Types and Methods of Learning

October 12, 2023 Globalinfo247

Learning skills are indispensable in your entire life journey. They will help you pass your examinations and move forward and acquire a better personality. In our contemporary world, to operate successfully in the globalized environment, effective learning skills are inevitable.

Securing admission to the university to acquire an education is not only about getting degrees. It is your journey to gain life skills, which are more than the classroom. In your life, you need skills that live with you and are exercised daily for better performance.

This article explores the basics of effective learning skills and the strategies to recognize, develop and apply them in your life.

Strategies for Learning

All over the world, learning is recognized as an uphill task. It is entertainment, and neither is it relaxation. It is a journey that requires you to make earnest conscious efforts.

Think of a medical doctor and the journey to becoming certified. What do you think of a Lawyer? Likewise, when you have secured admission to any degree program, your journey of learning has moved upward the ladder of life, certification, and development.

This is another opportunity to develop your memory and learning potential. To effectively learn, you must identify the learning style and methods that work for you. Some people are fast learners.

Others are very slow learners. Be yourself. Give yourself a voice as a student or a career professional. Don‘t compare yourself to anyone else, like the Yiddish proverbs say If I try to be like him, who will be like me?

No one is better than anyone else. Take independent action by focusing on what you do and how well you do it‖ (Ford, Knight & McDonald- Littleton, 2001: 73).

When you have determined your learning style and methods, consciously pursue learning with vigor, commitment, and self-discipline. No learning method or style guarantees success without your direct involvement in rigorous studying.

Mikkola (2013: 2) writes that learning only happens as a direct result of your efforts.‖ She observes further that you can develop your learning skills through active and critical thinking, questioning assumptions, and practical application of knowledge. The method you adopt in organizing new information is crucial to learning.

To facilitate your journey of learning at this University, take note of the following tips as supported by Aikkola (2013: 2).

Learn to Make Notes

Forming and making your notes are very significant in your learning. Form the habit and build on it through practice. Taking notes helps to make learning easier. It helps to clarify what you are learning and quickens and supports your memory and the learning process.

Forming notes is an invaluable skill in the overall academic journey and your professional or career life. Several people have turned their notes into textbooks or journal articles or materials for speech presentations.

Develop or Join a Study Group

Our society today encourages collaboration. Independent candidates are lone rangers, and they do not go very far. Join others and discuss various subjects together. It is pleasant and useful from the perspective of learning when you work through questions and ideas with others.

Study groups allow each member to share his thoughts or ideas and receive input from others. This broadens understanding and helps the memory to retain what you have read.

When you share what you have studied with others, you would be able to ascertain your level of understanding of the subject, your limitations, and probably the areas you may need help the most.

Keep a learning journal

Maintaining a learning journal requires a lot of self-discipline but is very valuable. It will help you to organize your thoughts and measure your learning progress. It is a tool that enriches, deepens, and helps you to evaluate your learning process.

Mikkola counsels you to use the journal to write down your insights, perceptions, and questions as well as things you need to find out or problems you need to solve. Write regularly.

A journal will be especially useful for seminar and thesis work, where you will have to organize information that you have collected yourself.

Be Acquainted with Course Materials, Books, and Other Study Materials

What reading technique have you discovered works best for you? When you find out and apply a suitable reading technique, you will achieve the optimum result from books and other reading materials.

Applying your reading technique can help you get the most out of books and other reading materials. Mnemonics are very helpful in learning. Mnemonics are learning techniques that aid memory in information retention or retrieval.

Carefully nourish and care for your Brain

The brain is the center and controller of all activities of your life. Carefully nourish and take care of it to achieve your maximum potential. Make sure you get enough sleep each day. There is no substitute for this. When you get a good night‘s sleep, your brain and memory receive strength and support.

When you experience regular insufficient sleep, it weakens your concentration and breed restlessness. To help your brain function optimally, you must live a healthy lifestyle. Illicit drugs, smoking, and alcohol are harmful to the brain. Eat nutritiously and drink a lot of water daily and reduce sugar intake.

Leaving your body dehydrated starves your brain of lubrication. Therefore, keep your body well hydrated. All of these are helpful to your health in general and essential to concentration and learning.

I am sure you have heard of the benefits of exercise on your health and learning. It relaxes, reduces stress, and improves concentration. A sedentary lifestyle is detrimental to your health, and your brain and causes your memory to deteriorate unnaturally. It also increases memory loss, tiredness, and exhaustion.