Thank you. Everybody, this is Food for Thought
Thoughts. If it were you, Season 2. I'm your
host, Neogentrics. I do remember covering a lot
of life skills and stuff that people need to
know in the last season, and I'm not quite done
with covering all of those. Thanks to the sporadic
time gap that we had because of school and other
reasons, I couldn't actually keep up. with more
podcasts, and I do apologize for that, but I
will pick up where I left off. I will cover more
skills that people need to know. So starting
us off with learning skills, before I go into
all the different kinds of learning skills and
the ones that actually exist that you need to
know, I want to cover first off what is learning,
because apparently there are a lot of people
who don't know the difference. So we'll start
with this, and I'm going to continuously make
episodes on this topic for them. for a little
while. We're going to cover all the different
kinds of learning skills, what learning is, learning
approaches, learning styles, the different types
of learning styles, understanding your preference
to aid learning, lifelong learning, critical
thinking skills I've already covered before,
and critical thinking and fake news. And I'm
going to go back and forth between that and study
skills because I do believe I didn't cover a
lot of them and I still keep getting some questions
regarding certain things. So I'm going to go
ahead and cover those as we go forward. Now,
I will go ahead and stop right here and say,
let me ask you this, because this is the preference
of this channel and podcast. What is learning?
You know, it's a lifelong question. A lot of
people ask this. You know, I have to learn this,
I have to learn that, but what is learning? I'll
be honest with you right now, okay? Almost every
action we take is the result of past learning,
yet for some people, learning still remains an
activity undertaken or associated with an educational
context. it doesn't have to be educational, okay,
you can still learn even without education being
a factor, I mean, as babies, we learn to eat,
to gain attention, to crawl, to walk, etc., things
of that nature, you know, and we develop into
kids, I'm sorry, children, and other bodies,
you know, become more, our bodies become more
functional, we learn an inordinate range of skills,
which you know, because I've covered a lot of
them, that we use in everyday, day -to -day life,
traditionally, You know, research and studies
around learning, primary focus on the early years,
learning through childhood and adolescence. But,
you know, it is now recognized that learning
is a continuous process that commences from the
day you're born until the day you die. Apparently,
if you're going to die, you have to learn how
to die the right way. It's a process through
which we use our experience to learn, to deal
with new situations, and to develop relationships.
Sometimes lifetime relationships, things like
that, can't be... They're not just given. You
have to earn them. And one of the things I definitely
want to talk about in the next podcast is lifelong
learning. Now, before we get into that, and it's
definitely a topic that I want to cover. A lot
of our learning occurs randomly throughout life,
and for our new experiences, gaining information
from our perceptions, for example, reading a
newspaper or watching a news broadcast, or talking
with a friend or colleague, chance meetings,
or unexpected experiences all help us grow and
learn. Keeping this in mind, many experiences
in our life provide us with learning opportunities
from which we can choose whether or not to learn.
And this type of experimental learning is the
contrast to more formal approaches, to learning
such as training, mentoring, coaching, and teaching.
All of which have some type of structure that
they are planned learning involving some facilitator
that set this whole thing up. And for some people,
they believe it's God. Some believe it's their
teacher. Some believe it's their parents. To
each their own. Whatever you believe is true.
We'll take a short break here, and I'll pick
up in a minute. And we're back with our topic
of discussion that we were covering. Keeping
this in mind, from where I left off, teaching,
training, and other structured learning opportunities
are basically activities that one person does
to another, while learning is something we can
only do for ourselves. It involves far more thinking,
and it's basically the essence of your whole
personality. Your senses, your feelings, your
intuitions, your beliefs, your values, your will.
You know, that thing you use, that desire, that
drive to move forward. If we do not have the
will to learn, we will not learn, plain as day.
And if we have learned, we are actually changed
in some way. whether physically, mentally, or
emotionally. And if the learning makes no difference,
let me go ahead and say this, it makes no difference
if you have very little significant change beyond
being filled with random ideas that float through
your consciousness or having extravagant ideas
that blast through the scars. It doesn't make
a difference. At some point when you learn something,
something about you changed. Learning needs to
meet some personal need or rather recognize and
identify to have some sort of ability or need
that enables us to evaluate whether the learning
has been worthwhile or even successful in some
ways. Plain and simple, learning occurs when
we are able to, and I quote, gain a mental or
physical grasp of the subject. One. Two, make
sense of a subject, event, or feeling by interpreting
it into our own words or actions. Three, use
our newly acquired ability or knowledge in conjunction
with skills and understanding we already possess.
And four, do something with the new knowledge
or skills that we just got and take complete
ownership of that skill. These are key points
to know whether you've learned something and
whether or not you can use it now Let me go ahead
and cover the key principles of learning so that
we understand what I'm so you understand what
I'm trying to say here There are vast ranges
of theories that attempt to explain and demonstrate
the way that people learn, and such theories
can often contrast with other, depending on the
type of learning they've described. For example,
traditional learning theories associated with
children and adolescents engaged in schooling
may differ from theories associated with adulting
or adult learning, whichever you prefer. I can
give you a short description of generic identities
regarding the key principles associated with
all types of learning and how they can be applied
to group situations as well as when learning
alone or with a mentor, tutor, or trainer varies.
Now, I should say that the list that I'm about
to give is not the only one. It can go on and
it can have more added to it depending on the
person. However, you know... It's just here to
help you understand some key concepts of learning.
Alright, first things first. People learn best
when they are treated with respect and are not
talked down to or treated as ignorant. Establishing
ground rules at the start of a training session
will typically reinforce this important principle.
However, for training to be most effective and
to involve full participation, the trainer should
model such exemplar behavior himself. or herself,
depending on the person. Next, learning opportunities
should, when applicable or possible, be linked
to previous positive experience. And I mean,
this actually means involving self -awareness
on the part of the learner. and understanding
and empathy on the part of any facilitator, the
person who basically does it. Learning can be
blocked by negative experiences, so keep this
in mind. Some people who hated school cannot
bear the thought of being in a classroom situation
just to give an example. Next, when possible,
you know, learners, people who are learning,
should take part in the planning of... learning
activities. They should be part of the whole
idea of doing this. Learners should be encouraged
to be self -directed in terms of goal setting
since this is usually what improves commitment
and motivation and increases participation on
the learner's part. Facilitators should examine
the expectations of the learner at the start
of any course or session to help them and encourage
them in their own self -direction. A lot of teachers
don't do this, and they just force work upon
a student and expect them to do it. It doesn't
work that way. Yes, you have a set plan of stuff
that you have to do, but you need to find a way
to make it so that the students can learn it
and actually want to do it, rather than, hey,
this assignment's due by this time, do it and
make sure you have it done or you fail. That's
real encouraging. Next, people should learn best
when their physical environment is usually comfortable.
No, I'm not talking about your bedroom. In group
situations, a positive and emotional supportive
environment is almost always important. Individuals
in a group tend to learn best when they can socialize
and interact with each other in the group and
they have some common ground. Alienating a random
person just because their hair is blue or because
they talk different from you does not help. So,
with that being said, those are just four of
the items in my list. I'm going to take a short
break here. I'll give the other four and then
we'll... go on to the packed learning cycle.
All right, everybody, welcome back. Next thing
I want to point out is that the interaction with
the person in charge, the one doing it, the facilitator,
is very vital. People need to be able to basically
react, question, and voice opinions on whether
they are learning or not. Generally, in group
situations, quieter members should be gently
encouraged for their input. Otherwise, you'll
never know whether or not they actually get it.
In some situations, they are typically the ones
that learn the fastest, but in others, they could
be the ones that feel the most outlandish from
doing these activities, as they don't know anything.
Next, learning activities or delivery of them
need to be varied. They can't all be exactly
the same. To cover a range of different learning
styles and help the learners maintain interest
and motivation, this is necessary. In a classroom
setting, for example, including discussions on
or other activities, especially some of problem
solving as part of the lesson or lecture will
basically enable the learners, the people who
are actually trying to learn to interact and
engage in the subject and feel like they're actually
part of it. The next thing is instant. They do
help. I'm not saying you have to do this every
single time, but people tend to learn best if
the rewards and the results of learning are made
clear and can be demonstrated during or immediately
after the experience is done. With that being
said, self -evaluation and reflective practice
is definitely important. Learners should be encouraged
to reflect on what they have learned and think
about ways that they can further their knowledge.
It's definitely something that a lot of people
should know about, and I will go more into detail
on reflective practice in another podcast, so
please look forward to that. Now I want to talk
about the thing that I use a lot myself. It's
known as the packed learning cycle. Now, many
attempts have been made by academics and others
to basically explain the learning process. It
is generally recognized that learning takes place
in a repetitive cycle as an ongoing series of
processes, as I mentioned before. Well, if you,
and you can search this yourself, it's called
the PACT cycle, P -A -C -T. It's relevant to
all types of learning. P stands for procure,
new knowledge, theory, or ability skills that
are required. Apply is what the A stands for,
meaning the new knowledge or skills is then practiced
in some way. C, consider. The results of the
practice are evaluated and or assessed. And T,
transform. The original knowledge or ability
is modified accordingly. This cycle starts at
P and it goes continuously in cycle, okay? The
pack cycle, it... just basically helps demonstrate
that learning is an iterative process. Our learning
evolves as we develop, and we utilize early knowledge
for later understanding. There are many examples
of these processes in action, and one of them
is definitely learning English or learning how
to speak. Usually, we learn the basics of a subject
or skill before progressing to intermediate,
advanced, and ultimately expert -level devices.
Each stage we build on the knowledge and experience
we have already acquired, gaining further knowledge,
experience, and or techniques while repeating
the same learning cycle repeatedly. Okay? That
is a lot to take in all at once, and I'm aware,
and I'm so sorry that I covered a lot, all that
information in a short burst. But like I said,
I want to make sure I bring home what learning
really is. To do that, I'm going to make this
segment a little shorter than I was going to.
And on my next segment, after we take a short
break, we'll cover learning capacity and we'll
summarize everything we just went over and move
forward from here. So to finish off what we were
talking about in the last segment, learning capacity.
Okay. Our individual learning capacities varies
considerably, and it will depend not only on
the ability, but also the motivation of the personality
of the person actually doing it. This stems into
a person's learning style, and I will cover that
in an upcoming podcast. It also refers to the
awareness of our own learning processes. Working
on awareness of your own learning processes basically
means learning how to learn, or rather, learning
how you learn. For example, in university settings,
students are usually taught some study skills,
which include learning how to seek information
when needed and how to use it appropriately.
This is one of those things that they do teach
you. However, like I mentioned before, this is
just one of many different study skills that
people need or have to have and are not always
taught by various places. Some have to be seeked
out on your own. And if you don't know how to
do research, no worries. I will go over that
in a podcast in the future so you can know how
to actually do this. Now, in summary of everything
that we covered, learning is an internal activity
and a key personal development skill. It's not
something that can be directly observed in others.
And we have to, however, remember that, you know,
observe the results of learning in ourselves
is very, very important. Very, very important.
And this is why formal learning situations and
assessments are very crucial in the teaching
process. Without the assessments or the exams
that we take to test whether or not we learned
something, we don't know whether or not we truly
learned it. And not all the time does it have
to be an exam. It could be the use of that skill
or that device that we have learned. The results
of academic assessments, essays, exams, work
processes, things of that nature, they're just
simple attempts to measure how much an individual
has learned, but it can never actually truly
measure the actual process of learning that they
have. Like I mentioned before, learning brings
about changes in the way we act, think, or feel
about ourselves and other people, as well as
the world around us. Such changes may be permanent,
some are temporary. It just depends on your own
perception of the importance and relevance of
the skill you have. It's much like learning how
to cook or how to drive a car. We'll all learn
how to do it, we all know how to do it once we've
learned, but unless you utilize this skill more
and more, it doesn't grow, it doesn't get better,
and in some cases you will forget. However, keep
in mind, this is something for a lot of people
that they don't already know. There is this thing
called muscle memory. Once your body has learned
how to do something via muscle memory, you will
always know how, whether mentally you don't remember.
So always put in an effort to try, and when you
learn, something to you know utilize it more
to allow you to basically retain the information
that you have now we've covered what learning
is and a lot of the things that come with it
and a lot of it should be probably common sense
or common knowledge but for a lot of people they
don't know this and it's a shame that society
doesn't teach it like it should so with that
being said Two topics I really do want to cover
because it will help a lot of people out is learning
approaches, ways to approach learning, and the
different learning styles. There are different
kinds of learning styles and then there's eight
types of learning styles. I want to cover these
in specific detail a little bit more later because
these are things that people need to know that
they have forgotten. that were long since taught
in schools in the past, such as the behaviorist
approach, the cognitive approach, and the humanist
approach. Each one of these topics has something
that's related to them, and is something that
is very important, as well as things that are
necessary for moving forward in the future. So,
with that being said, I hope you guys enjoy the
rest of your day. This is, again, Food for Thought,
Thoughts If It Were You, Season 2. My name is
Neogentrix, I'm your host, and we'll catch you
next time. Peace out.