Are you the kind of person who reads the instructions before you start something new ? Or do you only search “help” when you are stuck?
How we learn has interested me for some time - I suppose ever since I was first introduced to Honey and Mumford’s Learning Styles . More recently we have been discussing how we learn with our students at Edinburgh Napier University.
In the workplace there has been a switch over recent years from “training” to “learning” and whilst I personally think that this can only be a good thing I wonder how many people really know or understand how they themselves learn best. When I found that I had a strong tendency to being an “activist” learner using Honey & Mumford’s theory a lot of issues about the way I worked fell into place ( this possibly had as much to do with the fact that I do prefer to learn by doing than the theory itself..)
Experienced trainers know to include a variety of activities in their programmes to incorporate the needs of as many of their students as possible. Many of us have been “taught” in the past by lecturers/teachers/trainers who did not. As an example I know that my understanding of economics is as much to do with the way my lecturer worked with us ( interesting/exciting/varied) as my interest in the subject ( hmmm - very little!).
OK - the activist learners reading this post may have already moved on so let me get to the point.
Here are my suggestions of how you might learn - my interpretation of Honey & Mumford and many other learning styles
- you have never done this before - but you will simply jump in and give it a go
- you have never done this before - but you have done something similar and using that experience will give it a go
- you have never done this before -but you have read about it and have some background knowledge so you will give it a go
- you have never done this before - so you will need to go and read about it and ask questions before you do
and to make sense of what happened ( throwing in a bit of Kolb’s theory here) add …
…the students I am currently working with are required to apply their learning in class in their workplace and write a reflective report on what happened. Having read many of those reports I strongly believe that the power of reflecting on your learning - no matter what your learning style is - cannot be underestimated.
Please share your views and experience on this. It would be a great help to me ( and my students will thank you too!)
Here’s a question for a Monday morning ? When did you last say “I can’t ” do something ?Now think about what that really meant.
-Did you mean that you did not have the skills/time/resources to allow you to ?
or
- Did you mean that you did have what it took but didn’t want to?
or
- Did you mean that weighing up the options you had chosen not to?
There is quite a difference when you think about it.
Like when I went to my local car service centre to try to get a part for my car which had been ordered from another branch - which had not turned up. The guy told me he couldn’t help me because he had had nothing to do with that order. Can’t/don’t want to/chosen not to?
Or when a client says that they can’t take on a course of study which might improve their promotion chances. Can’t /don’t want to/chosen not to?
Or when you are approached by a charity to make a donation. Can’t/don’t want to/have chosen not to?
There is quite a difference between the 3 different responses. It’s important - and in view - very helpful to know which one you really mean.
This is my entry for Robert Hruzek’s Group Writing project for April on the theme “What I learned from Adversity”.
A few years ago my husband returned from a networking event to tell me that he had bumped into my old friend and former flatmate Anne. He told me that she was going through another round of chemotherapy and that she looked fine but it was about time she and I got together again.
Anne and I were the kind of friends who - even if we did not see each other for years - would pick right up from where we left off. We had worked together many years before which led to us sharing a flat and though - and maybe because - we were like chalk and cheese we got on really well. So I called her and we arranged to have lunch. And as before we started talking like there had been no gap. The elephant in the room of course was that she was clearly under the weather because of her treatment and she was wearing a wig. That would not have been obvious to anyone who did not know she was undergoing treatment. It was very natural and styled by her own hairdresser. I know - because she told me! So any worries I had about tiptoing round how she was were immediately dispelled. She also told me that - at that stage - she knew she had “longer than 2 months and less than 2 years” left according to her consultant. Now I needed to work out how to react but taking my lead from her I asked her questions and she answered.
We met up regularly after that. She went on holidays to places she wanted to visit - taking all of her medication with her and doing as much as she could. She was annoyed that she was too tired to train for a half marathon. She worked every day except the days she was very sick because she loved her job and her clients were very important to her. I asked her how she coped when she was feeling down - and she said that she just talked about it.
We arranged to have lunch a few weeks later somewhere where we could sit out in the sunshine and have a glass of wine and bunk off for the whole afternoon. Then I fell sick and was out of action for a few weeks so we rescheduled. Sadly , Anne died the week before that date could be filled. The number of people at her funeral and the warmth of feeling for her showed how much she was loved and respected.
A few weeks later my dear friend Dorothy called me to ask if I would go to hospital with her as she had found a lump on her breast. Dorothy knew about Anne and indeed supported me when she died. So now I had another dear friend with cancer. I went to all of Dorothy’s appointments with her. She dealt with each challenge by asking questions, checking that she understood properly, seeking advice and taking decisions for herself. Even when at the worst stages of her chemotherapy she could be found trying to cheer someone else up. She thanked the nurses and doctors for their care and commented specifically on things she found helpful on the basis that doing more of that might help other patients too. She is now fully well and, although she will be on medication for the rest of her life, has been told that she has not greater risk of another cancer than the general population.
So what did I learn from Anne and Dorothy?
From Anne I learned that - cliched though it might be - we should live life to the full and never put anything we want to do off til tomorrow because we have no idea what is ahead.
And from Dorothy - taking control for addressing whatever challenges you face helps stop those challenges controlling you.
A few weeks ago I started using my Super Seven plan.
It’s simple. In a small notebook, on the right hand page, I write down 7 things to do each day . By the end of the day I tick off those I have done and forward the ones that were not possible( for all sorts of reasons). I don’t get hung up about not completing the 7 though - that would be counterproductive. I reschedule or delete as appropriate. It’s a loose structure not a straitjacket!
On the left hand page I note down the achievements of the day.
Over the period of a year I will have at least 365 achievements!
Go on - recognise your achievements and give yourself a pat on the back. You deserve it!
This is my entry in this month’s What I Learned from Group writing project hosted by Robert Hruzek over at Middle Zone Musings. Robert suggests What I learned from the Sidewalk. You owe it to yourself to take a look at his excellent blog - and to get a sense of how his mind works ( which is a challenge!). The underlying theme - as I understand it - is to encourage us to take time to notice what is around us and here is my story.
I like to take the bus into the City Centre. Edinburgh is a very car-unfriendly city and the stress of parking is just too much for me so a bus ride with a good book/newspaper is my preferred option. The bus stop is about 5 minutes away from my house -or shorter if I have timed the buses wrong and have to run to catch it - not a pretty sight if I have my heels on! I have walked that path many times and stood at the bus stop for longer than I ever planned.
One day I saw the bus appear in the distance but I was just too far to make it. I sighed and sauntered on in a very British way pretending that I did not what that one anyway. It meant that I was the only person at the stop and as I grumbled to myself for not switching the PC off one e-mail earlier to give myself those extra couple of minutes I notice an elderly gentleman make his way across the road. He joined me at the bus stop and I knew that he wanted to chat. I am blessed to have my own elderly parents still nearby and know how much they value the chance to chat so I smiled and commented on how nice a morning it was.
He agreed and then went on to tell me how the timing of his daily visit to the supermarket was judged by the weather. He did the shopping for his disabled wife - and he indicated that they lived in the house opposite the bus stop and that she would be sitting at the window watching for him until he got back.
To tell you the truth I had never really noticed the house before but he then told me with pride that he had had it built in the late 1950s for his wife and young family when he was stationed at the local army barracks. He had been in the army for many years and it was obvious by the way he carried himself. It was not hard to imagine him standing tall at the cenotaph each Rememberance Day.
He then told me - with some pride - that he was 92! I realise now that there is a cutting off point when young people do not want you to mention their ages - and a trigger point where elderly people love to tell you how old they are. 92 is pretty impressive.
The bus came and he climbed on sitting in the seat reserved for the elderly though I am sure he would still have stood up to offer a seat to a lady if need be. I waved as he got off a few stops later at the supermarket.
After that I always looked across at the house when I was at the bus stop and wondered if his wife was watching for him. Then one day I saw a large car in the drive and a young man carrying out boxes. A couple of days a van was there and more stuff was being removed. Sadly I had to conclude that all was not well. I did not feel that I could go over and ask what had happened. Maybe I should have. No “For Sale” sign went up but soon afterwards it was clear that there was some building work going on for an extension and the once pristine tidy garden ( all his own work) was a bit tired and scruffy.
The new owners have grown a high hedge round the property and you can’t see much of the house now but I still think about the old gentleman and his story. We rarely get to find out much about what goes on behind the doors of houses we pass often but this insight to man who provided a home for his family and cared lovingly for his wife right to the end warmed my heart.
