So many times, I have registered for an online program with a lot of enthusiasm, but halfway through it all, I just barely limp to finish or my interest wane’s completely and after settling down to analyse why my interest wavers, I got to realize way back before now, that for me to maintain an optimum balanced interest in a learning activity, it’s got to be interactive enough.
I like bashing ideas with other people, loos
ening the screws and bolts of a theory and piecing it back together, that way, years from when I learnt it, it stays with me.
I got to realize that though rote learning might work for a lot of people, to a large extent, I can do well by rote learning but I excel by interactive learning.
I would have returned to school long before now but due to family exigencies, I have been pushing it to the side. As a matter of fact, I registered for a Communication Arts program, but because it was online, I backed out and didn’t bother starting it off. I knew that within a few months, I would be bored to tears with it all.
Same issue cropped up with a program I enrolled for at the University of London, due to it’s online/distance learning nature, I had to be truthful to myself, knowing that I would probably start but not finish it and then waste money unnecessarily.
What works best for me really is reading on my own, then bringing a discussion group together and bouncing all the learning curves around.
I remember when I was taking my chartered exams and I knew Quantitative Techniques was not my fort, I hunkered down, learnt all the formulas, did loads of exercises on my own, then cemented my efforts by engaging my course mates in a discussion group. When the results came out, even I was surprised to have received a distinction for that course. Go figure. I probably wouldn’t have scored that high if not for the discussion groups.
That said, I am considering enrolling back in formal education in a year or two. I look forward to going to class, getting involved in adult education and maybe being the oldest Mama among the students, but that’s totally cool by me.
I am sure that it would be interesting because I will make it so.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
The Daily Post Learning Style.
What’s your learning style? Do you prefer learning in a group and in an interactive setting? Or one-on-one? Do you retain information best through lectures, or visuals, or simply by reading books?
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