Learning can be challenging to many individuals because there is a change in the mental process where you need to adapt to the foreign information. This is why not only how you learn, but also how you reinforce the learned information is important. Learning requires the learning to have an open mind so that their brain becomes flexible to change and open to intake new information. Oftentimes, learning can feel more easy when the learner has a need to learn it, or has an interest for the material. This is because when the learner needs to learn something/has an interest for it, they will tend to pay more attention and feel a greater level of satisfaction as it will have an actual impact. There can also be external factors such as who is teaching the material or how the material is taught, which can ultimately be beneficial or detrimental to a learner.
One example of a learning challenge I had was at a co-op work term where the training methodology was poor, resulting me to not properly take in the information. This also pushed me to become unmotivated to continue learning because I was losing interest in the subject. Knowing that I was starting to lose interest in the subject, I had to find a way to regain that interest and learn to the best of my best ability. I started getting motivation from talking to co-workers and getting more understanding about the subject from them. Talking to co-workers also resulted in me to understand what I can do after I properly learn the subject. I started to see the relevance and put more time/attention to learning through both co-workers and external sources (internet). But since learning requires you to change how your mind sees something, this means that a period of time and reiteration of the learning material was needed. This is why I had set up meetings to go over the learning material and receive feedback at times to help improve my learning process. Lastly, It was extremely important to reinforce what was learned so that I don’t forget about it too soon.
References
Meilleur, C. (2019, Sept 18). From surface to in-depth learning. KnowledgeOne. https://knowledgeone.ca/from-surface-to-in-depth-learning/
Thank you very much for sharing your learning challenge experience. I really like the way you were able to solve it, e.g., finding strategies that motivate you and help you learn!
I am curious what learning theories you think each of your strategies would fit.
1. Talking to coworkers
2. Using external sources (internet)
3. Reiteration/Recall of the learning material
4. Feedback
5. Reinforcement/Retrieval
Hi Anatassiya,
I’m thinking the following:
1. Talking to coworkers can fit into Behaviourism perspective as I’m trying to get as much feedback as possible. Potentially even Cognitivism perspective from the coworker side.
2. Using external sources (internet) can fit into Constructivists perspective as I’m creating my own definition through answers and solutions around the internet
3. Reiteration/Recall of the learning material I think can fit into the Constructivism perspective because the reiteration/recall of information allows for the continuous learning from previous knowledge as well.
4. Feedback as well can belong to a Behaviorism perspective where I can continue to learn and improve through proper feedback.
5. Reinforcement/Retrieval can also fit into Constructivism perspective because I’m constantly thinking about the definition I’ve created for myself and reinforcing it into the work.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! Good job on identifying “using internet sources” as Constructivism and Feedback as Behaviourism (it can also fit Cognitivism). Talking to coworkers sounds more like Social Constructivism (focuses on interactions/learning with peers) to me as well as Recall/Retrieval strategies maybe more aligned with Cognitivism though (focuses on enhancing knowledge retention and transfer).
Hi Thomas,
I totally understand where you’re coming from, I’ve had similar experiences in the workplace and at school. When there’s a lack of proper training and not giving employers or students enough information, it’s tough to find the motivation to take it on yourself to learn more with your brain already trying to process everything else. And it can be more difficult when you don’t have a passion for the subject or task. To go off on your experience, I agree that sharing learning experiences and talking with co-workers and colleagues is so beneficial because you get to bounce ideas, and by talking with each other, you retain more information and knowledge.
Hi Chantale,
Thanks for your response! It’s sad that this is happening in all sorts of environments like school/work, but very crucial to know what to do in the case that you’re not able to properly get trained.