How I learn and how this has changed...

I have been thinking a lot about how I learn. The way that I best take in new knowledge. Honestly, for me, I have learnt that it really depends on the task that I am doing at the time… 

When I was creating my blog it was something that I had never done before and really didn’t know anything about. I utilised the knowledge that I have about the Web and other Social Media sites such as Facebook to help get me started. Having experience using similar sites did help and I managed to navigate my way around ‘Blogger’ pretty quickly. Posting a blog was kind of like posting a status, and commenting on someone else’s blog is similar to commenting on a Faecbook photo or post. All of that felt very familiar and came almost naturally. However when actually creating my blog - personalizing it, figuring out how to change the display and order of things, well that took a little more time! On the Unihub there are videos showing us how to set up a blog and I know that if I had searched on google I would have found a step-by-step guide too. But if I’m being honest…I didn’t use these resources! I’m not quite sure why I chose not to…I definitely saw the video on the Unihub and was aware that if I watched it, creating my blog may have been a much simpler process. But instead I wanted to play around and figure things out for myself. Explore the different links on the site and see where each one took me and what I could achieve from that. Although confusing at first, I found this really helpful and it wasn’t long before I had pretty much figured out how to make my blog just as I wanted it. 

Looking back on this now, it really surprises me! I like to think of myself as a very organized person – someone who likes to feel prepared before going into a situation. I like to know that I have all of the tools and knowledge needed to be able to complete a task without struggle. And I even have a touch of OCD; everything has to be perfectly in order!! If you had asked me what my preferred learning style is when it comes to learning a new skill, I would have said ‘abstract conceptualisation' without a second thought! I need to work things out in my head and gather information before I complete a task. But I totally proved myself wrong with this one! It seems that I went for ‘active experimentation’. I just tried different ways and explored the ‘blogger’ site until I had figured out how to use it. 

Because I was so surprised by this, I stopped to ask myself why I had initially assumed that I would have taken the time to work things out before attempting to create my blog. And I realized that this dates back to when I was in high school. Completing my school work, preparing for exams and writing course work, I always took the time to prepare. I didn’t like to go in blind, I liked to work things out in my head first and feel ready. But high school was 7 years ago now! I have come a long way since then and grown not only as a person, but also as a professional. I think that my experience in working as a dancer has helped to mold the way in which I think and learn. As a dancer we have to think quickly and on our feet (literally)! If I am in the middle of a show and a dancer gets hurt, I need to figure out how to fill that spot so that it is not noticeable to the audience. There is not time to sit and prepare and think up the best possible solution. I have to make quick decisions, on the spot, and trust that it will work out. 

I didn’t make a choice to adjust my learning style – it developed itself as I gained more experience in my profession. Not only did I not realise that it was happening, but I was also unaware that it was affecting areas of my life unrelated to my practice too! For example; creating a blog. This isn’t a live performance like when I’m dancing on stage. I don’t need to think quickly and make decisions based on my experience. I have time to work things out and think things through and look at other people’s experiences. But because I was so used to just getting on with things and figuring it out as I go and as things happen, that is what I subconsciously decided to do when creating my blog!

I think that this shows that the type of profession that we come from, what we practice, has a huge impact on how we learn and more importantly how we reflect. If I had chosen a different career I may learn now in a very different way or reflect on myself very differently. 

I am now realising that if I had started to create a professional journal a long time ago I may have seen this progression happen and realised the exact experiences that caused this change which would have been very useful in learning about myself and my development. This realisation has inspired me to be even more committed to writing in my journal and recording my experiences – even the small ones that I don’t think are relevant at the time. Because when all of these experiences are combined it creates change and development and I am excited to have documentation of this. 

Has anyone else noticed a past change in their professional development that they didn’t know about?? 

I’m interested to hear your experiences and thoughts! 

Meg

Initial thoughts on Reader 2...

This is an old post that I have only just need able to publish due my poor internet connection!

I have read through Reader 2 and have lots of thoughts buzzing around my head about Reflective Practice, and more specifically, learning from experience…

I think that learning from experience is such a valuable tool. The things that we experience first-hand in our own lives are things that cannot be taught in the classroom. People can spend hours explaining things and trying to make you understand but I think that when you experience it for yourself, that it when you truly get a grasp on something. For myself at least – experiencing something is the best way for me to learn. I agree with Dewey that experience is key and about the necessity to be fully engaged, to fully experience things, in order to get the full benefits. I really need to push myself out of my comfort zone and do things that don’t come naturally in order to make sure that I don’t just stay in one place but that I grow as a professional. It is easy to just continue with our day-to-day lives, with our job and our practice. But taking that moment to look back at what has happened and ask ourselves ‘what can I take from this?’, is what I think will make that difference between continuing on in my profession at a comfortable level and just ‘getting-by’, or really pushing myself, questioning and challenging things in order to progress and grow.

These days BTEC’s, internships and other on-the-job learning styles are so popular, and I can definitely see why! It seems to skip that middle step and gets you straight out there - enabling you to get stuck into experiencing for yourself the very thing that you are trying to learn. I am not disregarding the need for classrooms and books and all of the benefits that are gained from learning in that way too. But the opportunity to get to do things for yourself, learn as you make mistakes, grow as you figure out for yourself how to fix these mistakes and then maybe go onto teach and show others how to avoid these mistakes -  well that is something that not only helps you gain knowledge but I think it also helps you to learn important life lessons and develop personality traits that would advance any career. This can link back to our resumes and CV’s. One of the main things that an employer seems to look for is experience, and now I have a much better understanding as to why. Experience = Knowledge!

But how do we know that we are experiencing something useful, something that is going to help us to learn and develop? I think right now for me that is a case of trial and error. But I definitely think that keeping a journal is going to be a really useful way of recording my experiences and seeing what was a beneficial experience, what was an experience that I had already had, and which experiences are different and can teach me different things, but are also linked in a way too. I have started my reflective journal and even from just a couple of entries I can already see that it is so useful in gathering and organizing my thoughts. I think there is always that worry of doing something wrong, writing something unnecessary or unrelated. But for me, getting my thoughts down on paper is a great way for me to organize them. It is helpful in seeing when I have experienced something in my profession or even my personal life that has taught me something new, or when it was something that I already knew- I maybe just didn’t realize it yet. I definitely think that taking that moment at the end of the day to just write about what has happened or what I have experienced is so helpful in collecting my experiences and thoughts and seeing what I have learnt and what I have still yet to learn. Getting these thoughts down on paper and seeing them in black and white is really helpful for me. They seem to make more sense when they are written down. Maybe this suggests what kind of a learner I am? Anyway, for some of us I think that realising that you don’t know something can be scary. Personally I don’t like to feel overwhelmed or taken-aback by something that I don’t know. But I have started to realize that this is a huge key to learning and growing. It is not a bad thing to not know something. It is actually a huge help because it highlights the areas that I need to give extra time & attention to in order to improve on my weaknesses and fill the gaps in my knowledge.

I plan to continue with my journal and see if this sparks more thoughts and opinions on my Reflective Practice.

Meg