc Cuban
What are the 7 Main Ways?
Personally, I think we all have the above learning ways inside us and will use each one or a combination of each in what we need to learn as we go through our lives.
For example, if you are learning how become a good team player in a football team, you will use the Kinesthetic way of learning alongside Social, Auditory and perhaps even Visual (if your coach is teaching you something new).
The 3 Main learning disabilities (Neurodiversity)
Now, let's look at the main learning disabilities which can make learning a little more difficult (but not insurmountable).
"If a child can't learn they way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn." Ignacio Estrada
Learning disabilities: Our definition (by Mencap UK)
"A learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability and difficulty with everyday activities – for?example household tasks, socialising or managing money – which affects someone for their whole?life. People with a learning disability tend to take longer to learn and may need support to develop new?skills, understand complicated information and interact with other people."
Dyslexia. Dyslexia is a language processing disorder that impacts reading, writing, and comprehension. People with Dyslexia may exhibit difficulty decoding words or identifying individual sounds within words. Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting a young lady with Dyslexia through one of my Pro Skills group @Rhianna Innes who through her presentation introduced me to exactly what people with Dyslexia go through when reading, until they find a way to work with this disability. One thing which can help is to change the colour background of your screen.
Example from Rhianna:
Someone with Dyslexia may see this: Erwe hrete lelrya hspos htat lsdo lpesl okbos nda smrobkisotc?
But this is what someone without Dyslexia would see: Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks?
Would you like to know what someone with Dyslexia may see? Click here for more information.
Dyspraxia. Someone who has Dyspraxia struggles with their coordination as well as their fine and gross motor skills. They may appear clumsy and have some speech difficulties. The National Institute of Health Trusted Source describes it as appearing “out of sync” with the environment. Over time a number of symptoms may occur in adults, for example: trouble learning new skills; poor posture; difficulty using a keyboard; poor hand-eye coordination. Each person who suffers from Dyspraxia may have different symptoms, but if you want to employ someone who may possibly have stronger creativity, motivation and determination, then this person may be who you are looking for.
Dyscalculia. This person may struggle with numeracy and understanding numbers. It can lead to them misunderstanding mathematical related concepts. They may in turn find it difficult to look at a clock and tell the time, count money or understand patterns easily. It is also described as dysarithmia. It could mean that someone may read one number but say it differently.
ADHD and Austism. People can also suffer from ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) which relates to a combination of hyperactivity, being impulsive and having a lack of attention to situations, or Autism Spectrum Disorder where they have problems communicating and have difficulties fitting in socially. These alone are not learning disabilities but they make learning more difficult. They can co-exist with learning difficulties.
To help people with any learning difficulties, create calm environments and set up the environment to suit individual learning difficulties.
Remember having a Disability does not mean that someone does not have Ability.
Please remember that no matter who you are and where you are in your life, you will be learning things in your own way.
Keep Learning everyone.
I would love to hear how you learn best. Please let me know of any adjustments you have made to help with any learning difficulties you may have.
Warm wishes, Hazel
#learning #learningdifficulties #learningdisability #keeplearning #learningstyles
Agile Project Manager, Scrum Master
3 年Hi Hazel, great read, you've covered loads there. My main learning style is EDIP, which solidifies my understanding and builds confidence. I've found when I taught anyone, this method worked well for all audiences including those with learning difficulties. The downside is that it can't be applied to every learning environment.