K0001 Learning Skills

1. Learning to Learn
Learning can take place in many environments. Typically learning can take place in
school and out of school, at home, at play or at work.
1.1 Learning In and Out of School
In School Out of School

Second-hand First-hand
Individualistic Co-operative Shared
Formal structures Few structures
Decontextualised Has real content
Need motivating Comes easily
Assessed by others Self-Assessed

FIGURE 1: A Contrast has been made between learning in school and out of school.
Learning is school is also at times known as formal learning.

Kolb's experiential learning theory (learning styles) model

David Kolb's learning theory sets out four distinct learning styles (or preferences), which
are based on a four-stage learning cycle. Kolb's model offers a way to understand
individual people's different learning styles.

1.4 Kolb’s learning style definitions and descriptions

Knowing your own learning style enables learning to be orientated according to your
preferred method. That said, everyone responds to and needs the stimulus of all types
of
learning styles to one extent or another - it's a matter of using emphasis that fits best
with
the given situation and a person's learning style preferences.

Here are brief descriptions of the four Kolb learning styles:

a) Diverging (feeling and watching)

- Able to look at things from different perspectives
- Prefer to watch rather than do
- Several different viewpoints
- Perform better in situations that require ideas-generation like brainstorming
- Tend to be imaginative and emotional, and tend to be strong in the arts
- Prefer to work in groups, to listen with an open mind and to receive personal feedback.

b) Assimilating (watching and thinking)

- Uses a concise, logical approach.
- Ideas and concepts are more important than people.
- Require good clear explanation rather than practical opportunity.
- Understand information and organized it in a clear logical format.
- Are more effective in information and science careers.
- Better in formal learning situations

c) Converging (doing and thinking)

- Can solve problems and will use their learning to find solutions to practical issues.
- Prefer technical tasks, and are less concerned with people and interpersonal aspects.
- Are best at finding practical uses for ideas and theories.
- Can solve problems and make decisions by finding solutions to questions
- Are more attracted to technical tasks and problems than social or interpersonal
issues.
- Like to experiment with new ideas, to simulate, and to work with practical applications.

d) Accommodating (doing and feeling)

- 'Hands-on', and relies on intuition rather than logic.
- Use other people's analysis, and prefer to take a practical, experiential approach.
- Are attracted to new challenges and experiences, and to carrying out plans.
- Act on 'gut' instinct rather than logical analysis.
- Tend to rely on others for information than carry out their own analysis.
- Useful in roles requiring action and initiative.
- Prefer to work in teams to complete tasks.

As with any behavioral model, this is a guide not a strict set of rules. Nevertheless most
people clearly exhibit clear strong preferences for a given learning style. The ability to
use or 'switch between' different styles is not one that we should assume comes easily
or
naturally to many people. Simply, people who have a clear learning style preference, for
whatever reason, will tend to learn more effectively if learning is orientated according to
their preference. For instance - people who prefer the 'Assimilating' learning style will
not be comfortable being thrown in at the deep end without notes and instructions.
People who like prefer to use an 'Accommodating' learning style are likely to become
frustrated
if they are forced to read lots of instructions and rules, and are unable to get hands on
experience as soon as possible.

“Learning is the process of creating knowledge by making sense of experience.”

1.5 Effective Study techniques

Studying is an activity that leads you to learning. A test or examination is conducted to

see one’s ability to demonstrate that he or she knows something or has learned
something. This requires recollection of facts or some knowledge that have been
‘learned’,

Learning is the consequence of studying or a set of activities one undertakes. The

activities include reading, practice and/or calculations.
“Meta-learning is the process of making sense of your experience of learning.”

1.6 Planning for your learning

Once you recognise or have made sense of your experience and know your learning
style,
you ought to be prepared to use one or some learning techniques using a plan to study.
A plan to study will include your learning styles with times/dates and this should include
your assignments/projects datelines, other submission datelines and last but not least
preparation for examination.

The next unit will take you though some techniques on planning and time management.
Supplementary Notes:

Defences against Learning (or excuses for not learning)

Spot these defences as they are and do not allow them to unsettle yourself.

‘It’s boring.’
‘What does it matter?’
‘I didn’t choose this subject’
‘I’m doing all right in other subjects’
‘I can’t…’
‘It’s the teachers’
‘It is the course’
‘My parents couldn’t do it also’
‘I had nothing else to do’
‘I’m only doing this because of my parents’
‘What will my mates think?’
‘I have always done it that way.’

2. Time Management
One of the most important skills you need to develop whilst studying at an
undergraduate
level is how you plan and manage your time. Together with this is the ability to know
how well you are doing. Planning your time is a key ingredient in this skill. You need to
prepare a time table in order to guide you in your planning.
2.1 Time Table

The time table is to

Plan your time

Know what you need to do
Know when you have to make choices

The time table is to help you make the most of your opportunities to study.

Remember “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

“From the information available at the start, prepare a course plan – including the
times and titles of your lecture courses, practical work, field studies, project work,
tests, examinations and vacations. Referring to this plan will help you
to see at a glance how your work at any time fits in the course as a whole
to be well-organised
to remain in control.

However, study is not the only activity in a student’s life: you also contribute to and
benefit from college life. In college clubs & societies, in addition to being friends
who have similar interests to your own, you may be able to gain valuable
experience of committee work, of speaking in public and (if you wish) of the duties
of a club secretary or chairman.”

Guides to doing a time table

_ Breakdown a job into tasks

_ Set your own deadlines and be realistic
_ Be organized
_ Knowing the difference between important and urgent
_ Are you a day person or a night person
_ Managing your distractions

2.2 Knowing the difference between Important and Urgent

At times some of us can't people get things done because we don't understand the
difference between urgency and importance.

It is common to hear someone complain that they have "no time." Everyone has the
same
amount of time; it just depends whether they spend it or invest it. You should always be
working on your top priority job/study and if you are not, you simply wasting your time.
Therefore, it is imperative to understand the difference between urgency and
importance.
Someone comes to you and says to do something right away. That's urgent. For a
shipping clerk, a customer calls on the phone and she has shipped the wrong order, or
it
didn't arrive on time. That's urgent. Most urgent things are preventable -- even heart
attacks.

Important things are those that build yourself or your career or your family. Usually
these are short term actions that achieve your long term goals.
You do have to take care of the urgent things but you also have to deal with some of the
important things of the day. Meeting deadlines and making quotas often have urgent
actions that can be avoided with important planning and self-discipline.

_ Think about when was the last time you had an urgent assignment. Was it really
urgent or was it because it was not planned?

2.3 Day or Night Person

Most people take it that they are an evening person, somebody who can work in the
evening. This can be a fallacy. You can accomplish the most in the morning when
you're
clear.

Why many people think they are a night person is because they stretch themselves in
the
evenings and can’t get up in the morning. Obviously to be able to start in the morning
afresh the simple solution is to go to bed early. Also when you get up, you ought to do
some kind of exercise, either mental or physical. Your world of thought and productivity
should change.

There is also another point; that is to clear your head before you sleep. This can be
done
by listing all the things you need to do in the morning when you get up. This clears your
head of the to-do list and you can think about the solutions instead of problems when
you
get up.

“Do you start every day with a plan? Or does work catch you? Charles Hummel coined
the phrase "the tyranny of the urgent" to describe the tasks that get attention and
become
instant priorities. Yet urgent tasks may not be your priorities.

As Hummel points out: "We live in constant tension between the urgent and the
important. The problem is that the important task rarely must be done today, or even
this
week. But the urgent task calls for instant action -- endless demands and pressure,
every
hour and day."

To get more job satisfaction, you need a pairing of your job tasks and your sense of
accomplishment. You need to integrate new time management techniques and watch
for
the urgent tasks that masquerade as important ones.””

2.4 Distractions
Each one of us has individual distractions. Below is sample list of our distractions:
a) Family/Friends
b) Relationship Management (Boy-Girl relationship or otherwise)
c) Television/Movies
d) Games (X-Box)
e) Shopping
f) Sports (e.g. football, tennis, swimming)

At times, you are distracted yourself to avoid study. Or at times, you are taken away
from
your study by your friends/family. The key to distractions is not to avoid them….. yes not
to avoid them but manage them.

Remember you need balance in your life,

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

So as an example, you can set aside three hours to watch a movie or go for a swim. If
you
plan well, you can do so in the exams week also. It is not necessary to be studying all
the
time during the exam week as you would still need a break from study then.

3. Learning from Multiple Sources

3.1 Listening in class/lecture

Listening in class or a lecture, is the first place where the learning process begins. This
segment looks at listening skills. Good listening allows knowledge transfer and learning
to take place fairly effectively and requires lesser effort on part of students to
understand
these concepts.

“Reading a book on a subject is not an alternative to attending a course of lectures

on the same subject. The lecture and the textbook are complementary: they should
be used in different ways.”

a) Keys to Good Listening

Step 1: Tune In
Right as the lecture begins, determine the lecturer/tutor’s topic and recall what
you may have already known about this topic.

Step 2: Question
Early in the lecture, continue the listening process by asking questions in your
mind such as:
(i) What point is the speaker making?
(ii) What devices for support is he/she using?
(iii) What do I need to specifically remember?

This process, if continued throughout the entire lecture, helps lead to an

understanding of main ideas, the speaker's organization of the material being
covered, and supporting details.

Step 3: Listen
This part of the process includes determining the basic message and answering the
questions being raised during the total process. In order to accomplish this, you
must anticipate what will be said, and take in what is said. Active alertness is
always required.

Step 4: Review
This is the process of checking on the anticipated message after the message is
delivered. To review, you must evaluate the message against your questions, fit
ideas together, summarize ideas, and evaluate the meaning and impact of the
message based on your circumstances. This review process should lead to further
questions and keep you constantly tuned in to the lecture.

b) Effective and Ineffective Listening Habits

(I) Effective Listening Habits

_ Finding or creating something to arouse interest in a lecture you must listen to.
_ Trying to get the message rather than worrying about how it is presented.
_ Listening to all that the speaker has to say before criticizing.
_ Looking for major ideas and relationships among various points.
_ Determining the speaker's organization first, then taking notes that reflect his/her
pattern.
_ Really paying attention so that at any time you can summarize the speaker's main
ideas up to that point in the lecture.
_ Sitting where you will hear, then listening.
_ Listening with a purpose.
_ Subordinating specific words to the total meaning of the context.
_ Anticipating what the speaker will say next, identifying ideas and support,
recapitulating every few minutes what the speaker has told you.

(II) Ineffective Listening Habits

_ Calling the subject uninteresting.
_ Criticizing the speaker's delivery.
_ Getting over stimulated about specific points in the speech.
_ Listening only for the facts.
_ Trying to make an outline of everything.
_ Faking attention to the speaker.
_ Tolerating or creating distractions.
_ Evading difficult material.

3.2 Textbooks
Many students complain there is too much to read. However some of them fall victim
to reading myths. These myths hinder students to read and demystifying them may
assist some, including you. Myths include, that you need to read every word and line,
you cannot skim through the book and if you do your understanding is affected, by
reading thoroughly: you can do it once and computers are able to help read faster.

The truth of the matter is:

a. Many times, grammatically correct sentences convey not much meaning and take a
lot of your time to comprehend. Rather than reading all, try to read some which help
in comprehending concepts or meaning.
b. It is good to skim through once followed by reading again. The first read (skim
through) usually identifies important areas that need thorough reading and rereading.
Re-reading can also be purposeful to understand a concept or clarify some
concept. Skimming through and skipping paragraphs is not wrong.
c. Reading once is usually not sufficient. It is important to re-read however not
everything needs to be re-read, selective re-reading is sufficient. Skimming by itself
is not sufficient. (Barnes, 1995).
d. Machines can churn faster because they are unable to place importance and carry
out selective reading like humans. We are definitely able to read fast however
having a good reading strategy, like skimming through first before selective
reading, helps.
So now you can read and highlight important points in your textbooks or printed lecture
notes.

Some tips on highlighting and

(The heading of this segment intentionally is in different fonts, to highlight that usage of
different fonts can also be used for highlighting purposes.)
__ _______ _________________ _
Before determining what you want to mark, read the complete paragraph or
section. When you have determined the main ideas, highlight them or underline
with the pen of your choice. Premature underlining often leads to highlighting
unimportant information.
__ __ __________________________________ __________
Reading can become an arduous and tedious task if you are attempting to
remember or memorize every detail. Since you cannot remember everything you
read, it becomes important to mark or underline only essential information. Main
ideas and major supporting points are most important to highlight. Learn to
identify and discriminate between them. The extent to which you underline details
depends on your purpose and the demands of your instructor. Reading material
that has been marked excessively slips in value. It is frustrating to review reading
material that has been over-marked because it becomes difficult to quickly
perceive the important points and give those points our focused attention. Most
college students have gone to the bookstore to buy a used book and found that
many of the books are ruined by excessive marking.

It is generally best to refrain from highlighting complete sentences. Concentrate

instead on highlighting important words or phrases within important sentences.
Delay your underlining until you recognize what is important to remember. A
page with occasional highlights, bringing attention to fewer items, is easier to
review.

Different highlighting techniques (with usage examples within brackets)

1) Underlining
a. Single
b. Double
c. Using a highlighter
2) Circling (points to clarify)
3) Boxing (for extra important points)
4) Arrows (to indicate links)
5) Asterisks or other symbols (can be used as pointers to links points, or write
additional notes)

3.3 Notes
Lecture note-taking influences the academic success of all high school and college
students (Stahl, King, & Henk, 19917). As Spires and Stone (1989)8 point out, students
will "increasingly have to depend on their ability to take notes in order to be successful
in the classroom."

Taking notes is an important part of your study strategy. Guides here are useful and
should be adapted accordingly. The author recommends a few steps which will be norm
after several times of doing carrying them out sequentially. These are adapted from
Cornell Notetaking System (Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH)
The Cornell method provides a systematic format for condensing and organizing notes
without laborious recopying. After writing the notes in the main space, use the lefthand
space to label each idea and detail with a key word or "cue."
a. Record _ b. Reduce _ c. Read _ d. Reflect _ e. Review (Reduce, where
necessary)
For a start to record notes in lectures, you will need a loose-leaf notebook or
alternatively you can use foolscap papers which are to be filed, by subject. This will
enable you to add, delete and re-sequence pages and materials.
You can begin each session’s notes with a cover page or separator. Followed by
drawing a line on your paper with a 2.5 inch margin on the left, leaving a six-inch area
on the right in which to make notes. On the notes page, it is important to have the
header where details such as title of lecture (topic) and date are written down, these will
help you later when you are doing your summaries and test or exam preparation.
For the notes itself, use abbreviations or short forms where possible. This helps taking
notes faster. See examples below:
.
Abbreviations Meanings
N.B. note particularly
e.g. for example
i.e. that is
no. number
Fig. figure
w/o without
ref reference

During lecture/class, take down information in the six-inch area. When the
lecturer/tutor moves to a new point, skip a few lines. After class, complete phrases and
sentences as much as possible. For every significant bit of information, write a cue in
the left margin.
If you do not understand, make a special mark next to the recorded notes. This can be
read, reviewed later.

After recording and reducing, there are two steps not shown in the above notes pages,
reading and reflecting.
c. Reading (following the sequence, this is step c)
Reading allows you to see if what you have written makes sense and if you could
comprehend or recollect what the concept was. Fill in full forms if needed, fill in
blanks, complete diagrams etc. Whilst reading, you can write some keys words in the
margin. Creating your own examples or analogies is helpful, usually this remains in
your memory longer.
d. Reflect (following the sequence, this is step d)
This step involves trying to think and link parts/segments of topics to others. You can
at times link concepts/facts together and draw a concept diagram or a mind-map.
e. Review (following the sequence, this is step e)
This step is carried out during your study session, preferably before reading the next
chapter. Also while studying for tests or examinations.
To review, cover your notes with a card, leaving the cues exposed. Say the cue out
loud, then say as much as you can of the material underneath the card. When you have
said as much as you can, move the card and see if what you said matches what is
written. If you can say it, you know it.

Advantages of using this adapted note taking system

_ Allows fast note taking while you need to concentrate
_ Organized and systematic for recording and reviewing notes. (easier for later
studying)
_ Easy format for pulling out major concept and ideas.
_ Simple and efficient. Saves time and effort.
However this is not the only note taking method. You can use other creative methods of
taking notes, like drawings pictures, block diagrams or tables. It very well depends on
the
subject and topic being covered.

3.4 Developing Questions and Interview Skills

The ability to ask and answer questions is central to learning. The use of questioning
skills is essential to investigation in any subject area. In such an investigation

1) one asks questions to identify reason or reasons for the investigation

2) questions are asked to direct the search for information and to synthesise what
has
been discovered

3) the conclusions resulting from investigations are evaluated via questions

However using questions to assist students’ investigations is a relatively new technique
in
schools and colleges. In the past, lecturers primarily questioned students to ascertain
whether or not they were learning the book content and to see if students were paying
attention in class.

This shift in emphasis from learning solely content to learning processes is to enable
individuals to deal intelligently with their world and their lives. If students can analyse
their lives and the lives of others while in the school setting, they will comprehend
effectively their reality when they are outside the formal school situation. Education
today aims at the creation of a rational being. A rational being does not merely possess
an
effective memory; he/she must be able to react to data and changes. He/she must be
active in seeking an understanding to problems.

When asking your lecturer questions bear the above point in mind. Typically, students
tend to ask questions directed at getting some tips or guidelines and this is usually
closer
to tests/exams. But this approach will not build within yourself a good foundation or
understanding of knowledge.
Use every opportunity to ask the right questions to bridge the gap between what you
know and what you don’t!!