It’s the age-old question, the gold that trainers have been quarrying for decades: How do learners learn?

Clearly, the more personalized the learning is, the better it should suit the individual learner. And, if that holds true, then there has never been a better time to produce personalized learning. There is instant and free access to the internet and a huge warehouse of usually reliable and often free resources — a warehouse that most learners can navigate their way around with ease.

So Why Is Personalized Learning Still So Difficult for So Many?

Assume you want to learn “X.” (X here is knowledge, a skill or a particular aptitude). Given that there are a wide number of ways you could choose your pathway, what would you choose? Where would you start?

Familiarity

You may simply stick with the learning approach you are used to — whether it is particularly effective or not.

Tried and Tested

You may dislike learning the way you’ve always learned, and long for something better — but it works. And if it’s not broke, why fix it?

Risk Aversion

Trying something new is, or can be, risky. You may not particularly like slogging through masses of reading material, but … it works. And there’s no guarantee that any alternative will work better — and by the time you find out — it may be too late.

Low Awareness of Alternatives

If I asked you to name all the different ways you could learn, how many would be on your list? Because if you don’t know of it, you can’t use it.

Lack of Time or Inclination To Try Something New

Let’s assume that there are 20 different ways you could choose to learn X. Let’s assume you also have a life! In other words, how realistic is it that you could test each of the 20 options available? So, there is in fact a time-limited opportunity to find and select the best learning approach available — even though there are apparently plenty of choices available.

Poor Advice

Unfortunately, some trainers teach in ways that worked for them, or in ways that they, themselves, are comfortable with teaching — which is not necessarily the way that works best for the learners.

One Size Fits All

This is a particular problem for class-based group learning. Even assuming a personalized pathway is known, can it realistically be made available to, say, 20 learners in the same room, expected to cover and learn the same content within the pre-set time available?

There IS No “One Best Way of Learning” for Everyone

Think about it. Whatever the X is that you’ve chosen to learn, there may not be just one best way of learning it. Or perhaps, to put it more accurately, the “one best way” will always and inevitably be a mix of different learning approaches.

Example

In a degree course taught through traditional lectures and seminars, the course leader offered students three weeks to test different learning methods, all properly explained, demonstrated and supported. This time was meant for experimentation and did not contribute to formal assessment. However, most of the students preferred to continue with the familiar method, as they were not willing to risk trying something new that had not been properly tested.

So, What’s the Solution?

Making the Best of it:

The factors listed above are offered as restrictions to learning, but that may not always be the case.

• • Familiarity can be comfortable and, in that sense, helpful.
  • Many people would want to avoid risk — especially if the costs are high.
  • People are more likely to stick with what they already use and is tried and tested.

Pick n Mix:

We’ve all seen that ”sweets bar” where you can scoop up your favorite mix of fizzy cola bottles, fried eggs, and chocolate jazzies. This may be an appropriate metaphor for finding a learning blend that “suits your taste/need” at any time.

Having a Growth Mindset:

The main difference between a fixed and growth mindset is that, in the former, the learner sticks with what they already know (and is good at or comfortable with) and is reluctant to risk failure in order to improve, whereas the latter wants to learn more, and better, and is prepared to try something new to achieve that. So those with a growth mindset are less risk averse, see failure as feedback and a learning opportunity, and, as a result, grow.

Discover Your Struggles, Broaden Your Reach, and Test Times 10:

Clearly, you cannot try every alternative approach: you must be selective. So, start with those areas that you struggle most with when learning. Then search for alternatives in that area.

Take, for example, the common task of notetaking:
Suppose you struggle with this task. So currently, how do you take notes? I can think of at least eight options:

• • Conventional narrative descriptive, left to right, top to bottom.
  • Lists
  • Allocated under pre-set headings.
  • Mind map.
  • MIA approach: Three columns, headed message, implications and action.
  • Group sharing from single (good) note-taker.
  • Audio recording.
  • (If available) take photos on your phone of what the trainer has provided.

Conclusion

Consider if any of these are worth trying (if you don’t try, you won’t know) — and what if the first one you try is so much better? But the likelihood is that it won’t be instantly better — you may have to work at it — hence the “test times 10” requirement. Try the alternative(s) at least 10 times — to give yourself the chance of becoming more comfortable with it.