Your level-up starts now.
Hi there! Welcome to the Enjoy Learning Again series.
This year, you might be considering some upskilling or professional development. Perhaps youʼre planning to go back to school, take an online course, or complete a certification.
First off, kudos to you! You’re doing future you a favor by upgrading your skill set today. Let’s make sure you get the most out of this self-investment.
This 7-part content series is designed to help you enjoy learning again. We’ll cover how we develop knowledge and skills and the keys to learning as an adult.
Given how the series is broken up into 7-parts, you’re encouraged to not binge-read. Take breaks in between each post and come back when you’re ready to learn more (because spaced repetition benefits learning 😉 ).
Without further ado, let’s get started!
Part 1: How to Enjoy Learning Again
School sucks. And thatʼs coming from someone who has a masterʼs degree in Educational Technology.
Donʼt get me wrong, formal education can be valuable and worthwhile. The problem is a lot of educational experiences and systems are poorly designed. Especially for adult learners.
If you’re working a full-time job or have a family to take care of, you don’t have extra time or energy to take night classes. Or maybe you’ve been thinking about enrolling in an online course but heard the quality of teaching isn’t worth the cost.
Letʼs not forget about informal education. If you think about it, a lot of knowledge and skills we use on a daily basis were gained outside of an academic institution. The internet provides us with a lot of educational content for learning at our own pace (and often for free!). While this is great in terms of the availability of educational resources, the main issue
is the quality of learning outcomes.
Just because youʼre consuming information doesnʼt mean youʼre gaining knowledge or expertise. (Weʼll dive deeper into knowledge and skills development in Parts 3 and 4 of this series.)
Luckily, I have good news! Thereʼs an advantage in adult education that we didnʼt have when we went to school as kids. Itʼs something we donʼt often think about, yet itʼs a game-changer.
Itʼs one of the keys to enjoying learning again. Itʼs called Autonomy.
In simple terms, autonomy is a person’s ability to act on their own values and interests.
As a kid, you probably didnʼt have a choice in what or the way you learned. Now as an adult, the decision to learn and grow your skills is entirely yours to make.
Yet, many adults donʼt exercise this autonomy. For example, completing a certification because their boss told them to instead of for their own motivations. It also seems common to buy online courses from internet ‘gurusʼ because itʼs trendy, not because the course outcomes and teaching style are a good fit. The most typical scenario is the way we passively go through training, following instructions instead of actively engaging and
maximizing the learning experience for ourselves.
So hereʼs my challenge for you. During your upskilling and professional development this year, try to find ways to use this Autonomy key. Make sure your goals are clear, and most importantly, aligned with your motivations.
You also have the autonomy to make adjustments to your learning experience to fit your needs. You may not be able to change the curriculum of a course. But if the reading material isnʼt giving you a sufficient understanding of a concept, take action by reaching out to the instructor for additional resources. Or do some of your own Googling, Youtubing, etc.
By the way, Autonomy is the first of four keys Iʼll be sharing with you throughout this series. Together, these keys can help you unlock your love for learning especially as an adult learner. They also address those previously mentioned common problems with educational experiences.
Up Next 👉 Part 2: The F-Word of Learning
Weʼll discuss one of the biggest misguidances that get in the way of professional and personal growth.
Don’t forget to save the Enjoy Learning Again list to make sure you have access to all posts in this series.
About Me
Hello, Iʼm Laraine 👋 I’m an instructional designer who specializes in adult education. Everything I’ll be sharing comes from my research and experience working in learning and development, training, and boot camp programs.
I hope this series provides some trusty companion content as you level up your skill set this year. If at any point you have a question or could use a sounding board to discuss your upskilling plans, donʼt hesitate to reach me at brainoflaraine@gmail.com.
