I’m doing the Learning how to Learn course on Coursera. One of the assignments called for more introspection on one’s learning journey than was allowed for, so I’ll continue here.
Over the years I developed a rather misguided view on learning and personal development. I thought people were more like whiskey – only as good as when and where you’re aged. Once you’re in the bottle, it’s all about the presentation. But we’re more like yogurt. If you maintain the culture well, you can keep growing yogurt forever. Learning doesn’t just stop when you finish school.
My learning trajectory has been mostly coincidental, beginning as an English language learner muddling through at a British international school, passing exams on marginal grades, culminating in university to study Economics when I meant to apply for Finance, in actuality not being that interested in either. I have recently become unemployed from my job somewhere beyond the fringes of the education industry, propagating a new generation of teaching and learning tools to teachers and students.
The irony is clear.
What I’m trying to say, with a blush of shame, is that until now I have taken a rather passive approach to learning, doing so only when it is necessary and by osmosis, absorbing whatever is closest and relevant.
Due in part to exogenous circumstance but mostly out of my own neglect, I have overlooked or squandered most opportunities over the years. My career has yet to take off, and I am far more ignorant and far less skill than I admit to be.
Some people need to hit rock bottom before the admit there’s a problem. I’ve been crawling at the bottom for years. Step One: Admission. Step Two: Rectification.
I have two broad learning goals to accomplish in the imminent future (say 12 to 18 months). First to become literate in the subjects in which I hold a passive interest – psychology, for self-interpretation; philosophy, for consolation; design, for communication. Second, to become proficient in skills areas that will help me become more effective in the workplace: Project Management, because everything is a project nowadays; Accounting & Finance, because I want to understand annual reports; Communications, because nobody works alone.
What concerns me is a proclivity to go through cycles of intense, passionate focus followed by prolonged periods of paralysis. It also coincides with my mental state. Even those moments of focus are charred by very short attention span – I often struggle to concentrate for more than twenty minutes at a time, making it hard to grasp and absorb concepts and ideas. This was a particularly bad one in school – had to whip myself with a belt to stay on tuned in. And no, that didn’t help.
The structure of Coursera is already helpful in overcoming the first problem – courses are divided into weeks of material and I am able to research ahead of time the structure of a programme to plan ahead, instead of diving in blind and burning out quickly. As for the second, I’m theorizing that that rather than fighting how my brain works, it may be possible to actually take advantage of how it works both in the approach to learning as well as structuring the content. Rather than getting frustrated, when concentration wanes I can naturally shift to a diffused mode of thinking: get a coffee, drink tea, think in the big picture about how the subject matter relates to real life.
Since my brain in bursts, it may be possible to chunk the subject knowledge into tolerable ‘bites’ – concluding each bite at the end of every 15-20 minutes, and allot some ‘bites’ for review and revision.
Herein lies my best hope for digital learning technologies – the ability to adapt to individual learning needs and styles. Born today I’d most likely have been diagnosed with a learning disorder, but really this is just how my brain works. Your brain probably works differently. The ability to diagnose ones learning style, pace and suggest content accordingly, and devise individualized learning strategies is a power we’ve never had before.
I’m going to revisit this topic in my more lucid states.
#00117F 